The Olympics
The Olympics were an American singing group that enjoyed pop and rhythm and blues (R&B) music in the 1958s and 1960s .
Members
- Walter Ward (born August 28, 1940 in Jackson, Mississippi , † December 11, 2006 in Northridge (California)), lead singer
- Charles Fizer (born June 3, 1940 in Shreveport , Louisiana - † August 14, 1965), baritone
- Walter Hammond, baritone
- Eddie Lewis (* Houston , Texas ; † May 31, 2017), tenor, cousin of Ward
- Thomas Bush and Melvin King (bass) replaced Hammond
- Julius McMichael (born November 25, 1935, † 1981) came for Charles Fizer
history
The forerunner of the Olympics was the group The Challengers , which had been founded in 1954 by Walter Ward in Compton (California) , and appeared in the same line-up as the Olympics for the transition to the Olympics except for the retired pianist Marcus Banks. In 1958, the Challengers released a single on the Melaton record label, titled I Can Tell and The Mambo Beat .
In the same year, the remaining four singers Ward, Fizer, Hammond and Lewis gave themselves the name "The Olympics" and signed a record deal with the Demon label. Their first demon single was already successful, as the title Western Movies was included in the Hot 100 hit list by the US music magazine Billbord , where the title rose to eighth place. In the R&B charts, Western Movies came one place better to seventh place. Then Charles Fizer temporarily left the group and was replaced by Melvin King. Walter Hammond finally got out, for whom Thomas Busch and shortly afterwards Melvin King again. In 1959 the Olympics switched to the Arvee record company and also made it to the Hot 100 (95th place) with their debut single and the title Private Eye . By 1963, the Olympics published ten singles on Arvee, of which Big Boy Pete was the most successful at number ten in the R&B charts. In 1965, Arvee released Big Boy Pete '65 , a late- comer record with the Olympics. Between 1963 and 1965 the Olympics each had short-term engagements with the record companies Tri Disc, Duo Disc and Loma, during which time nine singles were produced. Among them, Tri Disc's record sold best with the song The Bounce , which came in at number 40 (Hot 100) and 22 (R&B). That summer, Charles Fizer was killed in the Watts riot in Los Angeles . Since Melvin King also left the group, Ward brought Julius McMichael to replace the two, together with Lewis the Olympics only appeared as a trio for several years.
Most recently, in 1966, the record company Mirwood released regular Olympics singles. Of the six records, the recordings Mine Exclusively and Baby, Do the Philly Dog were able to place themselves well in the R&B charts, they reached positions 25 and 20. They were the last chart successes of the Olympics, followed by individual productions by each different record companies came. In 1971 Kenny Sinclair completed the group again to form a quartet. In the 1980s, the Olympics disappeared from the record market, but continued to perform at public concerts. Julius McMichael was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1981.
Discography
Albums
| title | Catalog no. | published |
|---|---|---|
| Doin 'The Hully Gully | Arvee 423 | 1960 |
| Dance By the Light Of The Moon | Arvee 424 | 1961 |
| Party time | Arvee 429 | 1961 |
| Do the bounce | Tri-Disc 1001 | 1963 |
| Something Old, Something New | Mirwood 7003 | 1966 |
| Arvee Singles Plus | Acrobat | 2005 |
| Collector's Gold Series | Empire Music | 2007 |
| Golden oldies | Essential Media Mod | 2011 |
| Dance by the light of the moon | Essential Media Mod | 2011 |
| Doin 'the Hully Gully | Essential Media Mod | 2011 |
| Party time | Essential Media Mod | 2011 |
Singles
| From page | Catalog no. | published |
|---|---|---|
| Demon | ||
| Western Movies / Well | 1508 | 6.1958 |
| Dance With the Teacher / Ev'rybody Needs Love | 1512 | 11.1958 |
| The Chicken / Your Love | 1514 | 2.1959 |
| Arvee | ||
| Private Eye / Baby Hully Gully | 562 | 7.1959 |
| Big Boy Pete / The Slop | 595 | 5.1960 |
| Shimmy Like Kate / Workin 'Hard | 5006 | 8.1960 |
| Dance By the Light of The Moon / Dodge City | 5020 | 11.1960 |
| Little Pedro / Cappy Lewis: Bull Fight | 5023 | 2.1961 |
| Dooley / Stay Where You Are | 5031 | 5.1961 |
| Mash Them 'Taters' / The Stomp | 5044 | 11.1961 |
| Everybody Likes to Cha Cha Cha / The Twist | 5051 | 2.1962 |
| The Scotch / Baby, It's Hot | 5056 | 5.1962 |
| What'd I Say (Part 1) / What'd I Say (Part 2) | 5073 | 5.1963 |
| Big Boy Pete '65 / Stay Away From Joe | 6501 | 5.1965 |
| Tri disc | ||
| Fireworks / The Bounce | 106 | 3.1963 |
| Dancin 'Holiday / Do the Slauson Shuffle | 107 | 4.1963 |
| Bounce Again / A New Dancin 'Partner | 110 | 6.1963 |
| The Broken Hip / So Goodbye | 112 | 2.1964 |
| Duo disc | ||
| The Boogler (Part 1) / The Boogler (Part 2) | 104 | 4.1964 |
| Return of Big Boy Pete / Return of the Watusi | 105 | 9.1964 |
| Loma | ||
| I'm Comin 'Home / Rainin' in My Heart | 2010 | 1.1965 |
| Good Lovin '/ Olympic Shuffle | 2013 | 5.1965 |
| Baby I'm Yours / No More Will I Cry | 2017 | 7.1965 |
| Mirwood | ||
| We Go Together / Secret Agents | 5504 | 1.1966 |
| Mine Exclusively / Secret Agents | 5513 | 4.1966 |
| Baby, Do the Philly Dog / Western Movies | 5523 | 8.1966 |
| The Bounce / The Duck | 5525 | 9.1966 |
| I'll Do a Little Bit More / The Same Old Thing | 5529 | 11.1966 |
| Big Boy Pete / Hully Gully | 5533 | 1.1967 |
| Parkway | ||
| Lookin 'For a Love / Good Things | 6003 | 3.1968 |
| Jubilee | ||
| The Things That Made Me Laugh / The Cartoon Song | 5674 | 9.1969 |
| Warner bros. | ||
| Girl, You My Kind of People / Please, Please, Please | 7369 | 1.1970 |
Chart placements
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1958 | Western Movies |
UK12 (8 weeks) UK |
US8 (14 weeks) US |
R&B7 (7 weeks) R&B |
|
| (I Wanna) Dance with the Teacher | - |
US71 (5 weeks) US |
- | ||
| 1959 | Private Eye | - |
US95 (1 week) US |
- |
with (Baby) Hully Gully on a single
|
| 1960 | (Baby) Hully Gully | - |
US72 (7 weeks) US |
- |
with Private Eye on a single
|
| Big Boy Pete | - |
US50 (14 weeks) US |
R&B10 (17 weeks) R&B |
||
| Shimmy Like Kate |
UK40 (1 week) UK |
US42 (11 weeks) US |
- | ||
| Dance by the Light of the Moon | - |
US47 (11 weeks) US |
- | ||
| 1961 | Little Pedro | - |
US76 (4 weeks) US |
- | |
| Dooley | - |
US94 (1 week) US |
- | ||
| 1963 | The bounce | - |
US40 (10 weeks) US |
R&B22 (1 week) R&B |
|
| Dancin 'Holiday | - |
US86 (6 weeks) US |
- |
Melody based on the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt
|
|
| 1965 | Good lovin ' | - |
US81 (5 weeks) US |
- | |
| 1966 | Mine Exclusively | - |
US99 (2 weeks) US |
R&B25 (6 weeks) R&B |
|
| Baby, do the Philly Dog | - |
US63 (6 weeks) US |
R&B20 (10 weeks) R&B |
||
literature
- Martin Popoff : Standard Catalog of American Records 1948–1991 . Krause Publications, Iola 2010, ISBN 978-1-4402-1131-7 , p. 871
Web links
swell
- ↑ Chart sources: UK US
- ↑ US R&B singles: Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn presents Hot R&B Songs 1942-2010 . Billboard Books, New York 2011, ISBN 0-89820-186-1 .