The Four Knights

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The Four Knights
General information
Genre (s) R'n'B , gospel
founding 1943
resolution 1966
Last occupation
Gene Alford (until 1960)
Second tenor, guitar
John Wallace
Clarence Dixon (1944-1963)
Oscar Broadway

The Four Knights were a black American R'n'B vocal quartet.

Career

The Four Knights were originally a black gospel group that has evolved into a blues singing group over the course of their career. The most outstanding feature of their music was the particularly soft and carefree harmony singing.

In her hometown of Charlotte , North Carolina , the local radio station WSOC-Carolina became aware of the Four Knights. After that, they often appeared on radio shows under their original group name Southland Jubilee Singers . In 1945 they first appeared under the name The Four Knights in New York on Arthur Godfrey's radio show. The first recordings were only made for the radio and were not commercially available. In 1946 the Four Knights signed their first real record deal with Decca Records . Her debut record was Just In Case You Change Your Mind .

With the first success, the Four Knights were able to carry out their first tour of clubs in the surrounding area. Capitol Records became aware of the new voices as early as 1951 and produced a large number of vocal recordings with the Four Knights, which even made them into the R&B charts, with I Love The Sunshine Of Your Smile (position 23), (It's No) Sin (position 14), O Happy Day (position 8). The tracks (It's No) Sin and Oh, Happy Day also made their way into the singles charts, making the group one of the first R&B groups to be successful in the pop market.

From 1953 the Four Knights went uphill. They went on world tours in live clubs from Las Vegas to South America . They appeared on American television on the Perry Como Show and also on Ed Sullivan . In 1954 they sang in the legendary black music theater Apollo . In 1954 the group had their biggest hit with the title I Get So Lonely , which reached number 3 on the pop charts and was listed in the charts for 23 weeks. Another milestone in her career was Nat King Cole's offer to be his companion group. In 1955 The Four Knights accompanied the musician on his recording A Blossom Fell . The Four Knights had no more chart successes after their hit I Get S Lonely , only in 1959 their single O Falling Star reached number 83 in the singles charts.

In the early 1960s, the group broke up. Many vocal groups had been pushed into the background in the course of the beat and rock music groups. At the Four Knights there were also health problems of the band members. Gene Alford died in 1960. Clarence Dixon left the group in 1963 and John Wallace died in 1978.

style

The musical style of the Four Knights is clear, well-accented group singing with rather spartan instrumentation. Similar well-known groups of this genre were z. E.g .: The Four Aces , The Four Lads , The Four Freshmen , The Four Preps , The Platters , The Lancers , The Penguins , The Five Keys The Aquatones and many more.

Discography

Here is a selection of their most famous titles:

  • Just In Case You Changed Your Mind (1946 DECCA)
  • Walking With My Shadow (1946 DECCA)
  • Sentimental Fool (1951 Capitol)
  • Walking And Whistling Blues (1951 Capitol)
  • I Go Crazy (1951 Capitol)
  • In The Chapel In The Moonlight (1951 Capitol)
  • Charmaine (1951 Capitol)
  • I Wish I Had A Girl (1952 Capitol)
  • Oh Happy Day (1952 Capitol)
  • Tennessee Train (1953 Capitol)
  • A Blossom Fell (1955 Capitol)
  • Perdido (1955 Capitol) and much more.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Records 1940-1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 23
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 222

literature

  • Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 30-32

Web links