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Home , At My Front Door, Barbara Acklin, Betty Everett, Billy Butler (guitarist), Bo Diddley, Calvin Carter

By Harry Weinger

h e g r e a te st h a r m o n y g r o u p o p ment,” “Pain in My Heart” and original all time, thrilled au­ versions of “Oh W hat a Nile” and “Stay diences with their amazing in My Comer.” After the Dells survived vocal interplay, between the a nasty car accident in 1958, their perse­ gruff, exp lore voice of Mar­ verance became a trademark. During vin Junior and the keening their early down periods, they carried on high tenor of Johnny Carter, thatwith sweet- innumerable gigs that connected T the dots of postwar black American- homeChicago blend mediated by Mickey McGill and Veme Allison, and music history: schooling from Harvey the talking bass voice from Chuck Fuqua, studio direction from Willie Barksdale. Their style formed the tem­ Dixon and , singing back­ plate for every singing group that came grounds for and Bar­ after them. They’ve been recording and bara Lewis (“”) and tours touring together for more than fifty with . years, with merely one lineup change: A faithful helped the Dells Carter, formerly ©f reinvigorate their career in 1967. By the (t ool Hall of Fame inductees), replaced end of the sixties, they had enough clas­ Johnny Funches in i960. sics on Cadet/Chess - including “There Patience and camaraderie helped the Is,” “Always Together,” “I Can Sing a Dills stay the course. Starting out in the Rainbow/Love Is Blue” and brilliant suburb of Harvey, , in remakes of “Stay in My Comer” and “Oh, 1953, recording for Chess subsidiaries What a Night” (with a slight variation in Checker and Cadet and then Vee-Jay, the its title) - to make them R&B chart leg­ Dells had attained Hall of Fame merit by ends. Their hits of the era, most pro­ the mid-sixties as a doo-wop group, duced by Bobby Miller, are tender and with jewels like “Dreams of Content­ terrifying, the pinnacle of Chicago soul. The Dells remained vital for decades more. Still on Chess in the early seven­ ties, the group delivered “The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind),” a stunning ballad coproduced by Barksdale with , the renowned Chess staffer who had been arranging the group’s hits and would soon help trans­ form Earth, Wind & Fire into a pop powerhouse. Following a couple of ambi­ Left: Mickey McGill, Marvin Junior, Chuck Barksdale, Johnny C arter and Verne tious concept , the single “Give Allison (clockwise from top left) Your Baby a Standing Ovation,” released Clinton and P-.“ When ABC folded, The Dells, live in the group slipped back into a Chicago Chicago, circa i9 6 0 Doo-wop legends comfort zone, working with Carl Davis and the Chi-Lites’ , producing the modem clas­ and masters of sics “I Touched a Dream” and “Passionate Breezes,” as w ell as a spectacular third version of “Stay in My Comer” for Chi- the slow jam_____ Sound/20th Century Records in the early 1980s. While not huge hits, they deserved to be: The singing is supple, the grooves mesmerizing, the sound sublime. in 1973, was their first certified million-seller. That same year, Yet after a few singles for Private I, the group was without a Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, who had been together as label in the mid- to late eighties. They’d survived longer than long as the Dells, finally broke through with lead singer Teddy most of their contemporaries, but the silence stung. Then Pendergrass, a Philly soul version of Marvin Junior. actor-director came into their fives. In 1991, In the mid-seventies, the Dells dove into several genres. Townsend, hot with the satirical film Hollywood Shuffle and con­ They moved to , another great Chicago label, cert documentary Raw, was developing The Five where they hit with “We Got to Get Our Thing Together” and -Heartbeats, a fictional film about a classic soul-singing group. the -flavored “Our Love.” On the ABC label, “Super The Dells became Townsend’s consultants and confidants and, Woman” was a minor hit; they also cut tracks with George ultimately, singers of the movie’s theme , “A Heart Is a House for Love.” W hen the song stormed the charts - where it then sat next to Boyz II Men, heirs to their vocal throne - the Dells became the sole artists after to have hits in the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. In the new millennium, the group embraced the Internet age, creating their own Web site, developing associations with cyber-businesses and starting their own label, Dells, Way. They recorded a new for the reactivated Volt in 2000. In 2001, the Dells established the Open Up Your Heart Foundation - its moniker inspired by the name of one of their cherished Chess hits - to assist families of the blue-collar workers killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Touring in good and bad times Is the Dells’ bread and but­ ter. The second edition of “Stay in My Comer,” their biggest hit, is based on the stage-show rendition of the original. Oddly, the guys have never recorded a five album. They’re still on the road; maybe that, too, w ill come. Doo-wop legends and masters of the slow jam, the Dells are survivors, with dignity and class. They are five bad brothers, v now part of a select few who have long admired their gifts and Hall o f Famer Dinah W ashington w ith th e Dells followed their lead. Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. — x “A prime example of lasting power"

Jerry "the Geator" Blavat on the Dells' dedication, passion and unity ......

My introduction to the Pells groups. For a brief period in freedom to play music from material, whether it be was in 1958 when i was on the fifties, Chuck Barksdale the heart, a upbeat or a slow jam, they tou r with Irving Feld's sang wish research chart. And I made had the ability to capture Cavalcade of Stars, and also with Otis Williams sure that everything the any musical mood. featuring R8B and rock8 and the Charms. On the 1958 Dells were recording, along Throughout the years, roll artists, going from city version o f "Oh What a Nite,” with from the early what has impressed me toijfifty. And there I was in Chuck was not part o f the years, such as “Dry Your most about these guys I® ...... Chicago, where we had a Dells, w ith Calvin C arter Eyes" and "Dreams o f th a t as musical trends and layover. As it was in those singing on that classic Contentment," were part tastes came and go, the recording. Johnny Carter,, o f « show. My audience Dells have been able to

days, if other artists were appearing in town, we who up unt® i9 6 0 was flipped. change their harmonies jumped to catch them. singing with the Flamingos* In 1965, ju s t as I was to suit the time® without sacrificing their power, their On the bill a t the Windy would later replace Johnny afeWit to begin my TV show, City's Regal Theatre were Funches in the Dels. But on The DiScophonic Scene, sound, their originality or the Moonglows, Dee Clark the show that evening,the Leonard sent me a dub ftf* that incredible presence. and the Cool Gents, the D itit original guys~ with their Chess o fT ta ttl L o v e liia f.X Of all the legendary and . Jerry combination o f gospel, soul backed with 'There Is.” groups th a t came from Butler at that time had just and passionate harmony- Leonard'told me that the the Windy City, the Delliiipfe recorded "For Your Precious to r# th e house down.TheirV. actioiB^wiica g o was on, ■ a prime example o f lasting Love." The host fo r the harmony was as tig h t as five "Ooh ItOve You.” But. power. Through dedication, evening was the Magnificent fingers belonging to one fist. became o f my TV show's passiphi unity, love and Montague, and I was Even though they had no real dancers, I went with 'There sacrifice, they exemplify ■ backstage with some o f the hits afef$§il time, they were Is.® busted wide open, with, what is so special about legends o f the recording looked upon by other leftists the Geator Gold Dancers our industry. They have . iridustry: (who as the group to emulate. And creating a line dance to It. remained true to their with her husband, James whenever I was working a On my radio show, I played c ra ft and to each other. Bracken, owned Vee-Jay show at the Apittoor the “Goh | Love You" In FftlSy the They never sold apt. If Records], along with her Paramount theaters, other record became a two-sided you've ever caught them brother, , and groups would always talk h it-a n d it was the Dells’ '®|t®nd seen the audience's ■ my dear friend . about the Dells and th a t turning point in the sixties. reaction* fou know why ...... Also stopping by was unique harmony. I, too, was The dynamic interplay o f they're an inspiration to , who knew hooked on it. Marvin's lead baritone and every young performer who Chicago backward, forward In 1960, when I began in Johnny's lead tenor, chooses to enter show and upside down. In the early radio, discjockeys had the combined with the group's business, and to every one flawless harmonies, was like o f us who ©insiders rock 8

days, every one o f the ; ...... groups on the bill at one The original lineup, w ith netting anyone had ever roll and R8B our career and ...... — tba® or another recorded Johnny Funches (fa r rig h t] heard. No m atter what the our home. □ fo r either Vee-Jay or Chess.

What I observed ......

backstage that; night was ■■— — ■ ■ ■ ■ — a sense o f family. Show business. Everyone knew everybody. Even though each group was vying to outdo the others, they were all-part of that sp ecial s h o w - b ualna St magic and camaraderie. When one group was# ( onstage performing, harmonizing and steppin', the other groups were in the audience, watching and learning. As a m atter o f fact, many members o f the groups who were there that rig h t had a t some point performed with other o c k & r o l l a r o s e i n t h e m i d -19 5 0 s o u t o f t h e vernacular musical world of country & western, By Robert Pruter R&B, and gospel. In the South, such roots music came out of the cotton fields, honky-tonks and churches, and up North it was the music of big cities, much of it coming from the mean, streets and rowdy tavernsR of the black neighborhoods. That takes us to In the , the labels Chess and Chicago, which - like two other significant postwar record­ Vee-Jay recorded blues and RSB ing centers, New York and - became a major artists whose music influenced fount of early rock & roll, primarily because it had a popu­ lation of some eight hundred thousand African-American the rock revolution of the residents, who over decades had built a rich musical tradi- Above le ft: Chess artist . Above right: The Flamingos, who found national stardom on Chess.

tion in the clubs and taverns and on the street comers of Chance and Parrot, among others. Chance founder Art their neighborhoods. Sheridan led the way in recording doo-wop, cutting sides But the geography of black Chicago was more than the tra­ with the Flamingos and the Moonglows. Originally an ditional black settlement areas on the city’s south and west indie, Mercury, run by the colorful Irving Green, signed sides. The city was the center of a vast metropolitan area that influential doo-wop group , as well as such white extended into African-American communities in the suburbs vocal harmony outfits as the Diamonds (“Li’l Darlin’ ”) and to the south (Harvey and Chicago Heights), the west (Maywood the Crew Cuts (“Sh-Boom”). and LaGrange) and the north (Evanston and Waukegan), and The two leading labels, though, were Chess and Vee-Jay, across the state line into Indiana (Gary and Hammond). which grabbed the bulk of the city’s R&B market, record­ Thus, during the post-World War II era, Chicago became ing two basic kinds of performers: the newly electrified a key rhythm & blues recording center. Dozens of small and urbanized country-blues singers and the street-comer labels arose at this time - United, Vee-Jay, Chess, Mercury, doo-wop groups. western and . He developed his Vee-Jay recording Chicago was a key music in the clubs of St. Louis and across artists the the Mississippi in East St. Louis and its Spaniels, who environs. Berry knew he needed to travel produced the R&B and blues to Chicago to find a label. He made con- label's firs t hit tact with , and the blues- recording center man directed him to Chess, a million-dollar referral if there ever was one. With his unaccented, clear diction (read “white”) and teen-oriented lyrics on such hits as “,” “School Day” and “Johnny B. Goode,” Berry became one of the most popular rock & roll stars to come out of rhythm & blues. From Chess Records was founded as Aristocrat in 1947, and in 1955 to 1964, Berry was Chess Records’ biggest hitmaker.. 1950, after Leonard and Phil Chess took it over, it became started out as a street musician on Forty-seventh Chess. The label was built on recording the blues, notably Street - the main commercial drag of the city’s South Side - and Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, but in 1955 Chess intro­ didn’t get into the clubs until he signed with Chess in r955. duced two of the decade’s major rock & rollers: a former Compared to Berry, Diddley brought a deeper blues sensibility black hairdresser from St. Louis called Chuck Berry and a to his form of rhythm & blues. He was best known as the dis­ Chicago-bred street performer named Bo Diddley. seminator of the ferocious beat featured on his signature tune, Berry’s music, in particular, virtually defined rock & roll: It “Bo Diddley,” and on “Who Do You Love?,” “” and a host was uptempo rhythm & blues influenced by both country & of other classics. But from his street-musician days, Bo Diddley developed a cornucopia of sounds, record- Vee-Jay artist ing everything from downhome blues (Tm a Man”) to doo-wop (“I’m Sorry”). The Flamingos were the last Chicago vocal group to emerge from the city’s vibrant club scene. They weren’t a street-comer group, and from their beginnings in 1951, they performed in the city’s nightclubs. Except for lead singers Sollie McElroy and later Nate Nelson, the group - cousins Ezekial (Zeke) Carey and Jacob (Jake) Carey and cousins Johnny Carter and Paul Wilson - were all related and were all black Jews. With stays at Chance and then at Parrot, the Flamingos produced some of the best vocal harmony of the postwar rhythm & blues era. The Flamingos were itching to achieve prominence as national rock & roll stars, a status they felt they merited. It would happen at Chess, with “I’ll Be Home,” released on the company’s Checker subsidiary in jf 56. The record became the Flamingos’ biggest hit up to that time, lifting them from just another bird-group R&B act to internationally famous enter­ tainers. As pioneering rock & roll stars, they appeared in two of DJ ’s quickie movies, Rock Rock Rock (1956) and Go Johnny Go (1958). The Flamingos later recorded for End in New York with much greater success - who can forget “I Only Have Reed was the Eyes for You”? - but it was in Chicago and at Chess that they became nationally known. biggest crossover The Moonglows - Bobby Lester (lead and tenor), (lead and baritone), Pete Graves (tenor) and Prentiss Bames (bass) - were formed ip in 1950 and came act of the 1950s under the aegis of Freed. If any vocal group signaled the birth of rock & roll - whereby rhythm & blues emerged from black subculture into mainstream teen culture - it was the Moon- decided to expand their operation into a label. Shortly after­ glows. The group appeared in the first rhythm & blues con­ ward, two extraordinary acts, the Spaniels and Jimmy Reed, certs sponsored by Freed in Cleveland and later performed in walked into the inquiring about recording oppor­ Freed’s rock & roll movies during the height of the DJ’s fame tunities, and the label was launched. Within months, Vee-Jay and impact. Freed took them to Chicago and moved to Chicago. Other principals of Vee-Jay were Vivian’s in late 1953. The first Chess disc for the Moonglows was their brother, Calvin Carter, who served as the company’s A&R outstanding and best-known ballad, “Sincerely,” released in director and producer, and Ewart Abner Jr., who joined the December 1954. The record shot to the Number One position company as its chief administrator. Recording a variety of on Billboard’s R&B chart and lasted an outstanding twenty , blues, doo-wop, soul, rock & roll and gospel, Vee-Jay weeks there. It was the Moonglows’ first national hit. The eventually became the biggest black-owned company in the Moonglows quickly became Chess’ biggest doo-wop group, country (prior to ). Vee-Jay initially established itself recording such hits as “Most of All” (1955), “We Go Together” as a recording-industry powerhouse with blues - primarily (1956) and “Ten Commandments of Love” (1958). Jimmy Reed and - and doo-wop groups, notably the Spaniels, , the Magnificents, the Vee-Jay Records Kool Gents and the Dells. Vee-Jay was founded by Jimmy Bracken and Vivian Carter in Jimmy Reed, with his famous laid-back drawling delivery the spring of 1953. The couple, who later married, had been accompanied by his harmonica blowing and rudimentary operating a record store in Gary, Indiana, for several years and guitar strumming, was Vee-Jay’s first signing. Reed soon emerged not only as one of the biggest blues acts in the coun­ try but also as the biggest crossover blues act of the 1950s, making him a bona fide rock & roll hitmaker, with such clas­ sic numbers as “You Don’t Have to Go” (1955), “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” (1956), “You’ve Got Me Dizzy” (1956), “Hon­ est I Do” (1957), “Baby W hat You Want Me to Do” (i960) and “Bright Lights Big City” (1961). With the rock & roll teeny- boppers, Reed was bigger than such titans as B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Joe Turner. The Spaniels came out of the street-comer doo-wop tradi­ tion, and all hailed from Roosevelt High in Gary. The group produced Vee-Jay’s first hit, “Baby, It’s You,” in September 1955. The following year, the Spaniels crossed over into the rock & roll market with their signature ballad, “Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite,” and a steady succession of hits followed. The group has become universally recognized as one of the great doo*- wop groups of the 1950s, harmonizing with superb tightness and expertise. Unlike many fifties groups, the Spaniels ------received fine, crisp production from their Chess artist record company. The group’s lead vocalist, Bo Diddley James “Pookie” Hudson, w ith his smooth tenor In 1952, doo-wop was becoming all the rage and use of just a touch of vibrato, ranks as one of the out­ standing voices of the 1950s, as does the Spaniels’ terrific bass, Gerald Gregory, whose low-register vocalizing out front mim­ icked magnificently the sounds of the saxophone and pro­ vided a solid bottom to the vocal harmony. Another of Vee-Jay’s most significant groups was the El Dorados, who created a genuine folk art by blending their voices with a special understanding of the role of timbre in harmony and by composing songs that were in tune with the rock & roll revolution. As in any R&B form, the presumed The Moonglows were one of the firs t hot doo-wop groups, audience was a black one, but in the early days of rock & roll, recording fo r Chance and Chess, signaling the birth of rock 6 roll the music was of such popularity - including that of the El Dorados - that it transcended ethnic categories and touched She had rented the rink and invited groups to challenge the base with all youth. The El Dorados began on the South Side, Spaniels, her only doo-wop signing at the time. The El Dora­ at Englewood High School, in late 1952. At that time, doo­ dos won, but their first releases for Vee-Jay failed to find an wop was becoming all the rage, and the impact was felt in audience outside the city limits. the black high schools of the city as kids began forming The El Dorados achieved a spectacular breakthrough in the groups to practice in hallways, parks and street comers. By fall of 1955, when “” became an explosive hit. mid-1954, the El Dorados - at this point consisting of lead The record’s appeal was based on equal parts the El Dorados Pirkle Lee Moses, plus Jewel Jones, Richard Nickens, Arthur and the backing band. The El Dorados, w ith natural ease and Basset and James Maddox - had developed a considerable swing, pushed their energetic vocals through the song with reputation in the city. They had already won one talent con­ great rock ff roll verve, especially in Moses’ fine lead work and test, after being organized by Chicago’s premier DJ, A 1 Ben­ tenor squalling. The backing band led by A1 Smith created one son, when they were invited to participate in a competition of the most memorable opening riffs in rock & roll, and with­ at the Park City Skating Rink, conducted by Vivian Carter. out Vemel Fournier’s propulsive drumming and the great sax An early promo pic o f 2004 Hall o f Fame inductees th e Dells, w ith their original lead tenor vocalist Johnny Funches (center)

After a brief stay at Chess, the Dells signed to Vee-Jay

nized as Chicago’s first soul record, “For Your Precious Love,” by and the Impressions. This seminal group included not only supreme soul balladeer Jerry Butler but also the great talent , whose songwriting and influential guitar style for the Impressions, as well as innu­ break by Red Holloway, the song The El Dorados scored a merable other Chicago acts, established the city as a center would have been far less. big hit fo r Vee-Jay in 1955 of . After getting its first million-seller in r 962, “At My Front Door,” a Num- w ith "A t My F ro n t Door" with the last great song of the doo-wop era, ’s ber One R&B hit, introduced “,” Vee-Jay built a new legacy in soul music w ith the El Dorados to the rock & roll revolution. The year 1955 such acts as Jerry Butler, and Joe Simon, as well was the heaviest year for pop covers of R&B hits, and Dot as Chandler. Records rushed out a version of the song with its preemi­ The producer of “Duke of Earl,” Carl Davis, went on to nent cover singer, . His version reached Number become the city’s biggest producer of soul hits, first for OKeh Seven on the B illboard pop chart, while the El Dorados’ (Major Lance, Walter Jackson, Artistics, Billy Butler) and original peaked at Number Seventeen, which was no small then for Brunswick (Chi-Lites, , , shakes. As a result, the El Dorados were invited to make a ). memorable appearance on The Show. Capitalizing on its-success w ith Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley The El Dorados’ next record, “I’ll Be Forever Loving You,” and doo-wop groups, Chess revitalized itself in the early backed with one of their greatest ballads, “I Began to Realize,” 1960s with new R&B artists and back-room producing and was released in December T955 and proved to be the group’s writing talent and established itself as primarily a soul label. only other national chart record. ' Its soul stable included such acts as a reorganized Dells, Etta Vee-Jay’s other significant group of the 1950s was the Dells, James, , and . who at the time consisted of Johnny Funches (tenor lead), At the same time, the music that Chess and Vee-Jay had Marvin Junior (baritone lead), Verne Allison (tenor), Mickey created in the 1950s - by such bluesmen as Muddy Waters, McGill (baritone) and Chuck Barksdale (bass). The group was Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker, and by formed in 1953 in its hometown of Harvey, one of Chicago’s seminal rock & rollers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley - south suburbs. After a brief stay at Chess, recording a became one of the crucial musical streams that fed into the mediocre record as the El Rays, the Dells signed with Vee-Jay rock revolution. The music of these artists influenced and in 1955. They established themselves locally in early 1956 inspired myriad bands practicing in the garages of the with a beautiful ballad, “Dreams of Contentment,” and then city’s suburbs - such as Shadows of Knight, the Bucking­ broke out as a national act with their signature’ballad, “Oh hams and American Breed - and well beyond Chicago’s What a Nite.” The song went to Number Four on the Billboard environs: Its legacy could be seen in the work of the Beach R&B survey and appeared on so many regional pop charts Boys, the Allman Brothers Band, such that it emerged as a standard rock & roll ballad. groups as , , and , and later . Little did the founders The Legacy of Chess and Vee-Jay of Vee-Jay and Chess realize that when they started up What Chess and Vee-Jay established in the 1950s laid the their family-run enterprises, they would be creating a body foundation for what the two labels accomplished during the of music that would spread worldwide and survive into 1960s soul era. In 1958, Vee-Jay recorded what is now recog- the next millennium. o