The Drifters are an American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953.
Swing music, or simply swing, is a form of popular jazz music developed in the United States that dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. The name swing came from the 'swing feel' where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, a period known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Harry James, Louis Jordan, Glenn Miller, Louis Prima, and Artie Shaw.
The Ink Spots were an American vocal jazz group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny.
The Orioles were an American R&B group of the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound.
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely popular and highly successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus One", "Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again".
Manor Records was a jazz record label founded in the mid 1940s. Manor was run Irving Berman, who also owned Regis Records. Its catalogue included Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Bradshaw, Paul Bascomb, Sid Catlett, Jimmie Lunceford, and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
The Four Tunes were a leading black pop vocal quartet during the 1950s. The members at the peak of their fame were Pat Best, Jimmy Gordon, Jimmie Nabbie, and Danny Owens.
The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio jazz band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records.
Melvin James "Sy" Oliver was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.
Danny & the Juniors are an American doo-wop and rock and roll vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania originally consisting of Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova. Formed in 1955, they are most widely recognized for their 1957 hit single "At the Hop".
"(I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons" is a popular song written by Ivory "Deek" Watson, founding member of the Ink Spots, and William "Pat" Best, founding member of the Four Tunes.
The Larks were an American vocal group, active in the early 1950s. They were not the same group as the Los Angeles-based Larks featuring Don Julian, or the Philadelphia-based group The Four Larks.
"Bewildered" is a popular song written in 1936 by Teddy Powell and Leonard Whitcup. It was a 1938 hit for Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. It was also recorded by Mildred Bailey in the same year. The song was revived in the late 1940s when two different versions, by the Red Miller Trio and Amos Milburn, reached number one on the R&B chart in 1948. Both these versions departed significantly from the original published melody and influenced later recordings. "Bewildered" was subsequently recorded by several other R&B performers, including Billy Eckstine and the Ink Spots, with Eckstine's version reaching number 4 on the R&B chart and number 27 on the pop chart. A decade later it was recorded by Mickey & Sylvia, again with an altered melody similar to that of the Red Miller Trio recording. "Bewildered" was also covered in 1990 by the Notting Hillbillies on their album Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time.
For Sentimental Reasons: 25 Early Vocal Classics is one of a number of albums released on the ASV/Living Era label, featuring recording artists mostly from the 1940s and 1950s, named for one of the major hits by the artist in question. This compact disc features recordings made by Nat King Cole between 1941 and 1946, at the beginning of Cole's career.
"Out of Sight" is a rhythm and blues song recorded by James Brown in 1964. A twelve-bar blues written by Brown under the pseudonym "Ted Wright", the stuttering, staccato dance rhythms and blasting horn section riffs of its instrumental arrangement were an important evolutionary step in the development of funk music. In his 1986 autobiography Brown wrote that
"Out of Sight" was another beginning, musically and professionally. My music - and most music - changed with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", but it really started on "Out of Sight" ... You can hear the band and me start to move in a whole other direction rhythmically. The horns, the guitars, the vocals, everything was starting to be used to establish all kinds of rhythms at once... I was trying to get every aspect of the production to contribute to the rhythmic patterns.
Sepia Cinderella is a 1947 American musical race film directed by Arthur H. Leonard. The film is notable for musical numbers by vocalists Billy Daniels and Sheila Guyse, and for a brief guest appearance by former child star Freddie Bartholomew, who is onscreen as himself for five minutes, telling gags to recharge his post-war career. It also marks the big screen debut of Sidney Poitier, as an uncredited night club extra.
"Whispering" is a popular song. "Whispering" was first published in 1920 by Sherman, Clay & Co., of San Francisco. The initial 1920 copyright and first publishing attributes the lyrics to Malvin Schonberger and the music to John Schonberger.
William Francis Kenny Jr., known professionally as Bill Kenny, was a pioneering African American tenor vocalist with a wide vocal range spanning four octaves. Often regarded as one of the most influential high-tenor singers of all time, Kenny was noted for his "bell-like" vocal clarity and impeccable diction. Although he is most famous for his role as lead tenor with the Ink Spots, Kenny also led a successful solo career after disbanding the Ink Spots in 1954. Throughout the 1950s and 60s Kenny recorded, toured the world and appeared on many popular variety television shows. In 1966 Kenny became the star and host of his own musical variety show The Bill Kenny Show which aired on CBC. In 1989, 11 years after his death, Bill Kenny was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kenny is often noted as being the "godfather" of R&B tenor vocalists.
Grant Kitchings was a singer who was a member of the Ravens then, in the 1970s, a member of the Drifters.
The Cues were an American R&B vocal group, who recorded both under their group name and under various other names as backing singers for artists on Atlantic Records and other labels in the 1950s. They recorded as the Rhythmakers with Ruth Brown; as the Blues Kings with Big Joe Turner; the Gliders with LaVern Baker; and as the Ivory Tones with Ivory Joe Hunter. Independently, they also recorded as the Four Students. Researcher Marv Goldberg has claimed that "because of their unique role in the recording industry, The Cues probably participated in more hit records than any other group."
