They were huge in the Black community, but they were also one of a relative handful of R&B acts that developed a small but fiercely loyal following among younger white listeners during the early '50s, which didn't matter a lot at the time but helped plant a seed that blossomed into the full-blown rock & roll boom four years later. What made the Dominoes special, besides the excellent arrangements and McPhatter's unique voice, was their appeal beyond the usual racial lines. Riding the wave of demand for their performances off of that hit - one of the first great double-entendre records of the '50s, and a very early example of what would be considered a "rock & roll" record - the group spent the next seven months on the road, building up a lot of public good will and a reputation as one of the top R&B acts of the era. The Dominoes, with McPhatter's high tenor lead, had a startlingly fresh sound and enjoyed a number six R&B hit in early 1951 with one song from their first session, "Do Something for Me." It was in May of that year that the group broke through to the top of the R&B charts with "Sixty Minute Man," which also established them as one of the leading crossover acts between gospel and blues.
THE DOMINOES SERIES
The Dominoes won a series of talent contests, including a competition on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which got them a lot of engagements and an audition with Ralph Bass, the head of the newly established Federal Records (part of Syd Nathan's King Records) during the final months of 1950. It was from the ranks of his ex-students that he recruited the original members of the Dominoes: Clyde McPhatter (lead singer), Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass). Following his military service during World War II, Ward studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where he later became a voice coach he also began working on Broadway during the late '40s.
Before he was in his teens, Ward was good enough on the organ to play at his father's services and he won a composition award at age 14 from Walter Damrosch, the celebrated New York music educator, composer, and administrator. Billy Ward, born Septemin Los Angeles, had a minister father and a musician mother, and was a musical prodigy as a child, schooled in classical music theory and composition as well as performance. A lot of R&B acts came out of a gospel background, and Bo Diddley even studied violin as a boy, but rare is the R&B vocal group whose founder was trained at Juilliard.
The Dominoes (also sometimes known as Billy Ward & the Dominoes) had one of the finest musical pedigrees of any R&B vocal group of the 1940s, at least based on its founder's training and experience.
0 kommentar(er)
