The Excels were a Michigan-based blue-eyed soul group consisting of Terry Quirk, Clark Sullivan, a guy simply known as Ylinon, and unknown members. They recorded for Ann Arbor DJ Ollie McLaughin's Carla label. Five singles -- "It Isn't So," "Gonna Make You Mine Girl," "I Wanna Be Free," "California on My Mind," and "Little Innocent Girl" -- from 1965 to 1968 failed to make any impact, and the group disbanded. Quirk and Sullivan wrote most of the songs, except for the final release, "Little Innocent Girl," which was written by Richard "Popcorn" Wylie and Tony Hester. The Excels were one of the few total failures on the late McLaughin's Carla and Karen labels. McLaughin enjoyed success with singles by the Capitols, Jimmy Delphs, Deon Jackson, and outside productions of Barbara Lewis, and is credited with discovering Del Shannon. ~ Andrew Hamilton