The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest phenomenons in pop music during the early ’70s, and the last great group to come out of the Motown hitmaking machine, before Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder shifted the label’s focus to more individual visions. The Jackson 5’s infectious brand of funky pop-soul was a definite departure from the typically smooth, elegant Motown sound, as befitting the group’s youth and the dawn of a new decade. That youth, coupled with the merchandising juggernaut that sprang up behind them, inevitably got them tagged a bubblegum group.

But they were far more talented musically than that label would suggest, especially lead singer Michael, and their material, while sunny and upbeat, didn’t pander to its audience. Solo careers and overexposure gradually weakened the Jackson 5, but their best music still holds up surprisingly well as some of the most vibrant mainstream pop/R&B of its era.

Originally, the Jackson 5 were composed of brothers Jackie (born Sigmund Jackson, May 4, 1951), Tito (guitar, born Toriano Jackson, October 15, 1953), Jermaine (bass, lead vocals, born December 11, 1954), Marlon (born March 12, 1957), and Michael (lead vocals, born August 29, 1958). By all accounts, the Jackson family’s upbringing in Gary, IN, was strict; their mother Katherine was a devout Jehovah’s Witness, and their father Joe was a stern, temperamental disciplinarian.

Allowed few outside interests, the boys gravitated to music, which was in their blood — prior to his job as a crane operator for a steel company, Joe had played guitar in an R&B group called the Falcons (not the same group that launched Wilson Pickett’s career). One night, Joe discovered that Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine had been playing his treasured old guitar without permission; though initially furious, he quickly discovered that his sons had genuine talent, and began to conceive of a family singing group that might eventually get them out of their tough working-class life in Gary.

The eldest three sons began performing around the area together in 1962, teamed with two cousins (Johnny Jackson and Ronnie Rancifer), who were replaced by Marlon and five-year-old Michael. Supervised by Joe, who became their manager and began working only part-time, the group practiced and rehearsed often, and improved as dancers, singers, and instrumentalists at a rapid rate. In particular, Michael proved himself a dynamic performer, soon replacing Jermaine as the featured lead vocalist, and establishing himself as a nimble dancer able to mimic talents like James Brown. At first, the group was known as Ripples & Waves Plus Michael, then the Jackson Brothers, and finally the Jackson 5.

In 1966, the Jackson 5 won an important local talent competition with a Michael-led rendition of the Temptations’ “My Girl.” Their father, who had been chauffeuring them to out-of-state performances, also booked their first paid professional gigs that year. In 1967, the group won an amateur talent competition at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater, where they earned an influential fan in Gladys Knight (probably the first person to recommend the group to Motown).

At the end of the year, the Jackson 5 made their first studio recordings for the small Gary-based Steeltown label, and their single “Big Boy” became something of a local hit. Championed again to Motown by Bobby Taylor, a member of the Vancouvers who’d seen the group in Chicago, and Diana Ross, the Jackson 5 finally got a chance to audition for the label in the summer of 1968. Desperately needing new blood, an impressed Berry Gordy signed the group and flew them out to his new headquarters in Los Angeles, where he and his assistants groomed them to be the label’s next breakout stars.

Having lost his famed Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, Gordy formed a new partnership with Freddie Perren, Fonce Mizell, and Deke Richards dubbed the Corporation, which set about crafting material for the group.

In August 1969, shortly before Michael turned 11, the Jackson 5 opened for Diana Ross at the L.A. Forum, and in December, they issued their debut album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. In January 1970, the Jackson 5 released their first single, “I Want You Back,” a Corporation composition that had originally been intended for Gladys Knight. It was an instant smash, hitting number one on both the pop and R&B charts. So did their next two singles, “ABC” and “The Love You Save” (both from their second album ABC), which solidified the group’s so-called bubblegum-soul sound and certified them as pop sensations.

Third Album was released before year’s end, spawning the hit ballad “I’ll Be There,” which not only proved that the group (and lead singer Michael) were more mature and versatile than their bright, bouncy initial singles let on, but also made them the first group in pop history to have their first four singles hit number one. It also became the best-selling single in Motown history, spending a stellar five weeks at number one. And it had still been less than a year since the group’s national debut.

A virtual Jackson 5 cottage industry sprang up in the wake of their success, producing everything from dolls to a cartoon show on — what else? — the ABC network (during the summer of 1971). Younger and younger listeners were brought into the fold, adding to an already broad appeal that transcended color lines, and the record label that once billed itself as “the Sound of Young America” could once again lay legitimate claim to the title. Meanwhile, following their four straight number ones, the Jackson 5 opened 1971 with a pair of number two hits, “Mama’s Pearl” and the ballad “Never Can Say Goodbye”; “Maybe Tomorrow” was their first single not to make the pop Top Ten, though it still reached the R&B Top Five.

That year, Motown executives began grooming Michael and Jermaine for solo careers that would run concurrently with the Jackson 5. Michael was the first to debut on his own (toward the end of 1971), and was an instant success; his first two singles, “Got to Be There” and “Rockin’ Robin,” both made the Top Five, and later in 1972 he scored his first pop number one with “Ben.” Jermaine debuted at the end of 1972, and his first single “Daddy’s Home” reached the Top Ten, though the follow-ups didn’t sustain the momentum as well as Michael.

In the meantime, the fantastically hyped Jackson 5 craze was beginning to cool down. Their prolific LP release schedule slowed a bit, and while their singles continued to perform reliably well on the R&B charts, they were no longer a surefire bet for the pop Top Ten. After a relatively lengthy drought, the Jackson 5 scored what would be their last major smash for Motown, the 1974 number-two hit “Dancing Machine,” a nod to the emerging sound of disco (it also topped the R&B charts). The group’s frustrations with Motown had been building — not only did the label seem less interested in their career, but they still refused to allow the Jacksons to write or choose their own material, or play their own instruments on their records.

Finally, in early 1976, they left Motown to sign with Epic. When the legal battles finally ended, Motown won a breach-of-contract settlement and retained rights to the Jackson 5 name, forcing the group to become the Jacksons. They also lost Jermaine, whose marriage to Berry Gordy’s daughter Hazel made it extremely impractical for him to join his brothers. He was replaced by younger brother Randy (born Steven Randall Jackson, October 29, 1961), who had been appearing (unofficially) with the group as a percussionist for some time.

The Jacksons’ first few records on Epic were somewhat erratic affairs produced by Philly soul legends Gamble & Huff. However, the group truly assumed control over their music and hit full stride on 1978’s Destiny, which most regard as the strongest studio LP the Jacksons recorded together in any incarnation. Destiny was self-produced and largely self-written, and its success helped encourage Michael to return to solo work. 1979’s brilliant Off the Wall made him a star in his own right, signifying his arrival as a mature adult artist, but he remained with his brothers for the time being, helping them record a Grammy-nominated follow-up to Destiny in 1980’s Triumph.

The staggering success of Michael’s next solo album, Thriller, signaled the beginning of the end for the Jacksons, but not quite yet; Jermaine re-joined the group for 1984’s Victory, the only album to feature all six brothers. The single “State of Shock,” which featured guest vocalist Mick Jagger, hit number three that year, and the group’s ensuing tour was a blockbuster success, despite expensive (for the time) ticket prices. Michael and Marlon both left the Jacksons, the latter trying out an unsuccessful solo career; Randy, Tito, and Jackie appeared as the Jacksons on the soundtrack of Burglar, and subsequently became highly regarded session musicians. The Jacksons reconvened in 1989 for the album 2300 Jackson Street, which featured every Jackson sibling save LaToya on the title cut. However, it wasn’t as successful as hoped, and to date there have been no further reunions on record. In 1997, the Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

— Steve Huey

Soundtrack/Filmography

1. The Italian Job (2003) (performer: “ABC”)
   • A.K.A. Braquage à l’italienne (France)
2. Malibu’s Most Wanted (2003) (performer: “O.P.P.”)
3. Moonwalker (1988) (performer: “Dancing Machine”)
   • A.K.A. Michael Jackson: Moonwalker

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

Wilfred Glenn (1881-1970) had an astonishing vocal range of some two and a half octaves from C below the bass clef to F sharp. A product of pioneer stock from San Francisco, he came to New York and within five years had made 800 recordings on many labels from RCA Victor to Brunswick and Columbia, among others. His early career was marked by performances in oratorio and concert (Handel, Verdi, Wagner) from Carnegie Hall, to the New York Philharmonic and concert halls across the country, and he later also performed on Broadway. He was a founding member of the Revelers and had previously performed with other groups including the Shannon Four, the Singing Sophomores and the Merrymakers, among others. His performances in the primacy of radio made him into a national figure and later, when the Revelers made multiple tours of Europe, into an international star.

– Barbara Glenn Eisen

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In 1961 fate brought Peter, Paul and Mary- a folk singer, a comedian, and a Broadway actress – (for one week) together to crate contemporary folk music for the masses.

New York-born Peter Yarrow (23), with his guitar and a psychology degree from Cornell, met Baltimore, Maryland, standup comic Noel Paul Stookey (24) in New York City’s creative melting pot of Greenwich Village. Peter was the veteran, having already played the Newport Fold Festival in 1960. Noel introduced Peter to actress/singer Mary Travers (24), who lived in New York (her parents were both Greenwich Village writers) though she was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Mary had just ended a staring one-week run in the Broadway revue The Next President. She had been singing with a Village group called the Song Swappers that had recorded four LPs with folk legend Pete Seeger when she was only 14.

The spent the next seven months rehearsing 18 songs, usually in Mary’s three-flight walkup. They drew the attention of Milt Okun and folk impresario Albert Grossman (who became their manager), and soon they were debuting their three-part harmony brand of social-protest folk music at the bitter End café.

They agreed to become Peter, Paul and Mary since it sounded catchier than Peter, Noel and Mary (and already had a familiar ring from a folk song lyric that went, “I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing ring-around-the-roses”). The group’s name and music came to the attention of Warner Bros. Records and in early 1962 they recorded the single “Lemon Tree.” The simplicity of their sound caught on and “Lemon Tree” charted on My 5, 1962, reaching number 35.

With the release of “If I Had a Hammer” in August 1962, Peter, Paul and Mary found themselves in the forefront of a protest movement that, for them, would address everything from world hunger and homelessness to civil rights, apartheid, and war.

By October 13, 1962, “If I Had a Hammer” had reached number 10 in the nation and was spreading to the shores of Australia (#10) and beyond.

Their first LP proved they could bring folk music and a substantive message to a large audience. It made the top 10, staying there for an incredible 10 months. It took over three years for it to finally fall out of the Top 100. “If I Had a Hammer” became an anthem for the civil rights movement and the threesome became its musical ambassadors.

A song that evolved from a poem Lenny Lipton left in Yarrow’s typewriter at Cornell in 1959 became one of the group’s biggest hits. “Puff the Magic Dragon” reached number two nationally on May 11, 1963. It also made number 11 in Australia and surprisingly reached number 10 on the U.S. R&B charts while becoming the national camp song anthem.

Their next single was the powerful “Blowin’ in the Wind.” It’s ironic that the ultimate song of right and wrong should be clouded in its own controversy.

To this day there is still speculation about whether Bob Dylan wrote the song or whether it was penned by a Milburn, New Jersey, high school student named Lorre Wyatt, who reportedly sold the song to Dylan for a thousand dollars under the condition that Wyatt deny and involvement in the composition. Regardless of its authorship, its message was clear and universally accepted in the context of Peter, Paul and Mary’s harmony version. “Blowin’” was another number two hit Stateside, and became their first hit in England (#13).

In 1963, n keeping with the viewpoints expressed in their songs, the trip marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama, and Washington, D.C., for civil rights.

Their music continued to reach a growing number of fans, keeping Peter, Paul and Mary messages a part of America’s daily life. They issued such recordings as “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (#9, 1963), “Tell It on the Mountain” (#13 U.S. and U.K., #2 Australia), “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (#44 U.K., 1964), “For Lovin’ Me” (#30 U.S., 1965, #18 Australia), and “The Cruel War” (#52, 1966).

Their influence was not only felt in the realm of social causes. Songwriters’ careers (including those of Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver) were often launched by having their compositions recorded by the new fold hitmakers.

In 1969 the group charted with the beautiful “Day Is Done” and had their last Top 100 hit with their only number one song, John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” (#2 U.K.). That year Yarrow co-organized a peace march on Washington where the trio sang before over half a million people.

By 1970 the group, in need of outlets for their individual expression and a break from the more than 200 performances they were doing a year, disbanded.

Mary recorded five solo LPs; produced, wrote, and starred in a BBC-TV series; and did concerts and lectures across the nation. Paul (who preferred to be known as Noel Stookey when not associated with Peter, Paul and Mary) formed a Christian music group called the Body Works Band. Peter remained the most visible, staying politically active while co-writing and producing Mary MacGregor’s “Torn Between Two Lovers” (#1, 1977).

He also earned an Emmy for his three animated TV specials based on “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

In 1978, Peter asked Paul and Mary to join him at an anti-nuclear concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Though they hadn’t sung together in over six years they “got back on the horse” as if they’d never been off and renewed their performance schedule as a trio with a modified (for them) average of 60 shows a year. In 1985, they did a single, Yarrow’s “Light One Candle,” in support of Soviet Jews trying to emigrate from the U.S.S.R.

In 1986 they returned to the LP side with a collection called No Easy Walk to Freedom, for Gold Castle Records, focusing attention on the anti-apartheid cause. That same yar they appeared on PBS-TV in a special concert to mark their 25th anniversary.

In 1990, they recorded the Flowers and Stones LP, including songs by Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger.

Though the trio garnered eight gold and five platinum LPs, along with 19 chart hits (all 10 of the group’s LPs were artfully remixed for CD by Peter and remained brisk sellers), numbers fail to tell the whole story of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Though they attained legendary status as performers and recording artists, their motives reached beyond the desire for wealth, as indicated by the time and energy they devoted to nonprofit activities and benefits. They were more than just entertainers. With two guitars, three voices, and a lot of integrity, they became one of the most respected groups in the history of pop vocal music.

– Jay Warner

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The Spinners were the greatest soul group of the early ’70s, creating a body of work that defined the lush, seductive sound of Philly Soul. Ironically, the band’s roots lay in Detroit, where they formed as a doo wop group during the late ’50s. Throughout the ’60s, the Spinners tried to land a hit by adapting to the shifting fashions of R&B and pop. By the mid-’60s, they had signed with Motown Records, but the level never gave the group much consideration. “It’s a Shame” became a hit in 1970, but the label continued to ignore the group, and dropped the band two years later. Unsigned and featuring a new lead singer Phillipe Wynne, the Spinners seemed destined to never break into the big-leagues, but they managed to sign with Atlantic Records, where they began working with producer Thom Bell. With his assistence, the Spinners developed a distinctive sound, one that relied on Wynne’s breathtaking falsetto and the group’s intricate vocal harmonies.

Bell provided the group with an appropriately detailed production, creating a detailed web of horns, strings, backing vocals, and lightly funky rhythms. Between 1972 and 1977, the Spinners and Thom Bell recorded a number of soul classics, including “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Fallin in Love,” “Mighty Love,” “Ghetto Child,” “Then Came You,” “Games People Play” and “The Rubberband Man.” Wynne left in 1977 and the Spinners had hits for a few years after his departure, but the group will always be remembered for its classic mid-’70s work.

Originally, called the Domingoes, the Spinners formed when the quintet were high school students in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale in 1957. At the time, the group featured Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, George W. Dixon, Billy Henderson and Henry Fambrough. Four years later, they came to the attention of producer Harvey Fuqua, who began recording the group — who were now called the Spinners — for his Tri-Phi Records. The band’s first single, “That’s What Girls Are Made For,” became a Top 10 R&B hit upon its 1961 release and featured Smith on vocals. Following its release, Dixon was replaced by Edgar “Chico” Edwards. Over the next few years, the group released a series of failed singles, and when Tri-Phi was bought out by Motown in the mid-’60s, the Spinners became part of the larger company’s roster. By that time, Edwards had been replaced by G.C. Cameron.

Though the Spinners had some R&B hits at Motown during the late ’60s, including “I’ll Always Love You” and “Truly Yours,” they didn’t have a genuine crossover success until 1970, Stevie Wonder gave the group “It’s a Shame.” Motown never concentrated on the Spinners, and they let the group go in 1972. Before the band signed with Atlantic Records, Phillipe Wynne replaced Cameron as the group’s lead vocalist. Wynne had previously sung with Catfish and Bootsy Collins.

At Atlantic Records, the Spinners worked with producer Thom Bell, who gave the group a lush, seductive sound, complete with sighing strings, a tight rhythm section, sultry horns, and a slight funk underpinning. Wynne quickly emerged as a first-rate soul singer, and the combination of the group’s harmonies, Wynne’s soaring leads and Bell’s meticulous production made the Spinners the most popular soul group of the ’70s. Once the group signed with Atlantic, they became a veritable hit machine, topping the R&B and pop charts with songs like “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “One of a Kind (Love Affair),” “Ghetto Child,” “Rubberband Man” and “You’re Throwing a Good Love Away.” Not only were their singles hits, but their albums constantly went gold and charted in the Top 20.

Phillip Wynne left the band to pursue a solo career in 1977; he was replaced by John Edwards. Though none of Wynne’s solo records were big hits, his tours with Parliament-Funkadelic were well-received, as were his solo concerts. In October 1984, he died of a heart attack during a concert in Oakland, California. The Spinners, meanwhile, had a number of minor hits in the late ’70s, highlighted by their disco covers of “Working My Way Back to You” and the medley “Cupid/I’ve Loved You for a Long Time.” During the early ’80s, they had several minor hits before fading away from the charts and entering the oldies circuit, reprising their earlier material for 1999’s new studio effort At Their Best.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Although they were one of the very biggest rock & roll groups of the 1960s, the Four Seasons — unlike, say, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, or the Byrds — don’t excite virtually automatic respect from listeners and critics. A big factor is their most distinguishing trademark, the shrill falsetto vocals of their lead singer, Frankie Valli. Many also find their material — gently moralistic, romantic tunes with tightly arranged group harmonies that updated doo wop ethos into the 1960s — too cornball and clean-cut.

Whatever your feelings about the group, though, there’s no denying their considerable importance. No other white American group of the time save the Beach Boys boasted such intricate harmonies, though the Four Seasons were much more firmly in the Italian-American doo wop tradition. Their uptown production values were contemporary and, in certain respects, innovative. The R&B influence in their music was large, and some of their early singles enjoyed success with the R&B audience; in fact, some listeners thought that the Four Seasons were black when the group landed their first hits. And they were immensely successful, making the Top Ten thirteen times between 1962 and 1967 with hits like “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Dawn,” “Rag Doll,” and “Let’s Hang On.”

The Four Seasons had been around for a long time before they got their first hit in 1962. Frankie Valli had made his first record way back in 1953, and in 1956 made a little noise with the Four Lovers’ “Apple of My Eye.” The Newark, NJ, group also included future Four Season Tommy DeVito on guitar, and in subsequent years Valli would record flops for RCA, Decca, Cindy, and Gone, sometimes as a soloist, sometimes with groups. In the early ’60s, the group, now known as the Four Seasons, were doing backup vocals for other artists.

Philadelphia producer Bob Crewe started working with the Seasons in 1962, and his contributions would be inestimable in the following years. Not only did he produce all of their big ’60s hits, but he would write much of their material in collaboration with group member Bob Gaudio. It was Valli’s near-soprano, though, that dominated their number one hit “Sherry,” as it would on the rest of their hits. “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” and “Candy Girl” all followed within the next year — big smashes all, the first two (like “Sherry”) featuring stomping, almost martial handclaps. “Candy Girl” offered evidence of versatility, with its samba-like rhythms and glissando flourishes.

The British Invasion did little to diminish the Seasons’ fortunes, at least initially. In 1964, they moved from Vee-Jay (which also, for a brief time, had rights to the Beatles) to Philips. Their production became more sophisticated and dramatic while remaining unabashedly pop, and in 1964 they had several of their biggest hits: “Dawn,” “Ronnie,” “Rag Doll,” “Save It for Me,” and “Big Man in Town” (as well as a gem-like B-side, “Silence Is Golden,” which would be a hit in 1967 for the Tremeloes).

The Four Seasons’ influence, oddly, was also felt on a couple of tracks by the biggest British Invasion bands: the Beatles’ “Tell Me Why” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Singer Not the Song” both launched into ear-straining falsettos at points, whether as a satire, tribute, or both.

The winning streak basically continued through 1967, although they would never again be as huge. “Let’s Hang On,” “Working My Way Back to You,” “Opus 17,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Beggin’,” and “Marianne” were all big hits from the time, though, working in some mild soul influences. They also, just for kicks, released a couple of silly singles under a pseudonym, the Wonder Who?, that even pre-teens quickly identified as the Seasons under disguise. The Wonder Who?’s 1965 Top 20 hit, “Don’t Think Twice,” easily qualifies as the most ridiculous Dylan cover ever to hit the Top 40.

Guitar-oriented, more socially conscious rock and soul had been making inroads into the Four Seasons’ audience for a while, but the times really caught up with them by the end of 1967. The group would only make the Top 40 one more time before their mid-’70s reunion. In the late ’60s, Valli, while maintaining his position in the Seasons, had kicked off a solo career that went straight for the heart of showbizzy pop on his biggest single, the number two hit “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” The Four Seasons did attempt to address social concerns of the day on the late-’60s album Genuine Imitation Life Gazette, which usually met with derisive snickers from the few that heard it.

The Four Seasons struggled on into the 1970s; by the time they signed with a Motown subsidiary in 1971, Valli and Gaudio were the only original members left. They briefly returned to the top of the charts in the mid-’70s with “Who Loves You” and the nostalgic “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)”; at the same time, Valli had a resurgence as a soloist, reaching number one with “My Eyes Adored You” and making the Top Ten with “Swearin’ to God.” It couldn’t last, any more than the group could turn back the clock to December 1963, that last moment when they reigned as the most successful white rock group in the world, unaware of the oncoming invasion by the Beatles. They’ve remained active off and on during the last two decades on the nostalgia circuit, without gaining any notable successes on record.

— Richie Unterberger

1. Daltry Calhoun (2005) (performer: “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)”)
2. Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
3. “The Sopranos”
   • Big Girls Don’t Cry (2000) TV Episode (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
4. Sleepers (1996) (performer: “Walk Like A Man”, “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)”)
5. Speechless (1994) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
6. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (performer: “Walk Like A Man”)
7. Heart and Souls (1993) (performer: “Walk Like A Man”)
8. That Night (1992) (performer: “BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY”, “STAY”)
   • A.K.A. One Hot Summer
9. The Hard Way (1991) (performer: “Big girls don’t cry”)
10. Nothing But Trouble (1991) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
11. Mermaids (1990) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
12. Babycakes (1989) (TV) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
13. The Experts (1989) (performer: “Sherry”)
    • A.K.A. Experts, Les (Canada: French title)
14. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987) (TV) (performer: “WALK LIKE A MAN”)
    • A.K.A. Dear America<\li>
15. Dirty Dancing (1987) (performer: “Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
16. Body Slam (1987) (performer: “Book Of Love”)
17. The Hollywood Knights (1980) (performer: “Rag Doll”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Sherri”)
18. The Wanderers (1979) (performer: “Walk like a man / Sherry / Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
19. All This and World War II (1976) (performer: “We Can Work it Out”)
20. Beach Ball (1965) (performer: “Dawn (Go Away)”)

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

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Thanks to their fine-tuned choreography — and even finer harmonies — the Temptations became the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s; one of Motown’s most elastic acts, they tackled both lush pop and politically-charged funk with equal flair, and weathered a steady stream of changes in personnel and consumer tastes with rare dignity and grace. The Temptations’ initial five-man line-up formed in Detroit in 1961 as a merger of two local vocal groups, the Primes and the Distants. Baritone Otis Williams, Elbridge (a.k.a. El, or Al) Bryant and bass vocalist Melvin Franklin were longtime veterans of the Detroit music scene when they joined together in the Distants, who in 1959 recorded the single “Come On” for the local Northern label. Around the same time, the Primes, a trio comprised of tenor Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) and Kell Osborne, relocated to the Motor City from their native Alabama; they quickly found success locally, and their manager even put together a girl group counterpart dubbed the Primettes. (Later, three of the Primettes — Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard — formed the Supremes).In 1961, the Primes disbanded, but not before Otis Williams saw them perform live, where he was impressed both by Kendricks’ vocal prowess and Paul Williams’ choreography skills. Soon, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, Bryant, Franklin and Kendricks joined together as the Elgins; after a name change to the Temptations, they signed to the Motown subsidiary Miracle, where they released a handful of singles over the ensuing months. In 1966, the Tempts recorded another Robinson hit, “Get Ready,” before forgoing his smooth popcraft for the harder-edged soul of producers Norman Whitfield and Brian Holland. After spotlighting Kendricks on the smash “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” the group allowed Ruffin to take control over a string of hits including “Beauty’s Only Skin Deep” and “(I Know) I’m Losing You.” Beginning around 1967, Whitfield assumed full production control, and their records became ever rougher and more muscular, as typified by the 1968 success “I Wish It Would Rain.” After Ruffin failed to appear at a 1968 live performance, the other four Tempts fired him; he was replaced by ex-Contour Dennis Edwards, whose less polished voice adapted perfectly to the psychedelic-influenced soul period the group entered following the success of the single “Cloud Nine.” As the times changed, so did the group, and as the 1960s drew to a close, the Temptations’ music became overtly political; in the wake of “Cloud Nine” — its title a thinly-veiled drug allegory — came records like “Run Away Child, Running Wild,” “Psychedelic Shack,” and “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today).”After the chart-topping success of the gossamer ballad “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)” in 1971, Kendricks exited for a solo career. Soon, Paul Williams left the group as well; long plagued by alcoholism and other personal demons, he was eventually discovered dead from a self-inflected gunshot on August 17, 1973 at the age of 34. In their stead the remaining trio recruited tenors Damon Harris and Richard Street; after the 1971 hit “Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are),” they returned in 1972 with the brilliant number one single “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” While the Tempts hit the charts regularly throughout 1973 with “Masterpiece,” “Let Your Hair Down,” and “The Plastic Man,” their success as a pop act gradually dwindled as the 1970s wore on.After Harris exited in 1975 (replaced by tenor Glenn Leonard), the group cut 1976’s The Temptations Do the Temptations, their final album for Motown. With Louis Price taking over for Dennis Edwards, they signed to Atlantic, and attempted to reach the disco market with the LPs Bare Back and Hear to Tempt You. After Edwards returned to the fold (resulting in Price’s hasty exit), the Temptations re-entered the Motown stable, and scored a 1980 hit with “Power.” In 1982, Ruffin and Kendricks returned for Reunion, which also included all five of the current Tempts; a tour followed, but problems with Motown, as well as personal differences, cut Ruffin and Kendricks’ tenures short. In the years that followed, the Temptations continued touring and recording, although by the 1990s they were essentially an oldies act; only Otis Williams, who published his autobiography in 1988, remained from the original line-up. The intervening years were marked by tragedy: after touring in the late ’80s with Eddie Kendricks and Dennis Edwards as a member of the “Tribute to the Temptations” package tour, David Ruffin died on June 1, 1991 after overdosing on cocaine; he was 50 years old. On October 5, 1992, Kendricks died at the age of 52 of lung cancer, and on February 23, 1995, 52-year-old Melvin Franklin passed away after suffering a brain seizure. In 1998, the Temptations returned with Phoenix Rising; that same year, their story was also the subject of a well-received NBC television miniseries. Earresistible followed in the spring of 2000.

— Jason Ankeny

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One of the premier soul groups of all time, the Four Tops were a mainstay of the Motown sound. Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, and Lawrence Payton were boyhood friends in Detroit who gave it a go at a friend’s birthday party in 1954 and found they were pretty good at it. They stared practicing the next day and called themselves the Four Aims. Starting with school parties and church socials they worked their way onto the small club circuit and with the help of a talent agency began performing as a backup group for Billy Eckstine, Brook Benton, and Della Reese, among others.

By 1956 they became the Four Tops, thus avoiding confusion with THE AMES BROTHERS, and singed for one single with Chicago’s Chess Records. They were then singed by John Hammond to Columbia (in 1960), but only lasted long enough to cut one less-than-exciting single called “Ain’t That Love.”

By 1962 Levi and company were working on Las Vegas with Billy Eckstine when the Tops recorded a version of “Pennies from Heaven” for the jazz-based Riverside label. Still, they were unable to find a radio audience until they met up with Berry Gordy, Jr. and his hot Motown label.

Working first in a jazz vein, the group was used mainly to back up THE SUPREMS until Berry and company could find the right song and musical direction for them. Their first hit turned out to be the Supremes’ “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes” (#23).

In 1964 Motown songwriting stars Holland, Dozier, and Holland came up with a song for the Tops called “Baby I Need Your Lovin’.” Its charting in August went to number 11 Pop and R&B.

In early 1965 the Tops issued “Ask the Lonely,” one of their finest records. Though not one of their biggest hits (#24 Pop, #9 R&B), the gospeltinged inspirational rhythm ballad piqued the ears of listeners and set the Tops up for their first monster hit. In the spring of 1965, “I Can’t Help Myself” spent two weeks at number one Pop (#1 R&B, #23 U.K.). The contagious, pounding rhythm of the song most buyers called “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” helped establish the Tops as mid-‘60s favorites in the music world. In a throwback to music business style of the ‘50s, fast-moving Motown recorded their follow-up, “The Same Old Song,” on a Thursday and had it on radio by Saturday and in the stores on Monday. It reached number five Pop and number two R&B Soul hits like “Something About You” (#18 Pop, #9 R&B), “Shake Me, Wake Me” (#18 Pop, #5 R&B), and Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever” (#45 Pop, #12 R&B) made the Tops familiar faces across the country. They also were popular in England, and when they went there in 1965, that part of their tour was handled by Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

In the late summer of 1966 their most outstanding single was issued. With a Middle Eastern sound grafted on to an American soul beat, “Reach Out” made it to number one on both the pop and R&B charts, edging THE ASSOCIATION’s “Cherish” out of first place on October 15th. It also made number one in the U.K., becoming the fourth of 29 chart appearances there (by 25 different singles), making them second only to THE BEACH BOYS in the number of British hits by an American vocal group.

While Motown had the Supremes doing light, breezy material and THE TEMPTATIONS recording mostly easygoing pop-soul, Berry Gordy reserved the rockers for the Tops. “Reach Out” was followed by series of similarly driving recordings like “Standing in the Shadows (of Love)” (#6 Pop, #2 R&B), “Bernadette” (#4 Pop, #3 R&B), and “Seven Rooms of Gloom” (#14 Pop, #10 R&B).

In 1967 the group diversified their sound and cut an uncharacteristic live LP that contained standard songs like “Climb Every Mountain” and “If I Had a Hammer.” This was followed by an LP called The Four Tops on Broadway that offered several covers of show tunes.

By the end of 1967 Holland, Dozier, and Holland had left Motown to form their own label and the Tops were turning to other sources for songs. Focusing on covers of other artist’ songs, the group hit with the Left Banke’s 1966 number five hit “Walk Away Renee” in 1968 (#14 Pop, #15 R&B) and Bobby Darin’s 1966 winner (#8), “If I Was a Carpenter” (#20 Pop, #17 R&B) also in 1968.

In 1970 the historic pairing of the four Tops and the Supremes in an LP titled The Magnificent Seven yielded a soul version of Phil Spector’s Ike and Tina Turner classic, “River Deep, Mountain High” (#14 Pop, #7 R&B).

In 1972 Motown moved to Los Angeles, and the Tops, after 30 Pop hits and 28 R&B winners with Gordy’s company, moved over to Dunhill. They did this largely because of the writing talents of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who in the late fall of 1972 had had a hit with Tops on their song “Keeper of the Castle” (#10 Pop, #7 R&B). Lambert and Potter’s “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got)” kept their star rising in 1973 (#4 Pop, #2 R&B) while “Are You Man Enough” (from the film Shaft in Africa) finished at number 15 Pop and number two R&B.

In 1976 they moved over to Dunhill’s parent label ABC for a few good sides, most notably “Seven Lonely Nights” (#71 Pop, #13 R&B) and “Catfish” (#71 Pop, #7 R&B).

In 1981 they moved again, this time to Casablanca, and their release “When She Was My Girl” was their first R&B number one hit since “Reach Out” (also going to number 11 Pop).

In 1983 the Tops performed on Motown’s 25th Anniversary TV spectacular and soon after resigned with Gordy’s company while touring internationally with Temptations.

Their last Motown R&B charter was “Sexy Ways” (#21). In September 1988 they signed with Arista Records, and the single “Indestructible” became their 45th Pop hit (#35).

In 1986 Levi became the voice of Audrey II, the man-eating plant in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors.

In 1991, more than 35 years after they started, the same four vocalists were still recording and performing. Unlike other acts who had their biggest successes in the ‘60s, whenever a new Four Tops record came out it was treated like the release of a hot new group.

~ Jay Warner

The Four Tops are the most stable, consistent, and dependable of the successful R&B/pop vocal acts to emerge from Motown Records in the 1960s. Unlike the Temptations, they have had no personnel changes; unlike the Supremes and the Miracles, their lead singer never felt the need to step out on his own. At the same time, the Four Tops personified the musicalhybridMotown sought — they had the grittiness of gospel and R&B, but they were smooth enough to appeal to pop audiences.

The group was formed in Detroit in 1953 by lead singer Levi Stubbs Jr., Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Lawrence Payton, and Abdul “Duke” Fakir when they were still in high school. They recorded for several labels before signing to Motown in 1963. “Baby, I Need Your Loving” (July 1964), written and produced by the team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, was their first substantial hit, setting the pattern for a series of songs showcasing Stubbs’ emotive wail set against the Benson-Payton-Fakir harmony line. Need and longing would be the hallmarks of Stubbs’ singing on such songs as “Ask the Lonely” (January 1965), which launched a string of R&B Top Ten/pop Top 40 hits over the next two years. Its follow-up, “I Can’t Help Myself” (April 1965), hit number one and was itself followed by “It’s the Same Old Song” (July 1965), “Something About You” (October 1965), “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)” (February 1966), “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” (May 1966), “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” (a second number one, August 1966), “Standing in the Shadows of Love” (November 1966), “Bernadette” (February 1967), “7 Rooms of Gloom” (May 1967), and “You Keep Running Away” (August 1967).

At that point, the Holland-Dozier-Holland team left Motown, depriving the Four Tops of their writing and producing talent. The label at first had some trouble finding material for them, having them cover songs like “Walk Away Renee” and “If I Were a Carpenter.” In 1970, however, they rebounded with “It’s All in the Game,” “Still Water (Love),” a duet with the Supremes on “River Deep-Mountain High,” and “Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life),” all of which made the R&B Top Ten and the pop Top 40. They scored one more R&B Top Ten on Motown with “(It’s the Way) Nature Planned It” before moving to Dunhill (later acquired by ABC, then by MCA Records), where they enjoyed another string of hits, including “Keeper of the Castle” (October 1972), the gold-selling “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got)” (January 1973), “Are You Man Enough” (June 1973), “Sweet Understanding Love” (September 1973), “One Chain Don’t Make No Prison” (April 1974), and “Midnight Flower” (July 1974). They returned to the R&B Top Ten with “Catfish” (August 1976), and moved to Casablanca (since acquired by PolyGram) for the R&B number one “When She Was My Girl” (September 1981).

The Four Tops returned to Motown in 1983, and by 1988 were signed to Arista. Their hit-making days presumably behind them, they remain a solid concert act with a repertoire of favorites and a catalog that continues to be repackaged successfully.

— William Ruhlmann

1. Four Brothers (2005) (performer: “SHAKE ME, WAKE ME (WHEN IT’S OVER)”)
2. Shark Tale (2004) (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
3. Envy (2004) (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
4. Gothika (2003) (performer: “Reach Out I’ll Be There”)
5. “Six Feet Under”
   • I’m Sorry, I’m Lost (2003) TV Episode (“It’s All in the Game”)
   • Making Love Work (2003) TV Episode (“Ain’t No Woman Like The One I Got”)
6. Auto Focus (2002) (performer: “Helpless”)
7. Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) (performer: “Bernadette”, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
   • A.K.A. Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Story of the Funk Brothers (USA: promotional title)
8. Sorority Boys (2002) (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
9. Rat Race (2001) (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”)
   • A.K.A. Course folle (Canada: French title)
10. Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998) (performer: “It’s the Same Old Song”)
11. Real Women (1998) (TV) (performer: “Reach Out I’ll Be There”)
12. “Family Matters”
    • A Pirate’s Life for Me (1997) TV Episode (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
13. Flipping (1997) (performer: “REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE”)
14. Panther (1995) (performer: “Bernadette”)
15. Pontiac Moon (1994) (performer: “REACH OUT AND I’LL BE THERE”)
16. Forrest Gump (1994) (performer: “I Can’t Help Myself”)
17. A Bronx Tale (1993) (performer: “Baby I Need Your Loving”)
18. “Beverly Hills, 90210”
    • Down and Out of District in Beverly Hills (1991) TV Episode (performer: “I’ll Turn to Stone”)
19. In Country (1989) (performer: “Baby, I Need Your Loving”)
20. Buster (1988) (performer: “Goin’ Loco Down in Acapuclo”)
    • A.K.A. Two Hearts (Philippines: English title)
21. Alien Nation (1988) (performer: “INDESTRUCTIBLE”)
22. Into the Night (1985/I) (performer: “I CAN’T HELP MYSELF (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”)
23. Blood Simple. (1984) (performer: “It’s the Same Old Song”)
24. The Thing (1982) (performer: “ONE CHAIN DON’T MAKE NO PRISON”)
    • A.K.A. John Carpenter’s The Thing (USA: complete title)
25. Grease 2 (1982) (“BACK TO SCHOOL AGAIN”)
26. Shaft in Africa (1973) (performer: “Are You Man Enough?”)

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

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The harmony vocal group the Modernaires originally formed in Buffalo, NY, in 1935 (all of its members were high school pals), and were best known for singing with orchestras. Starting off as a trio (including members Hal Dickinson, Chuck Goldstein, and Bill Conway), the group would often assume a different name during these engagements, going by the Don Juan-Two and Three when they performed with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra and the Three Wizards of Ozzie during a stint with the Ozzie Nelson Band.

Soon after, the Modernaires expanded to a quartet with the addition of member Ralph Brewster, as they joined Paul Whiteman’s musical organization in 1937, leading to performances on his radio show.

The Modernaires received their big break two years later, when the one-and-only Glenn Miller asked them to record a sequel to his big hit “Make Believe Ballroom,” titled “It’s Make Believe Ballroom Time,” as they began performing regularly around the world with the Miller Band.

Further hits with Miller soon followed, including “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “Kalamazoo,” “I Know Why,” and “Juke Box Saturday Night,” as the Modernaires welcomed another member, Paula Kelly, to their ranks (who was the wife of Dickinson). The Modernaires were handpicked by Frank Sinatra in 1950 to back him up, as the group continued to record and perform steadily. Many Modernaires compilations have been issued over the years, including 2001’s The Very Best Of on the Collectables label.— Greg Prato – Paula Kelly Jr.

1. Babe: Pig in the City (1998) (“Chattanooga Choo Choo”)
2. The Glenn Miller Story (1953) (performer: “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”)
3. Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) (performer: “Glow-worm”, “South Rampart Street Parade”)
4. The Modernaires with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (1952) (performer: “The Customer is Always Right”, “Gambelia”)
5. Ted Fio Rito and His Orchestra (1949) (performer: “Olly Olly Oxen Free”, “Brush Those Tears From Your Eyes”)
6. Orchestra Wives (1942) (performer: “I’ve Got A Gal In Kalamazoo”, “People Like You And Me”)
7. Sun Valley Serenade (1941) (performer: “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, “I Know Why and So Do You”)
8. Harry Reser and His Eskimos (1936) (performer: “You Hit the Spot”)

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

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Among the most seminal R&B and doo wop groups of all time, the Moonglows’ lineup featured some of the genre’s greatest pure singers. The original lineup from Louisville included Bobby Lester, Harvey Fuqua, Alexander Graves, and Prentiss Barnes, with guitarist Billy Johnson. They were originally called the Crazy Sounds, but were renamed by disc jockey Alan Freed as the Moonglows. The group also cut some recordings as the Moonlighters. Their first major hit was the number one R&B gem “Sincerely” for Chess in 1954, which reached number 20 on the pop charts. They enjoyed five more Top Ten R&B hits on Chess from 1955 to 1958, among them “Most of All,” “We Go Together,” “See Saw,” and “Please Send Me Someone to Love,” as well as “Ten Commandments of Love.” Fuqua, the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots, left in 1958. He recorded “Ten Commandments of Love” as Harvey & the Moonglows with Marvin Gaye, Reese Palmner, James Knowland, and Chester Simmons before founding his own label, Tri-Phi. Fuqua created and produced the Spinners in 1961 and wrote and produced for Motown until the early ’70s. The Moonglows disbanded in the ’60s, then reunited in 1972 with Fuqua, Lester, Graves, Doc Williams, and Chuck Lewis. They recorded for RCA and a reworked version of “Sincerely” eventually charted, but wasn’t a major hit.

— Ron Wynn

Soundtrack/Filmography

1. Romance & Cigarettes (2005) (performer: “Ten Commandments of Love”)
2. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) (performer: “Sincerely”)
   • A.K.A. Confessions d’un homme dangereux (Canada: French title)
3. “The Sopranos”
   • Whoever Did This (2002) TV Episode (“Sincerely”)
4. A Bronx Tale (1993) (performer: “Ten Commandments Of Love”)
5. Book of Love (1990) (performer: “Sincerely”)
6. Goodfellas (1990) (performer: “Sincerely”)
   • A.K.A. GoodFellas (USA: promotional title (video box title) (poster title))
7. Christmas Vacation (1989) (performer: “Hey, Santa Claus”)
   • A.K.A. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (UK: complete title) (USA: complete title)
   • A.K.A. National Lampoon’s Winter Holiday (UK)

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

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One of the two granddaddies of vocal groups, the Ink Spots introduced a number of firsts that had a direct impact on the development of rhythm and blues in the ‘40s and rock and roll in the ‘50s. Although THE MILLS BROTHERS were successful years before the Ink Spots and turned out many more hits (71 to the Spots’ 46), each had a tremendous influence on music, the public, and future vocalists, and chances are that a group or singer influenced by the other.

Bill Kenny’s soaring tenor paved the way for Sonny Til (THE ORIOLES), Maithe Marshall (THE RAVENS), Frankie Lymon (THE TEENAGERS), Curtis Mayfield (THE IMPRESSIONS), Russell Tompkins, Jr. (THE STYLISTICS), and many others to follow. Hoppy Jones’s revolutionary talking –bass parts redefined a bass singer’s value and role in group, and his style was emulated by Jimmy Ricks (the Ravens) and almost every rhythm and blues and rock and roll bass since then. More broadly, the Ink Spots were one of the first black groups to cross the racial barrier in radio and live performances.

The ballad style for which they gained fame came about by chance and was not part of their original sound. The group met in Indianapolis, Indiana, around 1931. The original members were Ivory “Deek” (Deacon) Watson (lead), formerly of the swing group the Four Riff Brothers (1929) and before that the Percolating Puppies (1928), a vocal band influenced by Duke Ellington and McKinney’s Cotton Pickers; Charlie Fuqua (second tenor and baritone), the uncle of MOONGLOWS lead singer Harvey Fuqua; Jerry Daniels (first tenor), who sang with Charlie in the vaudeville team Charlie and Jerry.

The latter duo had started out harmonizing and playing guitar and ukulele (Jerry) and four-string banjo and guitar (Charlie). Deek Watson met them at Charlie’s shoeshine stand in Indianapolis near the old Stutz automobile factory (famous for the Stutz Bearcat cars). They formed a trio called the Swingin’ Gate Brothers and later King, Jack and Jester (1931), and launched their career on a 15minute radio show on WHK in Cleveland.

They moved on to Cincinnati’s WLW, doing commercials for CBC (Crosley Broadcasting Company), and were announced by a young Red Barber, later a great sportscaster. At this time, one of the aforementioned Four Riff Brothers, Orville “Hoppy” Jones. Joined the group on bass vocals and standup bass—actually a re-tuned cello. The resulting group sound drew from vaudeville jazz band music.

The quartet came to New York in early ‘30s and immediately ran into a name conflict with the already famous Paul Whiteman orchestra group, the King’s Jesters. The problem was solved by Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom owner and new group manager, Moe Gale, who simply sat down and thought up the name the Ink Spots.

They started out with a 15-minute show on New York’s WJZ radio. Unlike most black acts of the time, they were being accepted at white performance venues, allowing them to play the Apollo one day and the Waldorf Astoria the next.

The foursome’s first encounter with recording happened on January 4, 1935, at RCA Studios, and in the same month RCA issued their first release, “Swingin’ on the Strings”/ “You Feet’s Too Big.” When two 78s went nowhere, the group broadened its popularity by leaving the country, doing transatlantic radio broadcasts over London’s BBC in the winter of 1935.

In early 1936 Moe Gale took notice of Bill Kenny, the winner of an amateur contest at the Savoy Ballroom, and brought him into the group. With the addition of the new member, Jerry Daniels left the Sports and moved to Indianapolis, later singing with local acts like the deep Swingin’ Brothers and the Three Shades.

That same year the Ink Spots signed with Decca and on May 12, 1936, waxed “T’ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do” and a rerecording of “Your Feet’s Too Big,” issued as their first two sides. The group began doing package shows with other Gale acts like Ella Fitzgerald and Moms Mabley.

Over the next three years the group, with Deek usually on lead, tried everything from Gershwin ( “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”) to vocal versions of big-band tunes like “Stompin’ at the Savoy..” but by the end of 1938, after 10 singles, nothing had really grabbed the public’s interest. About this time, Billy Kenny met 25-year-old Johnny Smith of the Alphabetical Four, a group that sang both gospel and blues. Smith became a swing man filling in on occasion when someone was unavailable.

The group was in the verge of calling it quits as bookings were down and record sales had never been up. Then, on January 12, 1939, the history of popular music took an important turn thanks to a young aspiring songwriter named Jack Lawrence. He brought a composition he’d written to a Spots session that was supposed to be for the recording of a jive song, “Knock-Kneed Sal.” The group worked up Lawrence’s ballad, “If I Didn’t Care.” With Kenny doing his now famous quivering tenor lead and Hoppy improvising his talking bass bridge.

A lot of people did care, as it turned out. Issued in February of 1939, by April 15 the song had charted in Billboard and reached number two within weeks, selling a million copies to a board spectrum of listeners.

The fate of Lawrence’s catalog of compositions is indicative of the potential sentimental and financial value of songs: it was sold more than 30 years later for over half a million dollars. Along with “If I Dind’t Care” was a song Jack wrote for his lawyer’s daughter in 1938 called “Linda.” His lawyer’s name was Lee Eastman, and Eastman’s offspring later married a man named Paul McCartney. That’s right—the Beatles’ Paul McCartney. And the buyer of Lawrence’s songs? Why, Paul McCartney, of course.

Hit after hit in the style of “If I Didn’t Care” came forth from the Ink Spots and Decca, including “Address Unknown” (#1, 1939), “My Prayer” (#3, 1939, later a hit for THE PLATTERS), “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano” (#4, 1949), “Maybe” (#2, 1949), “We Three” (#1, 1949), “Do I Worry” (#8, 1941), “I Don’t Want to set the world on Fire” (which was #4 in December 1941), and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (#2, 1943).

The group broke attendance records wherever they appeared, performing with Glenn Miller’s Orchestra, Lucky Millinder’s Band, and countless others, and they even did films line The Great American Broadcast in 1941 and Abbott and Costello’s romp, Pardon My Sarong. A 1944 radio poll voted them the number two favorite singing unit behind Fred Waring’s Glee Club and ahead of greats like THE ANDREWS SISTERS.

In mid-1943Charlie Fuqua joined the service and hand-picked his replacement, Bernie Mackey from Indianapolis.

From August 1942 to September 1943 the musician’s union strike put a halt to any new recordings, but the Spots still placed four singles on the charts (out of only five releases), including “Ever Night About This Time” (#17, 1942), “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (#2, 1943), “If I Cared a Little Bit Less” (#20, 1943), and “I’ll Never Make the Same Mistake Again” (#19, 1943). The group’s arranger during most of the war years was Bill Doggett, who went on to work with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jourdan, and his own combo in 1952. In ’56 he had hits for King on “Honky Tonk” (#2 Pop, #1 R&B) and “Slow Walk” (#26 Pop, # 4 R&B).

In late 1944 Deek Watson, who had at odds with Bill Kenny for some time, left to form his own Ink Spots but was stopped by a court injunction; he renamed his new group Deek Watson and THE BROWN DOTS. Bill Bowen of McKinney’s Cotton Pickers took Deek’s place.

On October 18, 1944, Hoppy Jones’s booming bass was stilled forever when he died at the age of 39. He was replaced later by former GOLDEN GATE QUARTET member Cliff Givens. There were more transitions: Huey Long took over for Mackey, Herb Kenny (Bill’s brother) replaced Givens, and in late 1945 Fuqua returned to replace Long (who never recorded with the group).

Decca wanted to keep the Ink Spots on the charts as often as possible, even if they didn’t have enough new material to justify it. Thus from 1945 through ’48, they issued 35 78s of which 17 singles contained recordings that were as many as five years old.

In 1949, Herb Kenny moonlighted with a trio for a while. In 1951 Adriel McDonald, the group’s valet (and former nonrecording member of the Cabineers) subbed for Herb Kenny when he missed a radio show, and he became the full-time replacement. Herb went on to record for Federal (“Only You”) in 1952 as lead of Herb Kenny and the Comets. The Comets were actually a white group called the Rockets that used to back up Perry Como. Herb recorded with them on MGM for five singles in 1952 and 1953.

As friction grew in 1952, both Bill Bowen and Charlie Fuqua exited. An explosion of groups tried to cash in on the name the Ink Spots. Bowen formed Billy Bowen and the Butterball Four (MGM); Fuqua formed his own Ink Spots, but was taken to court by Bill Kenny. Fuqua won, so his new group, with Harold Jackson, Jimmy Holmes, and Leon Antoine, joined King Records for nine quality singles between late 1953 and 1955. Essix Scott replaced Antoine during the latter sessions.

Bill Kenny, meanwhile, was doing a lot of solo work during the early ‘50s, while forming yet another Ink Spots, this one including Adriel McDonald, Jimmy Kennedy, and Ernie Brown. The group’s demise came in 1953 when they were asked to appear on an Ed Sullivan-sponsored show for returning Korean war vets. Kenny okayed the deal but told the group he was appearing solo and couldn’t afford to pay them. The group had had enough and split. Sullivan was so furious that he listed Kenny at the bottom of the bill.

Though the originals sang together no more, Ink Spots groups sprang up like weeds. Kenny was once vacationing in Las Vegas during the mid-‘70s and found three groups posing as the Spots at the same time. At the beginning of the 1990s, over 40 groups claimed to be the Ink Spots. Fill-in Johnny Smith supposedly had exclusive authority from Bill Kenny’s window to represent the group. Watson had the rights but sold them to Bill Kenny in the 40s for $20,000.

Such was the value of the name for fans as well as future vocal groups. Many of their recordings were copied and reworked for new generations in later years. The Platters made a career of covering Ink Spots songs. Bobby Day and the Satellites (actually THE HOLLYWOOD FLAMES) did “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano”; the Sharps did “We Three”; THE HEARTS “Until the Real Thing Comes Along”; THE ISLEY BROTHERS and THE BELMONTS covered “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”; the Roommates did “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening”; BILLY WARD AND THE DOMINOES cut “The Gypsy”; the Orioles revived “I Cover the Waterfront”; and James Brown and His Famous Flames covered “Prisoner of Love.” There were many more.

Charlie Fuqua died in 1970 at the age of 60. Deek Watson passed away in November of 1969, and Bill Kenny died in 1978.

– Jay Warner

Soundtrack/Filmography

1. The Aviator (2004) (performer: “Do I Worry”) (“Cow Cow Boogie”)
2. Breakfast of Champions (1999) (performer: “Stranger in Paradise”)
3. Sphere (1998) (performer: “I’m Making Believe “, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore “)
4. Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game (1997) (VG) (performer: “Maybe”)
   • A.K.A. Fallout (International: English title: short title)
5. Trees Lounge (1996) (performer: “I Understand (Just How You Feel)”, “Either It’s Love Or It Isn’t “, “I Never Had A Dream Come True “)
6. Twenty Bucks (1993) (performer: “The Best Things in Life Are Free”)
7. Malcolm X (1992) (performer: “My Prayer”)
   • A.K.A. X (USA: poster title)
8. Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) (performer: “I Cover the Waterfront”)
9. Spontaneous Combustion (1990) (performer: “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire “)
10. Drei D (1988) (“Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”)
11. Radio Days (1987) (performer: “If I Didn’t Care”)
12. Maria’s Lovers (1984) (performer: “It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie “)
13. Blade Runner (1982) (writer: “If I Didn’t Care “) (performer: “If I Didn’t Care “)
14. Raging Bull (1980) (performer: “Cow Cow Boogie”, “Whispering Grass”, “Do I Worry”)
15. Pardon My Sarong (1942) (performer: “Do I Worry”, “Shout, Brother, Shout”, “Java Jive”)
16. The Great American Broadcast (1941) (performer: “I’ve Got A Bone To Pick With You”)

• Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database