Vocal Group Labels
Page 10
"While Our Hearts Are Young" is a very pretty ballad by The Federals on Bobby Robinson's Fury label from 1957.

The members were Rudy Anderson, James Pender, Ken Fox, and Lorenzo Cook.

They also recorded for the DeLuxe label and, as the Wheels on the Premium label.
One of the best ballads of the '50s was "Close Your Eyes" by The Five Keys.

Released in early 1955, this has Maryland Pierce on lead, with Rudy West following along behind in a quite delightful way.

Capitol Records was one of the big players in the 1950s, and was located in Hollywood, Ca.
A song written by lead singer Fred Parris, "In The Still Of The Nite" was recorded in a New Haven, Ct. church basement, and first released on the local label, Standord.  These issues are very rare.

While this song never got very high on the pop charts, it did get to #3 on the R&B chart in the Fall of 1956, and has gone on to become one of the best loved songs of all time.

The Ember label was part of Herald Records out of New York City.
The "5" Royales were a group from Winston-Salem, NC, who started in the '40s as a gospel group, and later recorded for the Apollo label in the early '50s, before jumping to the King label.

This group recorded the original "Dedicated To The One I Love" which would later be a hit for both The Shirelles, and The Mamas and The Papas.

This early 1959 release was on the King label out of Cincinatti, Ohio.
Probably the most famous of all R&B vocal group records is the 78rpm only, "Stormy Weather" by the Five Sharps on Jubilee 5104 from 1952.  I don't have the space here to go into all the legends assosiated with the record, but extreme rarity, a legendary N.Y.C. record store, a fire, and a raccoon, all figure into the mythology of "Stormy Weather".

In the early 70s, when Bim Bam Boom released the record pictured here, there were only three originals known.  One cracked all the way through, one with a large edge chip, and one in 'G' condition.  No master tape exists for this song.
The Del Vikings were formed in 1956 by bass singer Clarence Quick.  The group was made up of Air Force personnel stationed in Pittsburgh.

The group's first song, "Come Go With Me" was to become a bit hit, but transfers and label changes by some members left a confusing trail that led to this, the first release by the Del-Vikings on the Mercury Label in the early Summer of 1957.  Gus Backus does the lead on this one.

The Mercury label was out of Chicago.
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