Effective period / Period of releases: 1978

Members: Sylvester Stewart, Frank Arellano, Charlene Imhoff, Charles Gebhardt, Maria Boldway, Vernon Gebhardt

Frank Arellano, Charlie Gebhardt, Vern Gebhardt, Charlene Imhoff, Sylvester “Sly” Stewart and Maria Boldway, a coterie of music-minded students at Vallejo High School in the San Francisco Bay area got together in 1961 as a group. Billing themselves as the Viscounts [pronounced VIE-counts], the name didn’t last long. Due to the fact that a New Jersey pop group with the same name scored in the Billboards Hot 100 with "Harlem Nocturne" the group was advised to change their name. Inspired by the car Chevrolet called the "Biscayne", they kept the "V" in order to remember people of their first name and named themselves the Viscaynes. However there is so far one 7" at the time under the name of the Biscaynes. The story goes that the name "Biscaynes" has been a typo and not intended by the group. Later, in 1978, there was an obscure release Sly Stone, Biscaynes - Oh What A Night which kept the typo version of the band name.