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Otis Williams Charms You Aboard 2012 Doo Wop Cruise
Otis Williams Charms You Aboard 2012 Doo Wop Cruise
Otis Williams & the Charms landed a number-one R&B hit for almost ten weeks in 1954 with "Hearts of Stone," a song that remains among the most enduring Doo Wop anthems.
Los Angeles,
CA,
United States
(pr4links.com)
29/08/2011
New York, NY, August 29, 2011 -- Grant Williams CEO of Memory Lane Concert Cruises today announced. The prestigious Otis Williams and the Charms will be among the many groups appearing on its historic Oldies But Goodies Doo Wop Cruise. “The Charms landed a number-one R&B hit for almost ten weeks in 1954 with "Hearts of Stone," a song that remains among the most enduring Doo Wop anthems.” said Williams
The Charms were from the Cincinnati area and consisted of Ron Bradley and Donald Peak both tenors, Joe Penn - baritone, Richard Parker - bass and lead singer Otis Williams. In August of 1953 the first notice was served on the public by an announcement in the trade press of a new record release on the Rockin' label of "Heaven Only Knows" and "Lovin' Baby." The record got some air play especially in the Midwest, and sold slowly at first. Soon numbers were enough so the record moved to the DeLuxe label. Sid Nathan the head of King Records bought the catalog of New Jersey based DeLuxe label. The year before and now with The Charms record, the label was back in business and "Heaven Only Knows" was rereleased as the first of the new DeLuxe label’. Later in the year their second record was released. This time the songs were "Happy Are We" and "What Do You Know About That". Nothing much happened with that record and soon they tried again. After the New Year “Bye Bye Baby" and "Please Believe Me" disappear without a trace. In early April "Quiet Please" and "Fifty Five Seconds" also barely made a ripple, and that made four in a row that missed the mark in making The Charms a noted R & B vocal group on the scene. In July of that year the group had their first sign of success with the release of "Come To Me Baby" and "My Baby Dearest Darling". The 'A' side of "Come To Me Baby" was a good seller in Miami and Atlanta. While the flip side was the preferred tune in the Midwest as it sold well in their hometown of Cincinnati and in Louisville, Kentucky. The Charms seemed on the verge of a breakout hit.
In September of 1954 "Hearts Of Stone" was released. The 'A' side was a cover of the Jewels tune. This rarity of an R & B cover by another R & B act soon began to sell in big numbers, especially in the Southeast. Except for the West coast and the Northeast, The Charms version of the tune was a big seller. It became the first record to chart for the DeLuxe label in over two years and justified the faith that King Records had in the group by sticking with them during more than a year without a hit record. Later in the year The Charms version was selling well in the pop field as it went against competition by The Fontaine Sisters pop version. The Charms record of the tune got into the top fifteen sellers on the pop music charts, an unprecedented accomplishment for an R & B vocal group. In the fall of 1954.The group was finally a hot commodity in the growing field of Rhythm & Blues music and they were soon booked for The Top Ten R & B Show which went out on tour in January of 1955. At the end of the year DeLuxe released "Mambo-Sh-Mambo" and "Crazy Crazy Love”. This record got swallowed up in the continued popularity of "Hearts Of Stone". Because of that failure, the group was quickly back in the studios for DeLuxe and went back to their winning formula of covering other R&B acts.
The Charms also recorded their version of "Ling Ting Tong", a Capitol hit for The Five Keys, and "Bazoom I Need Your Loving", another cover of a Capitol hit, this one by The Cheers. The Charms outperformed The Keys record on both the R & B and pop music charts, and charted with the flip side. Six weeks later The Charms had another two-sided cover record. "Kokomo" a hit for Gene & Eunice on Combo and "Whaddya Want", a Spark Records hit by The Robins. This time the formula was not successful, as many savvy listeners became aware of the practice of covering records and many new converts to this style of music searched out the originals. This last possibility was the case in New York and the surrounding areas. Alan Freed's refusal to play covers records at the time (directed at White pop covers); nonetheless they caused shutting out The Charms. Until this time I had never heard of the group and their versions of their hit records were unknown in the New York area.
This was about to change in mid march of 1955 as The Hearts recorded an original tune called "Two Hearts" on DeLuxe. Because it was not an R & B cover, the record got air play in all major markets and quickly became a national hit. Heavy play by Alan Freed in New York propelled the record to hit status across the country. Turnabout came to The Charms as soon as the record went national, it was covered by Pat Boone for Dot Records and won pop music honors on the tune. As the next records the Charms released were "When We Get Together" and "Let The Happenings Happen." The Hearts joined The Penguins for a "battle of the groups" in Detroit in mid May for a show to benefit that city's teenagers. The show hosted by Alan Freed. Later in the month they appeared in South Florida with Floyd Dixon. By June of 1955, the label was praising the talents of Otis Williams who was from a musical family. (His sister a noted gospel and R & B singer named Marie Knight). So the group was now known as Otis Williams & His New Group, and then Otis Williams & His Charms, and there were also plans to record Otis as a solo performer. The first DeLuxe side release under the new name with some personal changes. Downbeat magazine, a jazz journal of long-standing fame, now recognized the appeal and importance of Rhythm & Blues music, and presented to The Charms an award naming them the top R & B vocal group of 1955. Once again as "Gum Drop" began to climb upward on the sales charts.
In January of 1956 Otis and his group appear at Washington D.C.'s Howard Theater with Donna Hightower, The Heartbeats, and former Buddy Johnson vocalist Nolan Lewis. Then they go cross-country for a series of appearances in L.A. including the 5-4 Ballroom and the Savoy. The DeLuxe recording of "That's Your Mistake" and "Too Late I Learned " also "Do Be You" and "Rolling Home" both releases did next to nothing. However with the next recording Otis Williams & His Charms hit it big once again. It was a cover record again, but this time a pop hit was the subject. The group did a mellow ballad version of the Cathy Carr waltz tune "Ivory Tower" and it did well, capturing many pop listeners as well as those younger fans of rock 'n' roll. This turned out to be the biggest seller ever for the group just missing the pop music top ten. Among the many personnel changes affecting the group by now was the interesting fact that most of the copies of "Ivory Tower" read as by Otis Williams on the label.
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