Popular Music Since 1955

R & B Vocal Groups in the 1950s

I Gospel-Influenced Vocal Groups (Sacred & Secular)

A. Black Vocal Groups Combine elements of Gospel, Jazz and Barbershop harmony styles from the early 1920s

Example: Monarch Jazz Quartet: What is the Matter Now? (1929)
- looks ahead to "Do-wop" in differentiation of voices
- despite cheerful tone, actually a lament

B. Gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers, Pilgrim Travelers, and the Dixie Hummingbirds were popular from the 1930s through the 1950s, along with commercial R&B vocal groups, the sweet-voiced "Inkspots" and their imitators

C. Some early attempts to "secularize" the intensity of the fervent gospel style (in the context of a vocal group) were extremely secular, sometimes sexually explicit, as in Hank Ballard's "Work with Me Annie," and the Dominoes "Sixty Minute Man" (1951)

D. The most important early group to secularize the group gospel style was Billy Ward & the Dominos (with Clyde McPhatter as lead singer)

1952 "Have Mercy Baby"
- gospel-like call and response vocal exchange,
- short, varied over-lapping melismatic phrases
- sax solo with vocal interjections
- atypical of the gospel style in its use of a blues progression
- (Lead singer McPhatter goes on to record with the Drifters until 1954; replaced by Jackie Wilson)

E. A few other groups continued in the gospel-infl. style, e.g., the Clovers and the Five Royales

II Groups Specializing in Smooth Ballad Style

A. Fame of the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots spawned a host of imitators

Early example: The Five Breezes: "My Buddy Blues" (1940) ("off to enlist" blues)
- rougher and more blues-like than the Mills Bros. or Inkspots (sidemen are really blues specialists, like guitarist Willie Dixon)
- Still, effort to be "smooth" and use of sustained chords underneath lead vocalist and final "wordless do-op" section clearly indebted to Mills Bros. and Inkspots

B. Ravens and the Orioles continue this smooth ballad style into the late 1940s and 1950s

C. In the 1950s, groups like the Platters, Moonglows and the Flamingos have success in the pop charts with this style

Platters' "Only You" (1955)
- Throbbing piano triplets become standard
- emotive, mannered vocal against sustained chords typical, with B.V. voices actively "filling in" at ends of phrases
- some harmonies borrowed from TPA ballad tradition (e.g., major 7th chords)
Platters' "The Great Pretender"
- theme derived from TPA tradition
- language more "adult," almost "literary e.g., "I'm Wearing My Heart Like a Crown"
- stylistically similar to above, but more active B.V.
- Later success with "Twilight Time," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Harbour Lights," "To Each His Own," "I'll Never Smile Again" etc.; some success into late 1960s
Moonglows' "Most of All"
- similar format: emotional soloist over smooth, sustained B.V.
- Moonglow's also influenced by the more rhythmically active do-wop, evident in the bridge
Flamingos (1959): "I Only Have Eyes for You" Smooth treatment of a TPA pop ballad

D. Black Vocal groups may have as much sociological significance as musical significance

first representatives of black musical culture to appear on TV and to be played by DJ's on major radio stations
Showed that R&B based style could be socially acceptable and successful if the lyrics and performer's image were sufficient innocent

III Do-Wop

A. More rhythmically active vocal group style with clear differentiation between roles of voices (based on imitation of instruments): melody in high tenor with falsetto countermelody and fill, middle voices fill in chords with repeated rhythmic figures, bass moves independently etc.

B. Examples

The Chords: "Sh-Boom" (1954)
The Crew-Cuts: (Cover) "Sh-Boom" (1955)
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" (#6, 1956)
The Diamonds: "Little Darling" (#2, 1957)
The Silhouettes: "Get a Job" (#1, 1957)
The Coasters: "Yakety-Yak" (Leiber-Stoller)
The Coasters: "Charlie Brown" (Leiber-Stoller; sax solo by King Curtis)
The Coasters: "What About Us?" (Leiber-Stoller)

Last Update 6/21/06