** Among the many "Good Times" in my career, I had the privilege in 1984 to work with "Paul Robi's WORLD FAMOUS PLATTERS", featuring Paul Robi, Beverly Hanson, Elmer Hooper and Bea Jaye Mitchell. The distinction from this and any other "Platters" format is that Paul (upper right) was an ORIGINAL member of the Platters in the 50's. There have been numerous versions throughout the years (most of which NEVER contained ANY original members) which toured under the Platters name banner. These "other" groups were usually created under the leadership of a former manager or agent which had nothing to do with the GROUP itself, only the NAME.

The Platters

The Platters were the first black artists to have a number one single on the pop charts. Their style was in the tradition of the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots. They were the most popular vocal group during the first five years of the rock era.

The Platters signed a management contract with Buck Ram in 1954. Buck decided to add a female to The Platters. He recruited 15-year-old Zola Taylor from the girl group, Shirley Gunter and the Queens.

The Platters was signed to Federal Records, where they first released ...Only You... which didn't do very well. But they worked consistently, often earning $150 a night. The Platters eventually signed with Mercury Records.

The Platters' first release on Mercury Records was a new recording of "Only You." It did not do well at first, but a Seattle DJ, played the record, creating a demand that turned it into a national hit.

Mercury Records was anxious for a follow-up. Buck Ram said he had the tune...."The Great Pretender." Although he hadn't written it yet, he went back to his hotel and in 30 minutes, wrote ...The Great Pretender. Tony Williams the lead singer for The Platters didn't want to sing it because it was a 'hillbilly' song." After much discussion, Ram insisted they do it and it became a great smash.

An English songwriter, offered several of his songs to the group, and the one Buck liked best was "My Prayer," a French song originally written as "Avant de Mourir." It was the first song ever written that had a slow introduction and verse, then the chorus. Mercury would not release "My Prayer," then they heard the Four Aces were recording it. The minute they heard that, they rushed it out. ...My Prayer... became a number one hit in August 1956.

Mercury Records was quietly working on a major new technique for getting plugs via the mushrooming media of TV shows. The label had produced two three-minute films, one featuring The Platters. And so was born the music video.

The Platters Hit Songlist   Number 1's  indicated in Red.

"Only You (And You Alone" ('55 #1 R&B, #5 Pop)

"The Great Pretender" ('55 #1 R&B, #1 Pop)

"(You've Got) The Magic Touch" ('56 #4 R&B, #4 Pop)

"My Prayer" ('56 #1 R&B, #1 Pop)

"Heaven On Earth" ('56 #39 Pop)

"You'll Never Know" ('56 #11 Pop)

"It Isn't Right" ('56 #13 Pop)

"On My Word Of Honor" ('57 #20 Pop)

"One In A Million" ('57 #20 Pop)

"I'm Sorry" ('57 #11 Pop)

"He's Mine" ('57 #5 R&B, #16 Pop)

"My Dream" ('57 #24 Pop)

"Twilight Time" ('58 #1 R&B, #1 Pop)

"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" ('58 #3 R&B, #1 Pop)

"Enchanted" ('59 #12 Pop)

"Harbor Lights" ('60 #8 Pop)

"Red Sails In The Sunset" ('60 #36 Pop)

"To Each His Own" ('60 #21 Pop)

"If I Didn't Care" ('61 #30 Pop)

"I'll Never Smile Again" ('61 #25 Pop)

"I Love You 1000 Times" ('66 #6 R&B, #31 Pop)

"With This Ring" ('67 #14 Pop)

The Platters Singles

1954 - Give Thanks/Hey Now, I'll Cry When You're Gone/I Need You All The Time, Roses Of Picardy/Beer Barrel Boogie, Tell The World/Love All Night, Shake It Up Mambo/Voo-Vee-Ah-Bee, Take Me Back, Take Me Back/Maggie Doesn't Work Here Anymore, Only You/You Made Me Cry, Tell The World/I Need You All The Time, Give Thanks/I Need You All The Time, My Name Ain't Annie/Flip, Please Have Mercy/Oochi Pachi, Only You/Voo Vee Ah Bee

1955 - Only You( And You Alone)/ Bark, Battle and Ball, The Great Pretender/I'm Just A Dancing Partner

1956 - (You've Got) The Magic Touch/Winner Take All, My Prayer/Heaven On Earth, You'll Never Know/It Isn't Right, On My World Of Honor/One In A Million

1957 - I'm Sorry/He's Mine, My Dream/I Wanna, Let's Start All Over Again/When You Return, Only Because/The Mystery Of You

1958 - Helpless/Indifferent, Twilight Time/Out Of My Mind, You're Making A Mistake/My Old Flame, I Wish/It's Raining Outside, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes/No Matter What You Are

1959 - Enchanted/The Sounds And The Fury, Remember When/Love Of A Lifetime, Where/Wish It Were Me, My Secret/What Does It Matter

1960 - Harbor Lights/ Sleepy Lagoon, Ebb Tide/(I'll Be With You In) Apple Blossom Time, Red Sails In The Sunset/Sad River, To Each His Own/Down The River Of Dreams

1961 - If I Didn't Care/True Lover, Trees/Immortal Love, I'll Never Smile Again/You Don't Say, Song For The Lonely/You'll Never Know

1962 to 1965 - It's Magic/Reaching For A Star, More Than You Know/Every Little Movement, Memories/Heartbreak, I'll See You In My Dreams/Once In A While, Here Comes Heaven Again/Strangers, Viva Ju Juy/Cuando Calienta El Sol, Java Jive/Row The Boat Ashore, Sincerely/P.S. I Love You, Love Me Tender/Little Things Mean A Lot

1966 - I Love You 1000 Times/Don't Hear, Speak See No Evil, Devri/Alone In The Night (Without You)

1967 - With This Ring/If I Had A Love, Washed Ashore/What Name Shall I Give You My Love, Sweet Sweet Lovin'/Sonata, Love Must Go On/How Beautiful Our Live Is, Think Before You Walk Away/So Many Tears, Hard To Get A Thing Called Love/Why

1968 - I'll Be Home/(You've Got) That Magic Touch

1969 - Fear Of Loving You/Sonata, Run While It's Dark/Won't You Be My Friend, If The World Loved/Sunday With You

1970 - Guilty/My Ship Is Coming In, Personality/Who's Sorry Now

1977 - Here Comes The Boogie Man/Only You (Disco)

1982 - I Do It All The Time/Shake What Your Mama Gave You

General Info

The Platters recorded just under 400 songs, have sold well over 80 million records, performed in over 91 countries, and have received over two hundred and thirty awards from all over the world. The Platters have appeared in twenty seven movies. Herb Reed is the man who named and organized The Platters in 1953 in Los Angeles, Ca. The group members were just four guys having fun. A few months later, The Platters were doing an amateur show and Federal Records saw them perform with Herb Reed singing the lead. By this time, David Lynch had taken Joe Jefferson's place and Tony Williams had replaced Cornell Gunther. Bass signed the group to it's first recording contract. Later that same year, they were introduced to Buck Ram, who decided early in 1954 that it would be a good idea to add a female to the group. Soon after, Zola Taylor was added to the group. Paul Robi replaced Alex Hodge in August of 1954 In 1955 they signed a recording contract with Mercury Records and put that company on the international map with their hits. There is only one original member, Herb Reed, left to carry on the good will of the name "The Platters" Since organizing the group, Herb Reed has never stopped performing and sells out wherever he goes. Herb Reed and The Platters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

 

On August 7, 1992 : Tony Williams dies at the age of 64.

On January 2, 1981: David Lynch dies at the age of 52.

On June 1, 1989: Paul Robi dies at the age of 57.

A Biography by: Dan Del Fiorentino

The Platters were one of popular music's most successful vocal groups during the 1950s and early 60s. The team's vocal harmony and smooth tones not only complemented the strands of Rock And Roll but gave way to commercially successful doo-wop. The Platters were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950's, selling 53 million records and being among the first doo-wop groups to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. The original members were; Tony Williams, the lead vocalist , David Lynch, tenor , Alex Hodge, baritone, who was soon replaced by Paul Robi , Herb Reed, bass, and Zola Taylor. Their manager and producer Buck Ram (Buck died in 1991).

The Platters were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950's, selling 53 million records and being among the first doo-wop groups to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame (1990). The original members were; Tony Williams, the lead vocalist (Tony died in 1992), David Lynch, tenor (David died in 1981), Alex Hodge, baritone, who was soon replaced by Paul Robi (Paul died in 1989), Herb Reed, bass, and Zola Taylor. Their manager and producer Buck Ram (Buck died in 1991).

Here is their story: The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1953. The original members were lead singer Tony Williams, bass Herb Reed, tenor David Lynch, and Alex Hodge. They were under the direction of music entrepreneur Ralph Bass for a time before management of the group was taken over by Buck Ram. Buck Ram had been born Samuel Ram in Chicago in 1907. Although he had graduated from law school, he never practiced law and instead went into the music and entertainment business. Buck worked as an arranger for Mills Music. He wrote songs, gave voice lessons, toured with some bands, and managed his own group, the Three Suns. In 1954 he formed a talent agency in Los Angeles and began to work with a group of high school students who called themselves the Penguins. Early in 1955 the Penguins became one of the first black acts to crack the top ten on the pop charts with Earth Angel [Will You Be Mine]. Buck took over The Platters from Ralph Bass and made some changes to the group, replacing Hodge with baritone Paul Robi. He also moved a female singer from another act that he was promoting, Shirley Gunther and the Queens, into The Platters. She was Los Angeles native Zola Taylor. Ram then took a song that he had written called Only You [And You Alone] and had the revised lineup record it on the Mercury label. It was a song that the old group had recorded on Federal, but Federal had chosen not to use it. Buck also brought the Penguins to Mercury. Although the Penguins had already had a major hit on DooTone with Earth Angel, they would never again place a song in the top forty. For The Platters, however, it was a different story.

The recording of Only You made by the revised group on the Mercury label entered the charts in October, 1955. This was an era in which it was a common occurrence for R&B songs to be covered by white acts, and the cover would usually be the one that got air time by disc jockeys. Only You was quickly covered by such a group, the Hilltoppers, which had been formed at Western Kentucky College. The Hilltoppers' version on Dot entered the charts about six weeks after the version done by The Platters for Mercury, and it went to number eight. But The Platters did even better ... their recording shot up to number one on the R&B chart and crossed over to the pop chart, where it reached number five. The Platters followed it up almost immediately with another song that had been written by Buck Ram, this time with even more success. The Great Pretender was the first number one pop song for The Platters. A very popular song in 1956, it was satirized by Stan Freberg. In the 80's it was covered by Lester Bowie and by Freddie Mercury and Queen, who had a big hit with it in the UK.

In the 1956 film Rock Around The Clock, Alan Freed included performances by The Platters of both Only You and The Great Pretender. The group was somewhat different from others that had gone before it, and featured some innovations that gave the group a great appeal in the 50's. Lead singer Tony Williams had trained by singing in Church gospel groups, and his voice was resonant. The group was often accompanied by strings, and having a woman as part of the assembly was not common in a doo-wop group at the time. Their songs were popular at parties when it came time to play a slow dance number. The first black act of the rock era to reach number one on the pop chart, The Platters helped to break the monopoly that the white acts had on covers of some very good R&B songs.

After their initial success, the group went on to record 33 more pop hits on Mercury by 1962. In 1956 they reached the top ten again with [You've Got] The Magic Touch. Buck brought in Sammy Lowe to arrange a song that had been made popular previously by Vera Lynn and Sammy Kaye, My Prayer. It became the group's second number one pop song. The Platters revived some old songs from the 30's and 40's. A song for which Buck had written the lyrics in 1938 and which had been done by Buck's group, the Three Suns, was recorded by The Platters and Twilight Time topped the charts in 1958. An old classic by Jerome Kern, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, was revived and went to number one. Harbor Lights, a hit for Sammy Kaye in 1950, was issued and reached the top ten. More old standards were released: If I Didn't Care [the Ink Spots], I'll Never Smile Again [Tommy Dorsey], Red Sails In The Sunset [Bing Crosby, Tab Hunter, Guy Lombardo], and others. Inevitably, changes within the group began to occur. Some members of The Platters were arraigned on vice charges in 1959 and later acquitted, and the group managed to retain its clean-cut image.

Tony Williams left to go solo in 1961, and was replaced by Sonny Turner. Zola Taylor was replaced by Sandra Dawn. Paul Robi left the group. Nate Nelson, a former member of the Flamingos, joined The Platters in 1966. The group had some success with a few songs on which Sonny Turner sang lead, including I Love You 1000 Times and With This Ring, both of which had been co-written by Luther Dixon and released on the Musicor label. Some of the members of The Platters began to have a falling out. In 1956 Buck Ram had tried to avert these kind of troubles after he had seen what had happened with the Ink Spots. He had established The Five Platters Inc. and had issued shares to the members, with the provision that none could use the group name after leaving The Platters. It didn't work. Other competing groups began to appear, including one led by Herb Reed. Lawsuits were filed and injunctions were issued. The Platters' final top forty song, With This Ring, left the charts in 1967. David Lynch and Paul Robi both died of cancer, in 1981 and 1989, Buck Ram died at the age of 83.

Some compilations of The Platters' songs are not originals. The best sources for original recordings are those issued by Mercury or a two-disc Anthology issued by Rhino. There are several groups still touring as The Platters, although some do not have even a remote connection to the original group. Biography by: Dan Del Fiorentino of the amazing jazzhall web site http://www.jazzhall.org DISCOGRAPHY

 

Click HERE to view an actual chord chart supplied by The Platters for their guitarist. Each band member recieved his own copy to keep.

© 1999/2006 Strickl@ndWorld Productions

Disclaimer: The information contained in this document was "FREELY" found on the web. If you are the owner and would like to have me remove your material due to copyright infringement, I will be happy to comply.

E-mail me at: mr_guitar.1@email.com .

Except for the photos of me playing with The Platters , my personal pictures of Paul Robi etc., and the general layout of the page, you are welcome to copy all photos and dialogue. I only placed this on the web as a documentation of some of my past adventures :-)

mgs

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