Four King Cousins

Last updated
The Four King Cousins
Also known asThe Five King Cousins
OriginHollywood
GenresPop
Years active1966 (1966)–1979, 2009–present
Labels Capitol Records
Members Tina Cole
Cathy Cole Green
Candy Conkling Brand
Carolyn Cameron
Past membersJamie Conkling
Websitefourkingcousins.com

The Four King Cousins are an American female harmonizing pop singing group.

Contents

Born into a show business family, the members are daughters of the singing group The King Sisters. Sisters Tina Cole & Cathy Cole Green are the daughters of King Sister Yvonne King, and musician Buddy Cole; Candy Conkling Brand is the daughter of King Sister Donna King and music executive Jim Conkling, Carolyn Cameron is the daughter of original King Sister Maxine Thomas and King Family performer LaVarn Thomas. Tina, Cathy, Candy, and Carolyn are all cousins.

The members of the Four King Cousins made their individual professional television debuts, along with their mothers, as part of the extended family of musical performers known as the King Family. The King Family starred in two network musical variety television series titled The King Family Show, in addition to seventeen syndicated television specials which aired for over a decade.

Beginnings

Following the successful run of The King Family’s initial ABC television series, sisters Tina & Cathy Cole, along with their cousins Carolyn Thomas, and Candy & Jamie Conkling, joined the cast of NBC’s Kraft Summer Music Hall during the summer of 1966. The group, then billed as The Five King Cousins, were featured in the show’s youthful ensemble of performers which included host John Davidson, and comedians Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson and George Carlin. The series led to a nationwide concert tour with John Davidson and George Carlin. Before the tour began, Jamie Conkling left to pursue her education at Brigham Young University, and thus the group officially became The Four King Cousins.

Television appearances

The Four King Cousins appeared on musical variety and talk shows of the day including The Hollywood Palace , Operation: Entertainment (where they entertained the troops at military bases around the country), The Don Knotts Show , Della (the Della Reese Show), The Barbara McNair Show, The Pat Boone Show, The Donald O'Connor Show , The Merv Griffin Show , It's Happening, The Joey Bishop Show , The Mike Douglas Show and as semi-regular guest-star performers on The Jonathan Winters Show. The Four King Cousins also made a series of appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where they joined the Mighty Carson Art Players in comedy sketches.

Concurrently they were appearing on the King Family's syndicated series of television specials including "Thanksgiving with the King Family", "Christmas with the King Family", "Valentines Day with the King Family", "Mother's Day with the King Family", "Backstage with the King Family", "Holiday Cruise with the King Family", "The King Family in Washington DC" and others. The group also headlined the King Family’s second ABC television variety series, becoming star performers on The King Family Show during the 1969 season.

Throughout the 1970s the group continued to appear on television. They joined the King Sisters and Diahann Carroll as guest stars on ABC’s "Christmas in New York", sang with Dionne Warwick on ABC TV’s bicentennial show "The Great American Music Celebration", appeared on The Merv Griffin Show , and later joined a list of star performers including Dick Clark, Fred MacMurray, Ron Howard, Barry Manilow and The Lennon Sisters on ABC’s "Silver Anniversary Celebration."

Concurrent with her performances with The Four King Cousins, Tina Cole also established herself as an actress on television series including Hawaiian Eye and Adam-12 and in particular starring as Katie Douglas (wife of Don Grady’s Robbie) for five seasons on the popular, long-running series My Three Sons .

Debut album

Signed to Capitol Records, the Four King Cousins released their debut album titled Introducing the Four King Cousins which was produced, arranged and conducted by their cousin, Golden Globe nominee Lex de Azevedo, in 1968. The album displayed the group’s four-part vocal style in covers of hits of the era.

The album was re-released on CD in the United Kingdom in 2006. Indie record store Dusty Groove has reviewed this album as "a sublime blend of vocals and lightly snapping rhythms that's totally outta site!" [1] while Richie Unterberger described their harmonies as "sunny [and] bland". [2]

Concert appearances

Following their 1969 Las Vegas debut with Wayne Newton at the Frontier Hotel, the Four King Cousins presented their concert act at top nightclubs, performing arts centers and concert halls throughout the world for the next decade.

Their schedule of concert appearances included engagements at the Hollywood Bowl, the Fairmont Hotels in Dallas, and New Orleans, multiple appearances at the Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, annual appearances at Walt Disney World’s Top of the World supper club, and Disneyland’s Tomorrowland Stage, as well as international appearances in Canada, Tahiti, France, and throughout Japan.

In reviewing their show, the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen-Journal heralded their performance as "hugely entertaining... a dynamite musical variety act" and noted that "The Cousins virtually explode with excitement... an express train of entertainment",[ citation needed ] while the Orlando Sentinel called their act "powerful" and avowed that "the King Cousins, four of the liveliest, loveliest and most entertaining young women to hit the area, harmonize beautifully."[ citation needed ]

Later history

The Four King Cousins recorded a second album which was released by the Playboy/Trio Records label in 1976 only for the Japanese market. Titled The Way We Were, it featured a mix of pop hits of the era including, Leon Russell’s "A Song For You", Neil Sedaka’s "Solitaire", and Marvin Hamlisch’s title track, alongside standards including "In the Mood" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön".

At the end of the 1970s the group ceased substantive operations in order for the members to raise their own families. [3]

In 2009, group members Tina, Cathy, and Candy appeared on the PBS television retrospective special "Christmas with the King Family", a musical celebration of the King Family’s classic holiday television specials. To coincide with the special, four King Family albums were released on CD. The Four King Cousins jazz-vocal rendition of the Al Burt Christmas carol "Some Children See Him" was featured on the CD release Christmas with the King Family They also contributed personal selections from their own family’s recipes to The King Family Cookbook, also released that year.

In 2013, the Four King Cousins released a third album, More Today Than Yesterday: Classic Songs of the 60s & 70s. The tracks were recorded between 1968 and 1976 for the King Family television series and TV specials such as "Mother's Day with The King Family" and "The King Family in San Francisco". [4]

In 2013, the group performed their first live concert in three decades at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles. [5]

The Four King Cousins concert dates in 2015 included the Lobrero Theater in Santa Barbara and a college concert in Salt Lake City. They were scheduled to return to Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles in August 2016.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Muppets</span> Puppet characters created by Jim Henson

The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by the Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2004.

<i>Young Talent Time</i> Television series

Young Talent Time is an Australian television variety program produced by Lewis-Young Productions and screened on Network Ten. The original series ran from 1971 until 1988 and was hosted by singer-songwriter and record producer Johnny Young for its entire run. The show was briefly revived by Network Ten in 2012 and was hosted by singer and actor Rob Mills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Clooney</span> American singer and actress (1928–2002)

Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", "This Ole House", and "Sway". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly because of problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nat King Cole</span> American singer and jazz pianist (1919–1965)

Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally by his stage name Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Dudley</span> British classical and popular composer

Anne Jennifer Dudley is a British composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genres, as a film composer, and was one of the core members of the synth-pop band Art of Noise. In 1998, Dudley won an Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score for The Full Monty. In addition to over twenty other film scores, in 2012 she served as music producer for the film version of Les Misérables, also acting as arranger and composing some new additional music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Tormé</span> American recording artist (1925–1999)

Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Tormé won two Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 14 times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Cole</span> American singer (1950–2015)

Natalie Maria Cole was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable (1975), along with the song "This Will Be ", and the album's title track. Its success led to her receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, for which she became the first African-American recipient, as well as the first R&B act to win the award. The singles "Sophisticated Lady" (1976), "I've Got Love on My Mind", and "Our Love" (1977) followed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ball</span> English singer, presenter and actor (born 1962)

Michael Ashley Ball is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of Les Misérables, and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles Chart with "Love Changes Everything", a song taken from the musical Aspects of Love, where he played Alex Dillingham. He played the role in London and on Broadway. His album Coming Home To You reached number one in the UK making it his 4th number one album to date. On 24 April 2020, Ball and Captain Tom Moore entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with a cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone", with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020.

Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album Miss America, released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a contributor to compilation albums and as a guest collaborator on other artists' albums.

<i>The Hollywood Palace</i> American television variety series

The Hollywood Palace is an hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace for its first few weeks, it began as a midseason replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show, which lasted only three months.

Alfred Shaddick Burt was an American jazz musician who is best known for composing the music for fifteen Christmas carols between 1942 and 1954. Only one of the carols was performed in public outside his immediate family circle during his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Foreman (musician)</span> Australian musician (b. 1972)

John Gregory Foreman OAM is an Australian musician and television personality. In 1992, he joined the Network Ten team for Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton, serving as Music Director until retiring in 2004. During 2003–2008 he was Musical Director of Australian Idol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juul Haalmeyer</span> Canadian costume designer

Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Vincent</span> Musical artist

Kyle Vincent is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and entertainer, labeled as the "crown prince of soft pop," by Goldmine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Normie Rowe</span> Australian rock and roll singer

Norman John Rowe is an Australian singer and songwriter. He rose to national prominence in the mid-1960s as a pop star and teen idol, backed by The Playboys. His 1965 double A-side "Que Sera Sera"/"Shakin' All Over" was one of the most successful Australian singles of the decade.

Lisa Kelly is an Irish singer of both classical and Celtic music and a voice teacher. She has taken part in many musical theatre productions and concerts, and is a founding and former member of the musical group Celtic Woman.

<i>The Danny Kaye Show</i> American television variety program

The Danny Kaye Show was an American variety show, hosted by the stage and screen star Danny Kaye, which aired on Wednesday nights from September 25, 1963, to June 7, 1967, on the CBS television network. Directed by Robert Scheerer, it premiered in black-and-white. It switched to color broadcasts in the fall of 1965. At the time, Kaye was at the height of his popularity. He starred in a string of successful 1940s and 1950s musical comedy features, made numerous personal appearances at venues such as the London Palladium, and his rare selective visits to the small screen were considered major events. With his recent motion pictures considered disappointments, three triumphant early 1960s television specials led the way to this series. Prior to his film and television career, Kaye had made a name for himself with his own radio show, also titled The Danny Kaye Show. He made numerous guest appearances on other comedy and variety radio shows and headlined in several major Broadway musical revues throughout the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Cole</span> American actress and singer (born 1943)

Christina Yvonne Cole is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Katie Miller Douglas on the sitcom My Three Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Tufano</span> American singer

Dennis Stanley Joseph Tufano is the original lead singer of the 1960s rock group The Buckinghams, and has been a solo performer since the early 1980s.

<i>The King Family Show</i> American TV musical variety series (1965–1966)

The King Family Show is an American musical variety series that featured The King Sisters and their extended musical family. The series first aired on ABC from January 23, 1965, to January 8, 1966. The series was revived in 1969, airing from March to September of that year.

References

  1. "Introducing The Four King Cousins". Dusty Groove . Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. Richie Unterberger. "About Four King Cousins". MTV Artists. MTV. Archived from the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved January 3, 2014. [link to archived version of defunct page]
  3. Sam Tweedle (October 21, 2013). "This Week at PCA: The Four King Cousins". Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. "More Today Than Yesterday: Classic Songs 60s & 70s CD (Product Description)". CD Universe. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  5. Music News Desk (October 21, 2013). "The Four King Cousins Reunite for First Concert in Three Decades". Broadway World. Retrieved January 3, 2014.