Jay Proctor lived in Philadelphia until he was 12 and then his family moved to Allentown.  “We were poor” said Proctor, “but everyone in our neighborhood was poor so we didn’t know any differently.  All the kids would roller skate, play baseball and run errands for some change.  A quarter was a lot of money to us. It was during that period that I found that I could sing and fell in love with music.  A group of us would sing on the street corner.  At that time I had a high pitched voice but it worked well with the harmony.  The guys would come to my house at night and ask my Mom if I could come out to sing.  It was just a way to entertain ourselves and the people walking by.  That’s when it became all about the music.”

After the move to Allentown, where Jay attended Allen High School, he continued informal street singing, joined a local acapella group “Handbone” and later “The Sinceres”.   The Sinceres were a mixture of young singers from Allentown and Bethlehem.

“Billy Floyd wrote a song called “You’re Too Young” for The Sinceres and we used to practice at his house all the time.  There was a guy who owned a local paint company who decided he would like to see what he could do with the group.  He took the group underfoot for a short time, and he paid for a recording session and our first 45 record was made.  “You’re Too Young” was the “A” side and was backed by “Forbidden Love.”  The record was issued on the Jordan Label in 1960 (the paint company’s name was Jordan Paint).  “You’re Too Young” only sold about 100 copies and I know my Mom bought 90 of them” but it was the start of an extremely successful recording career.