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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z"5" ROYALES, TheThe "5" Royales was one of the black vocal groups who brought so much to American music in the 1950s. They began as the Royal Suns in 1942, a gospel group in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. By 1950 the members included lead singer Johnny Tanner (d 9 November 2005), bass singer, guitarist and songwriter Lomand 'Lowman' Pauling (d 26 December 1973), Jimmy Moore, Obadiah 'Scoop' Carter (d July 1994), William Samuels, and Otto 'Jeff' Jeffries. (For most of their career they were actually a sextet.) In 1952 they signed with Apollo Records, who wanted them to sing secular material, so they changed their name to the "5" Royales (causing some confusion with another group called the Royales, until Hank Ballard's group changed its name to the Midnighters). In 1953 the "5" Royales had two number ones on the R&B chart with 'Baby Don't Do It' and 'Help Me Somebody'. The group switched to the King label, and continued successful on the club circuit until 1965. Pauling wrote most of their original material, including 'Dedicated To The One I Love,' which had hit recordings by the Shirelles and the Mamas & The Papas (producer Ralph Bass had a piece of that one). James Brown covered 'Think' and Ray Charles did 'Tell The Truth.' They were backed on their Apollo records by Charlie ‘Little Jazz’ Ferguson and his band with George Rhodes on piano; guitarists Tiny Grimes and Mickey Baker and keyboardist Bill Doggett played on some of the King records, but Pauling's excellent bluesy guitar came more to the fore on their later recordings, and may have been an influence on Steve Cropper. |