The Platters
The Platters was an American doo-wop group that was successful in the 1950s with some ballad-like million-seller . Her greatest successes were Only You , My Prayer , The Great Pretender , Twilight Time and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes .
discovery
The group in the original formation with Tony Williams (first tenor), Gaynel Hodge (tenor), David Lynch (tenor), Alex Hodge (baritone) and Herb Reed (bass) was founded in August 1953 by Ralph Bass , the boss of the King subsidiary label Federal Records discovered. On September 15, 1953, a first recording session took place with this line-up, from which four songs emerged.
The first single was from this gospel-like ballad Give Thanks / Hey Now chosen, which was published as Federal # 12153 in October 1,953th Like a follow-up single, the record remained without hit parade resonance. Another session was scheduled for March 16, 1954. When in April 1954 the third single Roses of Picardy / Beer Barrel Polka (Federal # 12181) was released, Buck Ram had taken over the management of the group. The record showed that the Platters had not yet found an identifiable sound. Ram responded and replaced Gaynel Hodge with Zoletta Lynn "Zola" Taylor , who was in front of the microphone in the third recording session on May 20, 1954. One of the four recordings was Only You (And You Alone) , composed by manager Buck Ram. The recording was so bad that label boss Ralph Bass rejected it. Due to further sound improvements and personnel changes, no chart positions for the seven Federal / King singles could be achieved.
Mercury Records
Federal therefore lost interest in the Platters and released the group from their contract. In April 1955 they received a recording contract with Mercury Records , who had booked a studio for April 26, 1955. Among the five recordings was the new recording by Only You , which even the A&R boss of Mercury Records Bob Shad did not like. Manager Buck Ram, however, insisted on recording the song in which he can be heard on the piano. Reluctantly, Mercury had the ballad released with the B-side Bark, Battle and Ball (Mercury # 70633) in May 1955.
The success surprised everyone involved. It reached first place in the Rhythm & Blues chart, where it stayed for seven weeks. At the same time, it achieved an immense crossover success when it also climbed to fifth place in the pop charts, good evidence that the ballad had developed into a million seller. The follow-up single The Great Pretender / I'm Just a Dancing Partner , released on November 3, 1955, sold 1.8 million copies; A million copies went over the counter in France and made the song the first French million seller. On February 18, 1956, the record reached first place in the US pop hit parade for two weeks. Now the Platters had found their sound and were able to consolidate it with further hits. They established themselves as one of the most famous black vocal groups of their time.
On March 21, 1956, the Platters were presented in the music film Rock Around the Clock with Only You and The Great Pretender accompanied by the Ernie Freeman combo. A number of hits followed, including My Prayer , a 1924 cover version of Georges Boulanger's Avant de mourir , Twilight Time , a 1944 cover version of the Three Suns hit - with Buck Ram singing along - and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes , a cover version by Tamara Drasin from 1933, each reached number 1 on the pop charts. These singles became million sellers. A total of 46 singles were created at Mercury by November 1964 after My Prayer . In addition, Mercury brought out 18 LPs with the hardly varied sound, a style "that brought banality to a point where it touched with true inspiration".
statistics
They recorded over 400 songs that sold 100 million copies worldwide. The Platters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. The Platters are still active today: In March 2008 they performed in Stuttgart in the Schleyer Hall at the Porsche Oldie Night .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1966 | I Love You 1,000 Times Musicor 2091 |
- |
US100 (6 weeks) US |
R&B12 (17 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1966
Producer: Garry Sherman |
More studio albums
- 1956: The Platters ( Mercury 20146)
- 1956: Volume Two (Mercury 20216)
- 1957: The Flying Platters (Mercury 20298)
- 1957: The Platters (Federal Records 549)
- 1958: The Flying Platters Around the World (Mercury 20366)
- 1959: Remember When? (Mercury 20410)
- 1960: Reflections (Mercury 20481)
- 1960: Encores ( Wing Records 12112)
- 1961: Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries! (Mercury 20589)
- 1961: Encore of Broadway Golden Hits (Mercury 20613)
- 1962: Song for the Lonely (Mercury 20669)
- 1962: All Time Movie Hits (Mercury 20782)
- 1963: Sing of Your Moonlight Memories (Mercury 20759)
- 1963: The Platters Sing Latino (Mercury 20808)
- 1963: Christmas with the Platters (Mercury 20841)
- 1964: The New Soul of the Platters: Campus Style (Mercury 20983)
- 1964: Platters 10th Anniversary Album (Wing Records 1174)
- 1966: Have the Magic Touch ( Musicor 2111)
- 1967: Going Back to Detroit (Musicor 2125)
- 1967: In the Still of the Night (Pickwick 3120)
- 1968: Sweet, Sweet Lovin ' (Musicor 3156)
- 1968: I Get the Sweetest Feeling (Musicor 3171)
- 1969: Singing the Hits Our Way (Musicor 3185)
- 1973: The Platters in Person and You Are There (Antler Records 101)
- 1977: Reborn (Antler Records 102)
- 1981: 25th Anniversary (Melody-Rex / Antler 251981)
- 1984: This Time Around (HMC Records 840218)
- 1986: Greatest Hits (feat. Paul Robi; Jango Music Corporation 775)
- 1994: A Christmas Album ( Polygram )
swell
- ^ A b Jay Warner: American Singing Groups . 2006, p. 276.
- ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records . 1985, p. 91 f.
- ↑ Nik Cohn: AWopBopaLooBopALopBamBoom . English version, 1969, p. 111.
- ↑ Cord G. Coslor. In: The Archive News Magazine , December 1999 issue
- ↑ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Platters in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- ↑ Chart sources: UK US
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
Web links
- Herb Reed & the Platters website
- The Platters at Rock 'n' Roll AG
- Detailed biography of Marv Goldberg