The Royal Teens had a big novelty hit back in 1958 with this tune, Short Shorts, while still at school in New Jersey.

One of my favourite things on YouTube is stumbling across some ancient video by someone you had never heard of and finding they have posted  a comment themselves.

Such is the case with The Royal Teens.

The very first comment beneath this charming video, filmed in 1958 when the song reached No.3 in the USA, comes from the singer, Diana Lee – stage name of 16-year-old Diane Costello.

Now going by her married name of Diane Lauren, she was 83 when she posted her comment, recalling the time she filmed the video at the age of just 16, when she was a schoolgirl.

In fact the entire band were still at school, though by the time they went on tour in 1959 the oldest member, pianist Bob Gaudio, had graduated.

Billy Dalton, the guitarist, and drummer Tom Austin had to take time off from school to tour but the youngest member, sax player Billy Crandall, was only 14 and his parents would not let him go on the road.

He thus missed the opportunity to play alongside Buddy Holly and Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jackie Wilson, though he later found fame in The Knickerbockers, who had a hit with Lies in 1965.

Crandall was replaced by Larry Qualiano, while another 14 year old called Al Kooper joined for some dates, going on to found The Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and to play that memorable organ riff on Like a Rolling Stone.

The Royal Teens went on to perform in the 1958 jukebox musical Let’s Rock and, after breaking up, Gaudio became a member of The Four Seasons.