The Velvets

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The Velvets (Engl. The Velvet ) was an American doo wop group from Odessa in West Texas . The African American quintet was founded in 1959 by Virgil Johnson, a high school English teacher , with four of his students. Roy Orbison heard the group and got her a contract with Monument Records in 1960 . The first release was the piece of That Lucky Old Sun . The most successful single was Tonight (Could be the Night) , which reached number 26 on the American Billboard charts in 1961 . The pieces That Lucky Old Sun and Tonight (Could Be the Night) briefly reached 46th and 50th respectively in the British single charts in 1961 . The then published piece Laugh reached number 90 and after about 6 more singles the group broke up in 1961.

A total of about 30 pieces were recorded. These were released in 1996 on a compact disc by Ace Records .

Members

  • Virgil Johnson, lead
  • Will Solomon, baritone
  • Mark Prince, bass
  • Clarence Rigsby, lead tenor (1947–1978, died in a car accident)
  • Robert Thursby, tenor

Individual evidence

  1. Biography , Allmusic.com
  2. ^ Nite, Norm N. Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n 'Roll (The Solid Gold Years) . Thomas Y. Crowell (1974), 630.
  3. a b Billboard Singles , Allmusic.com
  4. David Roberts: British Hit Singles & Albums , 19th edition, Guinness World Records Limited, London 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 , p. 584.
  5. ^ The Complete Velvets . Allmusic.com
  6. Deadrockstars.com - (June 2009)
  7. The voices according to the biography , on allmusic.com