#1 R&B Song 1956: “Treasure of Love,” Clyde McPhatter
Born: Blues man Junior Kimbrough, 1930
*******************************************************************************************
1956 The Avons’ “Our Love Will Never End” ($200), the Drifters. “Soldier of Fortune” ($30), the Moonglows’ “See Saw (#24 pop, #6 R&B), and the Coasters. “Brazil ($60) werw all released.
1956 Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers charted with “I Promise To Remember,” reaching #10 R&B and #57 pop. The song was a cover of a Jimmy Castor & the Juniors recording. Castor, who sounded amazingly like Lymon, replaced Frankie in the group in 1957.
1958 The Quintones’ doo-wop classic, “Down the Aisle of Love,” was issued. It reached #18 pop, and #5 R&B.
1958 Jerry Butler & the Impressions’ “For Your Precious Love” charted, reaching #3 R&B (#11 pop). The group was originally known as the Roosters. Butler started out with the Northern Jubilee Gospel singers and then joined a doo-wop group called the Quails. “Precious Love” had been released on three different labels (Vee Jay, Falcon, and Abner) before finally succeeding and is considered one of the earliest examples of R&B music developing into soul.
1973 Barry White’s sultry single, “I’ve Got So Much To Give” charted, reaching #5 R&B and #32 pop. Barry started out as a bass singer (not surprising) with three Los Angeles are vocal groups, the Upfronts, the Atlantics, and the Majestics. Unlike many aspiring acts of the time,each of Barry’s groups had at leaset one single released.
1979 The Crusaders, a much heralded jazz, blues, and R&B band, had their biggest success with the single “Street Life” (one of my all-time favourites)—-(#17 R&B, #36 pop). The vocals by Randy Crawford helped to initiate her career. The band of tightly-hone musicians became tremendously active behind the scenes, contributing their expertise to more than 200 gold albums.
1994 Patti LaBelle, Ruth Pointer, and Bette Midler performed “Over The Rainbow” at the Harbor Lights Pavillion in Boston during LaBelle’s current tour.
Ann
