The Cliff Trenier Papers (approximately 1950-1999) document the life and career of Clifton "Cliff" Trenier, who performed with various siblings across the United States beginning in the 1940s. The collection contains photographs of Cliff with his twin brother Claude performing, documents and newspaper clippings relating to the musical group's tours and their numerous performances in Las Vegas, Nevada including at the Moulin Rouge. Also included in the collection are photographs of Cliff's wife, Bedez, and correspondence between the couple up until Cliff's illness and death in 1983.
The Cliff Trenier Papers (approximately 1950-1999) document the life and career of Clifton "Cliff" Trenier, who performed with various siblings across the United States beginning in the 1940s. The collection contains photographs of Cliff with his twin brother Claude performing, documents and newspaper clippings relating to the musical group's tours and their numerous performances in Las Vegas, Nevada including at the Moulin Rouge. The collection also contains posters and vinyl records from movies featuring The Treniers' music. Also included in the collection are photographs of Cliff's wife, Bedez, and correspondence between the couple up until Cliff's illness and death in 1983.
Collection is open for research.
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Materials are arranged in rough chronological order.
"The Treniers," or later "The Rockin' Rollin' Treniers," was a band based around twins Clifton L. "Cliff" Trenier and Claude Oliver Trenier. They were born in Mobile, Alabama. In 1943, Claude Trenier joined Jimmie Lunceford's band as lead singer, and Cliff joined a year later. However, the twins left the Lunceford band in 1947 and began performing together as the Trenier Twins, backed by the Gene Gilbeaux Quartet and made their first recordings for Mercury Records in 1947. The group developed a reputation for their lively performances. In 1949, they were joined by older brother Buddy Trenier, and started to be billed as "The Rockin' Rollin' Treniers."
They had their only national chart hit in 1951, when "Go! Go! Go!" reached number ten on the R&B chart, but several other records including "It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings!" (1952) and "Rockin' Is Our Bizness" (1953) were popular. The group was considered a strong influence on many of their contemporaries, and one of the first times rock and roll appeared on national television was in May 1954 when the Treniers appeared on the Colgate Comedy Hour, hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Sources:
"Milt Trenier - Biography" Milton Trenier's Homepage. http://www.rockabilly.net/milttrenier/bio.shtml
"The Treniers" Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treniers
Cliff Trenier Papers, approximately 1950-1999. MS-01137. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1kj5s
Materials were purchased from Vigilante Rare Documents (via Gregory Bock) in 2023 and 2024; accession numbers 2023-001 and 2024-054.
In 2023, Sarah Jones rehoused the material and created the finding aid in ArchivesSpace. In 2024, Sarah Jones rehoused and arranged the 2024 accession and updated the finding aid.
Administrative Information
Acquired by Director of Special Collections and Archives, Sarah Quigley, as part of UNLV Special Collections and Archives holdings on African Americans in Las Vegas. All material that formed the original gift has been retained.