Rockin’ Robins Perched to Sing Again : Pop music: L.A.’s first doo-wop songbirds say the return is a second chance after such ‘50s hits as ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe.’

Singers Tye Terrell and Bill Richard of the Robins come across like any of the other hundreds of pop hopefuls in Los Angeles as they talk about their upcoming concerts. They’re champing at the bit for what they believe will be a big step on a run to stardom.

But there’s something significant that sets them from the other would-be stars. Terrell and Richard are both 63--and this is the Robins’ belated second reach for the brass ring.

The pair thought they grabbed it firmly in the early ‘50s. With such R&B; hits as “Riot in Cell Block No. 9” and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” the Los Angeles-based group was, many pop historians will tell you, the first Los Angeles R&B; vocal group of the rock era--a seminal act in the development of doo-wop.

But in 1955, two latter-day members of the group splintered off to become the Coasters, while the Robins flew into R&B; oblivion.

Despite regrets and hard-learned lessons, the Robins are counting down to the Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll concerts Friday and Saturday at the Greek Theatre, the group’s first performances since the mid-’50s. They’re hoping the appearance will lead to national tours and, possibly, a new recording contract.

“It’s like when fire horses hear that bell ring, they run to the fire,” said the talkative Terrell.

The Robins’ story began in 1946, when Richard, his brother Roy and teen-ager Terrell (born Terrell Leonard) moved to Los Angeles from Alameda and won a 1948 Johnny Otis talent contest. After adding bass singer Bobby Nunn, the Robins registered their first R&B; hit in 1950, backing Otis’ band and Little Esther on “Double Crossing Blues.”

That song caught the attention of the songwriting-production team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who transformed the group’s style by supplying them with the funny, rhythm-heavy songs.

After the flurry of hits, it all fell apart.

“We were driving down to San Diego for a gig and heard on the radio a song the guy said was a new one from a group called the Coasters,” Terrell said. “We said, ‘That sounds just like us!’ ”

The song “Down in Mexico” was , in many ways, the Robins. Atlantic Records had in fact wanted the Robins when it signed Leiber and Stoller to an independent production deal in 1955. But the group had other contractual obligations, so the songwriters formed a new group around Nunn and Carl Gardner, who had also been a later Robin.

“We lost everything,” Terrell said. “It totally destroyed my family. All the guys lost their families.”

And that was the last of the Robins until promoters of the Legends concert contacted them. Terrell and Richard are joined at the reunion by H. B. Barnum (the noted arranger who worked with the Robins the first time around), one-time Robins singer Grady Chapman and a new addition, 41-year-old singer Vel Omar.

“This is not for the hell of it,” Terrell said of the reunion. “It’s for revenge. We intend to hook it up and whoop it to ‘em, run it down and sock it to ‘em . . . with respect.”