From: "Dik de Heer" > 
Date: Fri May 27, 2005  1:36 am 
Subject: This Is My Story : The Ink Spots (Very long!)  

THE INK SPOTS (By Steve Walker)

Ivory "Deek" Watson (lead tenor) (born Mounds, Illinois, 18 July,
1909, died Washington, DC, 4 November,1969)
Bill Kenny (lead tenor from 1936) (born Philadelphia, 12 June,
1914, died Vancouver, 23 March, 1978)
Jerry Daniels (first tenor until 1936) (born 14 December, 1915,
died Indianapolis, 7 November, 1995)
Charlie Fuqua (second tenor/baritone and guitar) (born 20 October,
1910, died New Haven, CT, 21 December, 1971)
Orville "Hoppy" Jones (bass vocal and bass/cello) (born Chicago,
17 February, 1902 (some sources say 1905), died New York City,
18 October, 1944)
Herb Kenny (bass vocal from March 1945) (born Philadelphia,
12 June 1914, died 11 July, 1992)

Described by Charlie Gillett in "The Sound Of The City" as being "the major
model for imitation of groups of this period" when discussing the
development of the r&b vocal groups of the 1950's, the Ink Spots, along
with the Mills Brothers, can rightly be cast in the role of pioneers in this
field. As an example relevant to the SAO years, Buck Ram was such a fan
that he declared that his ambition, on taking the Platters to Mercury, was to
make the group "the new Ink Spots". The quavering high tenor of Bill Kenny
foreshadowed hundreds of street-corner leads to come, and the sweet
harmonies of Charlie Fuqua, Deek Watson, and bass Hoppy Jones (who
died in 1944) backed him flawlessly. However, the ballad style for which
they gained fame was not part of their original sound.

The original group members were:
- Ivory "Deek" (Deacon) Watson (lead), foormerly of the swing group the Four
Riff Brothers (1929-1933), a vocal band influenced by Duke Ellington and
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, and before that the Percolating Puppies (1928),
who played a small tea pot, a medium coffee pot, a very large coffee pot and
guitars,

- Charlie Fuqua (second tenor and baritonne), the uncle of the Moonglows'
Harvey Fuqua. It was Charlie who also played the simple guitar introduction
to most of the Ink Spots' biggest hits and also some excellent guitar solos
on the group's earlier recordings,

- Jerry Daniels (first tenor), who sang wwith Charlie Fuqua in the vaudeville
team Charlie and Jerry.

Charlie and Jerry had started out harmonizing and playing guitar and ukulele
(Jerry) and four-string banjo and guitar (Charlie). Charlie had a shoeshine
stand opposite the Stutz Bearcat automobile factory in Indianapolis, where
he and Jerry performed for the factory workers.

In 1933, Deek Watson met Charlie and Jerry at the Majestic Hotel in
Cleveland and shortly thereafter, they formed a trio called the Swingin'
Gate Brothers, later re-named King, Jack and Jester (Deek Watson was the
Jester). The newly-formed group launched their career at the Club Madrid
in Cleveland and via radio broadcasts on WHK.

At the end of 1933, they moved on to Cincinnati, broadcasting regularly on
WLW and WSAI until July 1934. At this time, mid 1934, one of the
aforementioned Four Riff Brothers, Orville "Hoppy" Jones, joined the group
on bass vocals and stand-up slap bass - actually a re-tuned cello.

As King, Jack and Jesters (now plural) they came to New York in 1934 and
immediately ran into a name conflict with the already famous Paul Whiteman
orchestra group, the King's Jesters. The problem was solved by Harlem's
Savoy Ballroom owner and new group manager, Moe Gale, who thought
up the name the Four Ink Spots.

The first-known Ink Spots stage appearance was at the Apollo Theatre in
New York City. An advertisement in the "Amsterdam News" on 4 August,
1934, lists the Four Ink Spots as a support group for Tiny Bradshaw and His
Orchestra (3-9 August). The group received some further early exposure from
an appearance in "Oh, What A Business", a film short (now sadly lost),
starring the comedy team of Smith & Dale. The Four Ink Spots sang "Tiger
Rag" and "Don't 'Low No Swingin' In Here".

On 29 September 1934, the group left New York on the "Ile De France" to
tour the UK with Jack Hylton's Band, appearing in Manchester, Sheffield,
Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham and at the London Palladium.
Hylton had originally wanted The Spirits Of Rhythm (a similar "jive" group
featuring scat singer Leo Watson) but they were unavailable. From the
"Melody Maker" of 20 October, 1934: "The sensation of the programme,
however, is the coloured quartette, the Four Ink Spots. They sing in a style
something between the Mills Brothers and the Three Keys, and accompany
themselves on three tenor guitars and a cello, which is not bowed, but
picked and slapped like a double bass. Their natural instinct for hot
rhythm is exemplified in their terrific single-string solo work and their
beautifully balanced and exquisitely phrased vocalisms. They exploit all
kinds of rhythmic vocalisms - straight solos, concerted, scat, and
instrumental imitations. They even throw in a bit of dancing to conclude
their act, and the leading guitarist simultaneously plays and juggles with
his instrument." Also included on the same bill was Tessie O'Shea. The
group eventually arrived back in New York on 26 December, 1934 via
the "Queen Mary".

The Ink Spots' first studio recording took place on January 4, 1935, at RCA
Studios, and in the same month RCA issued their first release, "Swingin' On
The Strings" c/w "Your Feet's Too Big" (RCA-Victor 24851). Both are
light-hearted "scat" performances containing plenty of allusions to Louis
Armstrong ("Oh you dog, you") with Deek Watson on lead vocals. This
release was followed a couple of months later with "Don't 'Low No Swingin'
In Here" c/w "Swing, Gate Swing" (RCA-Victor 24876).

On 25 February 1935, the Ink Spots made their radio broadcasting debut on
New York's WJZ radio, which was relayed coast-to-coast on NBC's Blue
Network. In many of these early broadcasts, the Ink Spots were not credited
by name in newspaper listings, but rather as a Novelty Negro Quartet.
These broadcasts (11:30 pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), and also
those on Station WEAF, continued on a regular basis from 1935 onwards.
The first-known instance of what was to become Hoppy Jones' trademark
"patter" was on one of these radio shows during a performance of "Did You
Ever See A Dream Walking?" (9 August, 1935). On the broadcast of the
8 November, 1935 they headlined with the Chick Webb Orchestra featuring
Ella Fitzgerald, who was later to collaborate with the group on several fine
recordings.

In early 1936, the Ink Spots were joined by tenor Bill Kenny, who manager
Moe Gale had discovered when Bill won an amateur contest at the Savoy
Ballroom. Bill Kenny's vocal approach was influenced by one of his idols,
the Irish tenor Morton Downey. With the addition of this new member, Jerry
Daniels left the group and returned to Indianapolis, later singing with
local acts like the Deep Swingin' Brothers and the Three Shades.
When the Ink Spots appeared for a week's residency at the Apollo, NYC from
1-7 May, 1936, they were given top billing and a week later, having signed a
new recording contract with Decca, they were in the studio (12 May) to wax
"T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" and a re-recording of "Your Feet's Too
Big," on which Bill Kenny's high tenor can be heard for the first time as
the boys pass the lead vocal around amongst themselves. The recordings
were issued as the first two sides for their new label (Decca 817, June 1936)
and the group began doing package shows with other Moe Gale acts like Ella
Fitzgerald and Moms Mabley.

On 6 November, 1936, the group hit another landmark when they performed
on the first NBC/RCA live television demonstration, thus becoming the first
black performers to appear on television in the USA. The 40-minute
programme was broadcast from the transmitter on top of the Empire State
Building and was received on the 62nd floor of the RCA building in the first
live demonstration conducted for the Press.

Over the next two years the group, with Deek Watson usually on lead, tried
everything from Gershwin ("Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" featuring Bill
Kenny's high tenor) to vocal versions of big-band tunes like "Stompin' at
the Savoy" (with bass Hoppy Jones taking the lead, predating Jimmy Ricks'
Ravens by a decade). By the end of 1938, after ten singles, nothing had
really grabbed the public's interest, although in hindsight, there were some
interesting group harmony moments in amongst these recordings. "Keep Away
From My Doorstep" (Decca 1036, December 1936) swings along in a similar
way to many of their records of this time, but the harmonies in the background
are superb. Additionally, many of these early recordings featured some fine
guitar solos by Charlie Fuqua, notably in "Yes Suh!" (Decca 1731, February
1937) and "With Plenty Of Money And You" (Decca 1154, March 1937).

The 1938 recording "When The Sun Goes Down" (Decca 1870, May 1938)
has an instrumental bass solo from Hoppy Jones in place of the usual Charlie
Fuqua guitar solo. It also has a distinctly "doo-wop" backing chorus behind
Deek Watson's bluesy lead ("diddley-ooh-dah") and then, for good measure,
gives an early instance of "fade-out" at the end of a record. There's more good
vocal harmony backing on the other side of the disc, "I Wish You The Best Of
Everything", recorded at the same session.

The group was on the verge of calling it quits as bookings were down and
record sales had never been up. Then, on January 12, 1939, the history of
popular music took an important turn thanks to a young aspiring songwriter
named Jack Lawrence. He brought a composition he'd written to an Ink Spots
session that was supposed to be for the recording of a jive song,
"Knock-Kneed Sal." The group worked up Lawrence's ballad, "If I Didn't
Care" with Bill Kenny doing his now-famous quivering tenor lead and Hoppy
Jones improvising his talking bass bridge.

Issued in February of 1939, by 15 April the song had charted in Billboard
and reached number two within weeks, selling a million copies to a broad
spectrum of listeners. The group were paid $37.50 for the recording. When
sales took off, Decca had to destroy the original contract, when sales
reached 200,000, and the boys were paid an additional $3,750.

The unusual combination of Bill Kenny's lead tenor and Hoppy Jones'
recitation was not, as legend has it, stumbled upon by lucky chance at this
recording session. Several 1938 radio broadcasts have survived where Bill
wavers and quavers and Hoppy Jones speaks a chorus in classic Ink Spots
style, the earliest being a WEAF broadcast of 15 February, 1938 singing
"Tune In On My Heart". What is not in doubt, is that from "If I Didn't
Care" onwards, with a few exceptions, this formula would become the
acknowledged style of the Ink Spots and that Bill Kenny's soaring tenor lead
would pave the way for Sonny Til of the Orioles, Maithe Marshall of the
Ravens, Rudy West of the Five Keys, Nate Nelson of the Flamingos, Curtis
Mayfield of the Impressions and countless others. Unfortunately, this new
format also meant that future Charlie Fuqua guitar solos were the exception
rather than the rule, although he could always be heard strumming the simple
introduction which is so familiar on all of the Ink Spots hits (and which
are so similar to each other that you're never quite sure which song is
about to follow).

But it's not just in the obviously startling sound of the lead singer that
"If I Didn't Care" is so influential. It's worth listening to the intricate
harmonies woven by the rest of the group as Bill warbles away, wonderfully
underpinned by Hoppy Jones' bass voice, and then further to the harmonizing
behind Hoppy's spoken part, where Bill Kenny's high-pitched wordless style
is a very direct influence on what was to follow in the next 15-20 years.
Hit after hit in the style of "If I Didn't Care" followed from the Ink
Spots, including these in 1939: "Address Unknown" (their first #1, Decca
2707), "My Prayer" (#3, Decca 2790) and "Bless You (For Being An Angel)"
(#15, Decca 2841). A fine double-sider which didn't make the charts in 1939
was "It's Funny To Everyone But Me" (another Jack Lawrence song) c/w
"Just For A Thrill" (Decca 2507), the latter with lead vocal by Deek Watson.

During 1940, the Ink Spots could do no wrong. Their hit parade appearances
included the under-rated "Memories Of You" (#29, Decca 2966), and such
all-time classics as "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (#26, Decca 3077 -
with a nice Deek Watson-led "Coquette" on the "B"-side), "When The Swallows
Come Back To Capistrano" (#4, Decca 3195), "Maybe" (#2) c/w "Whispering
Grass (Don't Tell The Trees) (#10, Decca 3258), "We Three (My Echo, My
Shadow And Me)" (#1, Decca 3379) and the excellent "Java Jive" (Deek
Watson lead) (#15, Decca 3432) which was coupled with "Do I Worry" (#8).
An enjoyable, bluesy Deek Watson-led record which didn't make it at this time
was "Puttin' And Takin'" (Decca 3468). Another fine side from 1940 which
didn't touch the charts was "I'll Never Smile Again (Until I Smile At You)"
(Decca 3346), later revived by the Platters.

The group broke attendance records wherever they appeared, performing with
Glenn Miller's Orchestra, Lucky Millinder's Band, and countless others.
They made films like "The Great American Broadcast" in 1941 and Abbott and
Costello's romp, "Pardon My Sarong" where they sang "Do I Worry", "Java
Jive", "Shout, Brother, Shout" and "Dreamboat" (clips from both movies can
be seen at: http://www.group-harmony.com/video.htm#inks )

In 1941 the hits continued: "Do I Worry" (#8, Decca 3432), "Until The Real
Thing Comes Along" (#24, Decca 3958), "I Don't Want To Set The World On
Fire" (#4, Decca 3987) and "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat" (#17, Decca
4045). Not all the Ink Spots' goodies made the charts in 1941: "Ring
Telephone Ring" (Decca 3626) (co-written by Buck Ram), "That's When Your
Heartaches Begin" (Decca 3720) and "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie" (Decca 4201)
were records that inexplicably failed to capture enough of the public's coin
to place them in the sales lists of the time.

From August 1942 to September 1943 the musician's union strike put a halt to
any new recordings, but the Ink Spots still placed four singles on the
charts (out of only five releases), including "Ev'ry Night About This Time"
(#17 Pop and #6 in the newly-published R&B charts, Decca 18461), "Don't
Get Around Much Anymore" (Deek Watson lead) (#2 Pop and #1 R&B,
Decca 18503), "If I Cared a Little Bit Less" (#20 Pop and #10 R&B,
Decca 18528), and "I'll Never Make the Same Mistake Again" (#19 Pop,
Decca 18542). The group's arranger during most of the war years was Bill
Doggett, who went on to work with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis
Jordan, and his own combo in 1952. List-members will know him best for
his 1956 hits "Honky Tonk" and "Slow Walk".

In mid-1943 Charlie Fuqua was drafted into the Army and hand-picked his
replacement, his childhood buddy Bernie Mackey who had played guitar
with Bunny Berigan's band. Bernie's style was similar to Charlie's, and his
contributions caused little disruption to the group's routine.

The Ink Spots' first visit to the studio after the Petrillo strike ended was
on 3 November, 1943 to record the first of several collaborations with Ella
Fitzgerald. The result was a great take on Freddie Slack's "Cow Cow Boogie"
(Decca 18587), which reached #10 Pop and #1 R&B when it was released in
early 1944. As the year progressed, the hits kept on coming: "A Lovely Way
To Spend An Evening" (#16, Decca 18583), "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have
You)" (#7 Pop and #4 R&B) c/w "Someday I'll Meet You Again" (#14, Decca
18579) and two more with Ella Fitzgerald - the double-sider "Into Each Life
Some Rain Must Fall" c/w "I'm Making Believe" (#1 in both Pop and R&B
charts, Decca 23356) and "I'm Beginning To See The Light" (#5, Decca 23399)
from early 1945.

These recordings with Ella Fitzgerald would have had some influence on the
late 1940's/early 1950's recordings of female singers backed by male vocal
groups, such as Savannah Churchill (with the Striders and the Four Tunes),
Bette McLaurin (with the Striders), Dinah Washington (with Jimmy Ricks of
the Ravens), Maggie Hathaway (with the Robins), Dorothy Logan (with the
Gems), Little Esther (with the Robins), Celestine Stewart (with the
Charmers), Ruth Brown (with the Delta Rhythm Boys), Varetta Dillard (with
The Four Students) and Bunny Paul (with the Harptones).
A 1944 radio poll voted the Ink Spots the number two favourite singing unit
behind Fred Waring's Glee Club and ahead of greats like the Andrews Sisters.
It wasn't all plain-sailing however. Despite their record-breaking
popularity with live performances, there was also criticism from some
sections of the press regarding their presentation. Here is part of the
review of their week's residency at the Orpheum, Los Angeles, taken from
Metronome, June 1944:

"Then the spots before my eyes. It's the same old act for the Spots, and its
quality is the nadir of everything. Billy Kenny's phoney falsetto and
grotesque use of hands, the Jim Crow "roll yo eyes, bo" of two of the Spots,
and the smug, overconfident sureness of all four totalled up to a nauseating
sum. Yes, the crowd enjoyed their songs. But the crowd enjoyed [Cootie]
Williams' band and Miss [Ella] Fitzgerald's songs, too. The Spots, all four,
had better work fast and grab all the moo they can. It's a natural fact that
they can't go on fooling the public forever!" Another reviewer wrote that
the Ink Spots used an Uncle Tom routine which Negroes regarded as
degrading and this charge followed Deek Watson for the remainder of his
career.

In June 1944, during an engagement in Chicago, Hoppy Jones became ill
and the group had to finish a tour without him (with Deek Watson filling in
on the mandatory talking parts). This had unsuspected ramifications. Hoppy
was the conciliatory father figure (nicknamed "the grand old man") of the
Ink Spots. Now that he was missing, in-fighting between Bill Kenny and Deek
Watson, which had formerly just smouldered, flared up unchecked. Deek
had been the leader of the group until "If I Didn't Care" took the world by
storm. Since then, Bill had firmly established himself in the forefront of
the Ink Spots, pushing Deek further and further into the background. One of
the main bones of contention was that Deek Watson wanted to keep his
vaudeville part of the Ink Spots act. Bill Kenny, a balladeer, sought to be
rid of the clowning, mugging and ad-lib remarks in favour of a more
sophisticated approach.

If you would like to see an extreme illustration of Deek Watson's style,
albeit from a few years later with the Brown Dots (Pat Best, Deek Watson,
Jimmie Nabbie and Jimmy Gordon), you can see a clip from the movie "Boy!
What A Girl" at http://www.group-harmony.com/rumors.htm (scroll down to
the bottom of the page - download or stream).

Hoppy returned in August, but by then, the damage had been done. After an
engagement at the State Theatre in Hartford (probably in September), Deek
Watson quit the Ink Spots and was replaced by Bill (Butterball) Bowen at the
beginning of October. Almost immediately Deek Watson began putting together
his own competing Ink Spots group.

Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come. On October 18, 1944, Hoppy Jones
collapsed on stage and died after being taken home. It turned out that he
had been having cerebral haemorrhages for over a year. Hoppy was replaced
for a short spell by former Golden Gate Quartet member Cliff Givens, before
Cliff himself was replaced by Herb Kenny (Bill's twin brother) in April 1945.
At the end of October, Deek Watson tried to return to the Ink Spots; Bill
Kenny refused to allow him back on stage. This triggered a complex array of
legal machinations, which unfolded throughout late 1944 (and paved the way
for lawsuits throughout the 1950s and 1960s). Suits and counter-suits
followed, and courtrooms became the place for memorable, albeit non-musical,
performances.

In an out-of-court settlement on 8 January, 1945, it was agreed that no
group could use the Ink spots name unless Bill Kenny was a member. As a
result, Deek Watson renamed his new group the Brown Dots and they made their
debut on 1 February, 1945 at the Plantation Club, St. Louis. The Brown Dots
were best known as the originators of Nat King Cole's hit "(I Love You) For
Sentimental Reasons".

In November 1945 Charlie Fuqua returned from the forces to replace Bernie
Mackey (Huey Long, who never recorded with the group, had sat in for a six
month spell).

The revised aggregation of Ink Spots (Bill Kenny, Bill Bowen, Charlie Fuqua,
Herb Kenny) returned to the charts in 1946 with the group's career
best-selling record, "The Gypsy" (Decca 18817) which remained at #1 on the
Pop and R&B charts for 13 weeks. The follow-up is my personal favourite Ink
Spots double-sider, a couple of 1930's revivals - "Prisoner Of Love" (worked
over by James Brown in the early '60's) c/w "I Cover The Waterfront"
(updated only two years later by Sonny Til & The Orioles). "Prisoner Of
Love" (Decca 18864) reached #9 in the Pop charts, #5 R&B. Next up was
another song destined to be covered by the Platters - "To Each His Own"
(Decca 23615) which was to be the Ink Spots last Pop chart-topper (#3 R&B).

In the Autumn of 1947, the Ink Spots returned to England for a tour which
centred on London venues such as the London Casino (also appearing were
Charlie Rivel (Chaplin on the Trapeze), The Lai Founs (Chinese Wonders), The
Western Brothers (The Radio "Cads" Kenneth & George), Scott Sanders (The Old
Philosopher), Garyll & Mundy (World's Greatest Lovers), Rolly Rolls (The
Merry Parisien) and Bert and Harry Nicol (Fooling For You). The Times
carried a report of biggest post-war traffic jam around theatre for the
opening night. The group also appeared at the Trocadero, Elephant and
Castle; the Gaumont, Hammersmith; the Hippodrome, Lewisham; the Empire,
Chiswick; the Lyceum, Strand; the State Cinema, Kilburn and the Royal Albert
Hall.

A similar trip to the UK in 1949 played to sell-out audiences in Tooting,
Walthamstow, Sutton, Manchester, Glasgow (where they appeared for two weeks
at the Empire), Bolton, Edinburgh, Brighton and Birmingham (where Harry
Worth also appeared on the bill). They played at the London Palladium
through most of September - also on the bill were Joy Nichols and Michael
Bentine.

In May 1951 Adriel McDonald, the group's valet (and former non-recording
member of the Cabineers) subbed for bass Herb Kenny when he missed a radio
show in Buffalo, NY. Herb and Bill subsequently fought over this and Herb
left the group to take a brief feature spot with Buddy Hawkins and the Key
Notes. Herb Kenny went on to record for Federal ("Only You") in 1952 as lead
of Herb Kenny and the Comets. The Comets were actually a white group called
the Rockets that used to back up Perry Como. Herb recorded with them on MGM
for five singles in 1952 and 1953.

Adriel McDonald never talked on an Ink Spots recording. The few songs done
after this change where a talking bass occurs are all done by Bill Kenny,
according to Marv Goldberg. Apparently, Bill paid the other Ink Spots for
the recordings but didn't let them participate - Bill Kenny is the only Ink
Spots voice on all subsequent recordings for Decca.

As friction grew in 1952, both Bill Bowen and Charlie Fuqua independently
left the group. Bill Bowen formed Billy Bowen and the Butterball Four
(MGM); Charlie Fuqua formed his own Ink Spots (for a short while, it
included Deek Watson), but was taken to court by Bill Kenny. Fuqua won, so
his new group, with Harold Jackson, Jimmy Holmes, and Leon Antoine, joined
King Records for nine quality singles between late 1953 and 1955. Essix
Scott replaced Leon Antoine during the latter sessions.

Bill Kenny, meanwhile, was doing a lot of solo work during the early 1950's,
while forming yet another Ink Spots, this one including Adriel McDonald,
Jimmy Kennedy, and Ernie Brown. The group's demise came in 1953 when they
were asked to appear on an Ed Sullivan-sponsored show for returning Korean
War veterans. Bill Kenny agreed the deal but told the group he was
appearing solo and couldn't afford to pay them. The group had had enough
and split. Sullivan was so furious that he listed Kenny at the bottom of
the bill. The last known performance of Bill Kenny's Ink Spots was in
Ottawa at the beginning of November, 1953.

After this, Charlie Fuqua's group became the official "Ink Spots". They
appeared at army bases in Korea as part of an early 1954 tour of the Far
East and in a 15-minute movie short titled "The Ink Spots" singing "If I
Didn't Care" and "Shanty In Old Shanty Town". By mid-1956, Charlie had left
King records and, with another new second tenor, Charlie Owens, they began
to record for Verve. A few singles and LPs were recorded by two Verve
groups. Some of the well-known names who sang as Ink Spots with Charlie's
group were Eugene Mumford, David McNeil and Joe Van Loan.

Though the originals sang together no more, Ink Spots groups sprang up all
over the place. Bill Kenny was once vacationing in Las Vegas during the
mid-'70s and found three groups posing as the Ink Spots at the same time.
At the beginning of the 1990s, over 40 groups claimed to be the Ink Spots.
Fill-in Johnny Smith supposedly had exclusive authority from Bill Kenny's
window to represent the group. A new site gives some interesting
information about Ink spots "offshoots":

http://www.freewebs.com/inkspots/index.htm

Many of their recordings were copied and reworked for new generations in
later years. The Platters covered several Ink Spots songs: "I'll Never
Smile Again", "My Prayer", "To Each His Own", "I'll Get By"; Bobby Day and
the Satellites did "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano"; the Sharps
did "We Three"; the Hearts "Until The Real Thing Comes Along"; the Isley
Brothers and the Belmonts covered "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"; the
Roommates did "A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening"; Billy Ward and the
Dominoes cut "The Gypsy"; the Orioles revived "I Cover The Waterfront"; and
James Brown and His Famous Flames covered "Prisoner Of Love." There were
many more, including, of course, Mr. E.A. Presley's re-working of "That's
When Your Heartaches Begin", complete with a Hoppy Jones-style monologue
(with a Memphis flavour).

To summarise, here's Jay Warner's introduction to the Ink Spots' entry in
his book "American Singing Groups": "One of the two granddaddies of vocal
groups, the Ink Spots introduced a number of firsts that had a direct impact
on the development of rhythm and blues in the '40s and rock and roll in the
'50s. Although the Mills Brothers were successful years before the Ink
Spots and turned out many more hits (71 to the Ink Spots' 46), each had a
tremendous influence on music, the public, and future vocalists, and chances
are that a group or singer influenced by one was also influenced by the
other".

Recommended CD's: - a very comprehensive list can be found here:
http://inkspots.ca/Is-on-cd.htm

Charlie Fuqua's Ink Spots: "The Ink Spots" King KCD-5001, 1995

Brown Dots: "For Sentimental Reasons" Flyright FLY CD 65, 2000

Further reading: "American Singing Groups", Jay Warner (Billboard Books)

The ultimate read is Marv Goldberg's 1998 book "More Than Words Can Say:
The Ink Spots And Their Music" (http://home.att.net/~marvy42/inkspots.html )

Websites: there are many sites dedicated to the Ink Spots on the web, but
two will be sufficient for most needs - http://inkspots.ca/ for more
detailed information than you can shake a sick at and
http://www.group-harmony.com/ink_main.htm for photographs, audio and
video clips aplenty.