Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.
Claude Trenier, longtime leader of The Treniers, made a pretty good case for his claim to at least a share of the title of "father of rock 'n' roll."
"We were around before Little Richard, before Bill Haley and (His) Comets," Trenier told the Sun in 2001. "We knew Bill Haley when he had a country-and-western band. We were playing the Riptide in Wildwood, N.J., in the early '50s. He was playing across the street.
"He said, 'Man, I like what you guys are doing. I got a song I'd like to give to you.' The song was 'Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie.' We recorded it and sold about 100 copies. Then he came back and recorded it (in 1955) and it became one of his biggest hits."
Trenier, whose group was one of the first black acts to perform on the Strip, overcoming segregation policies of the 1940s and '50s to become the longest running act on the Las Vegas lounge circuit, died Monday of cancer at Nathan Adelson Hospice. He was 84.
Services for the Las Vegas resident of 55 years are pending.
The group's managers, Ken Sands and Margie Toledo Sands, said The Treniers have been inactive since September, when Claude Trenier went into a local hospital for treatment.
The future of The Treniers has not yet been determined, Ken Sands said, noting that options include band vocalist Skip Trenier, Claude's nephew who has been with the group since 1959, taking over lead, or Claude's brother Milt Trenier, a Skokie, Ill., solo performer, becoming the new front man.
Pete Barbutti, a longtime Las Vegas entertainer who in 1998 hosted "A Tribute to the Treniers" 50th anniversary Las Vegas concert at The Orleans, said, "It is truly the end of an era -- there's no other way to say it.
"Claude was a proponent of rhythm and blues who played a key role in the birth of rock 'n' roll," he said. "And The Treniers have been a part of Las Vegas practically as long as there has been a Strip."
The Treniers' top songs included "Go! Go! Go!" "Good Rockin' Tonight," and "Say Hey" (The Willie Mays Song), and novelty favorites "Get Out of the Car" and "Bald Head."
The Treniers performed at nearly every lounge in town starting at the Bar of Music Club in 1948 and continuing at the Las Vegas Hilton, Riviera, the old Hacienda, the old Thunderbird, the Frontier, Sahara, Tropicana, Castaways, the old Mint and The Orleans.
"Stars like Liberace and Frank Sinatra would come by after their shows to hang out or get up onstage with us," Claude told the Sun in 1998. "They just had fun and the people would be jamming."
Eventually The Treniers became a main showroom opening act for such performers as Bill Cosby and the late Bobby Darin. The group also performed at Carnegie Hall and the London Palladium.
The Treniers made several appearances on the Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Red Skelton, Dinah Shore and Ernie Kovacs television variety shows.
After a sponsor sent Skelton a wire suggesting he not feature black entertainers on his show, Skelton mentioned the telegram on air and said as an introduction: "Here's my answer: The Treniers."
In recent years Claude Trenier often was quoted in news stories recalling racial prejudice in Las Vegas and other places.
"We came to the shows dressed (in costume) because there were no dressing rooms for blacks," Trenier said in 1999. "Between acts we were told to go out and wait by the pool. But we couldn't go in the pool," he said.
After performing to packed houses on Strip stages, The Treniers stayed at Mrs. Shaw's Boarding House on West Las Vegas' Jackson Avenue.
"Even though Las Vegas casinos had the segregation policy, the (white) crowds loved us. We packed them in. As a result there was a bidding war among the hotels for The Treniers. So we knew we'd not only have work but we'd also get better pay."
Barbutti, who first met Claude Trenier in 1960, when both were booked at the Cloud Nine Lounge at the New Frontier, said The Treniers were a special group in many ways.
"They transcended race and they transcended time -- and if you needed them to perform for a charity cause, they were always there on time and ready to go," Barbutti said.
Born July 14, 1919, in Mobile, Ala., Claude was the sixth of 10 children of tinsmith and baritone horn player Denny Trenier and the former Olivia Chapman, a schoolteacher.
Claude and twin brother Cliff began their professional music careers in 1941, when they dropped out of Alabama State University in Mobile to lead a 16-piece band.
Saxophonist Don Hill, a member of that band, later became a founding member of The Treniers. He is the last surviving original member.
Claude Trenier was an Army veteran of World War II.
From 1944 to '46 Claude and Cliff were members of the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra, one of the nation's top swing bands that regularly performed at Harlem's famed Apollo Theatre.
In 1946 Claude and Cliff formed their own group, The Trenier Twins. In 1947 they signed a recording contract with Mercury Records. In 1948 their brother, Buddy, joined them and the group became The Treniers. Three years later they cracked the R&B charts with "Go! Go! Go!"
In the 1950s The Treniers released several recordings and were featured in disc jockey Alan Freed's shows and films, including "Don't Knock the Rock," co-starring Bill Haley and His Comets, and "The Girl Can't Help it." They also toured England with Jerry Lee Lewis and the late Johnnie Ray.
The Treniers were one of the first singing groups to choreograph their act, which inspired many of the doo-wop and Motown groups of the 1960s.
Cliff Trenier died in 1983 and Buddy Trenier died in 1999.
Despite his advanced years Claude Trenier seemingly never lost his desire to entertain people.
"I still look forward to it every night," he told the Sun in 1998. "Just looking out into the crowd and seeing people smiling makes you feel good."
In addition to Milt, Claude Trenier is survived by another brother, Harold Trenier of Los Angeles; and two sisters, Jestina Trenier of Los Angeles and Antoinette Trenier Burnette of Tacoma, Wash.
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