Arthur Lee Maye & Crowns - Set My Heart Free 1954

Arthur Lee Maye (December 11, 1934 – July 17, 2002) was a Major League Baseball player. He played eleven seasons in the majors as an outfielder for the Milwaukee Braves (1959–1965), Houston Astros (1965–1966), Cleveland Indians (1967–1969), Washington Senators (1969–1970), and Chicago White Sox (1970–1971). Maye was also well known as a rhythm & blues singer. He was the lead singer of the Los Angeles-based doo-wop group Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns in the 1950s. Maye sang in a tenor and falsetto. Music journalist and critic Phil Milstein called his singing "deft" and "authoritative.".Maye recorded on over a dozen labels to include Modern, Tower, Specialty, ABC-Paramount, and Buddah, and opened a Hollywood Bowl show featuring Jerry Butler, Billy Stewart, and Barbara Mason. Maye told Milstein, "I am the best singing athlete that ever lived. I am not bragging. It's just a fact He also formed the musical group The Crowns. The Crowns had back to back LA area hits on the Modern label with "Truly" and "Love Me Always." On the Specialty label in 1956, they sang their best known record, "Gloria." They also had an important 1956 record on the DIG label titled "This is the Night for Love." Maye said of his cross country stops, "I'd watch all of them, any entertainer when I was in a town. You learn from each other. My stage presence wasn't polished, so I'd go to learn how to get my stage presence from the other top guys who did it for a living" In the mid-1980s, Maye returned to the recording studio with Dave Antrel and his Antrel Records, recording "Moonlight" b/w "Happy and In Love." "Moonlight" captured the later, early 1960s New York street corner sound. Arthur Lee Maye was very proud of "Moonlight. "Moonlight" made several compilation CDs, played a role in the novel '64 Intruder, and gets airplay on doo-wop radio programs. Maye had a European tour planned when he became stricken with liver cancer.

Added 26 Jul 2026