Glenn Stetson

Glenn Stetson was a native of Toronto who joined The Diamonds in 1969, The original purpose in Glenn joining the group was to replace the retiring John Felten, but it soon became apparent that he had the quality and range in his voice to sing lead - which indeed he ended up doing - so well in fact that this could have been a reason behid the abrupt departure of Danny Rankin from the group. Glenn had various interests in the music business and was involved with The Diamonds - on and off - for about the next fifteen years. He left the group for a while during the seventies but re-joined in the eighties and sang with Mike Douglas, Joe Derise and John Wagner as "The Original Diamonds" - a title which was quite correct as the group - albeit with only one member from the Mercury years (1956-1962) - namely Mike Douglas - was directly descendant from initial lineup. Glenn was a major force in the great revival of original rock an roll music during the 1980s. He was the proprietor of a club - "Little Darlin's Rock and Roll palace".which featured rock revival acts. Glenn was active singing until his death in 2004.the was a weekly network show called Little Darlin's Rock and Roll Palace.

Mike Douglas recalls when Glen first came into the group

I vividly recall holding auditions in LA for John Felten's replacement. I had listened to several singers, and there were a couple that were worthy of a second listen"That is up until I heard Glenn Stetson" The song Glenn chose to perform was the ballad "I Have Dreamed", I asked him to sing another song " not to be a ballad" he did the second song just as impressively. I asked him to sing "I Have Dreamed" again. after the second reading of the song, I sent everyone else home."except Glenn that is". Glenn joined up the following week in Las Vegas. while"The Diamonds" were performing at "Caesars Palace" This was to be the beginning of Glenn's twenty five year association with "The Diamonds" as their lead singer. Without a doubt Glenn was a tremendous talent find, not only could Glenn sing the bass notes that John Felten did in our four part arrangements,(at this point I wish to clarify something , Glenn Stetson was not the "basso profundo" John Felten was, Glenn could sing the bass line adequately), without apology Glenn sang the lead on every hit record the "The Diamonds" previously recorded. Glenn Stetson sang "The Diamonds" hits with the same respect, authority and quality of voice that was heard on the original hit recordings performed by Dave Somerville. "This was definitely not a simple slam dunk". Though Glenn Stetson never sang on any of "The Diamonds" 17 hits, he certainly could have done the job. Lightning rarely sticks in the same spot twice, but in this case it did. "The Diamonds" were blessed with two of the greatest lead singers that quartetdom ever heard. Respectfully Glenn Stetson and Dave Somerville. Glenn passed away August 22 2003