Every era needs its crooner, and in the early '60s, it was Bobby Vinton. Vinton's sentimental balladeering and orchestral, middle-of-the-road arrangements were a throwback to a decade earlier, before rock & roll had found its mass market. If Vinton is sometimes identified with a rock & roll audience, it's only because his music was bought by young listeners for a time, and because he still catches some airplay on oldies stations. What he sang was vocal pop, landing some of the biggest hits of the early '60s with "Roses Are Red (My Love)," "Blue on Blue," "There! I've Said It Again," "Mr. Lonely," and "Blue Velvet," the last of which has become his signature song in the wake of its notorious prominence in David Lynch's Blue Velvet.
Vinton originally aspired to lead a big band, and made big band versions of contemporary hits on his first recordings in the early '60s. When he began singing, however, he was quickly successful, reaching number one with "Roses Are Red (My Love)" in mid-1962. The syrupy, saccharine arrangements set the mold for his emotional, occasionally mournful hits throughout the early '60s. 1963 was his banner year, as he hit number three with "Blue on Blue," and then topped the charts with "Blue Velvet" and "There! I've Said It Again."
"There! I've Said It Again" was knocked out of the number one spot by the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand." But the British Invasion, surprisingly, didn't spell commercial death for Vinton, as it did for so many other balladeers and teen idols. Indeed, he had one of his biggest hits (and his final number one), the sobbing "Mr. Lonely," in late 1964. Although he didn't maintain quite the same superstar ranking, he was consistently popular throughout the next decade; between 1962 and 1972, in fact, he had an astonishing 28 Top 40 entries. Often he updated quaint 1960-era pop tunes such as "Halfway to Paradise," "Take Good Care of My Baby," and "Sealed With a Kiss." A couple of these, "Please Love Me Forever" and "I Love How You Love Me," made the Top Ten, which was quite an anachronism in 1967 and 1968.
Vinton seemed to have launched a major comeback in 1974 with "My Melody of Love," which made number three, and enjoys the distinction of being the only major American hit single sung partially in Polish. Only one more Top 40 hit was in the offing, though. This probably didn't particularly bother Vinton, who had his own TV series for a few years in the late '70s, and could always count on lucrative gigs on the cabaret circuit.
Decision: With 31 top 40 hits, and 4 #1's, Bobby Vinton is in the HOF....
Gladys Knight & The Pips
Gladys Knight (b. 28 May 1944, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), her brother Merald ‘Bubba’ (b. 4 September 1942, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), sister Brenda and cousins Elenor Guest and William Guest (b. 2 June 1941, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) formed their first vocal group in their native Atlanta in 1952. Calling themselves the Pips, after their cousin James ‘Pips’ Woods, the youngsters sang supper-club material in the week and gospel music on Sundays. They first recorded for Brunswick Records in 1958, releasing the unsuccessful single ‘Whistle My Love’. Another cousin of the Knights, Edward Patten (b. 2 August 1939, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 25 February 2005, Livonia, Michigan, USA), and Langston George were brought into the group line-up the following year when Brenda and Elenor left to get married. Three years elapsed before the Pips’ next sessions, which produced a version of Johnny Otis’ ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ for the small Huntom label. This song, which highlighted Knight’s bluesy, compelling vocal style, was leased to Vee Jay Records when it began attracting national attention, and went on to top the US R&B charts and reach the pop Top 10. By this time, the group, now credited as Gladys Knight And The Pips, had signed a long-term recording contract with Fury Records, where they issued a re-recording of ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ which competed for sales with the original release. Subsequent singles such as ‘Letter Full Of Tears’ and ‘Operator’ sealed the group’s R&B credentials. A switch to the Maxx label in 1964 - where they worked with producer Van McCoy - generated minor hits with ‘Giving Up’ and ‘Lovers Always Forgive’. Langston George retired from the group in 1962, leaving the four strong line-up that survived into the 80s.
In 1966, Gladys Knight And The Pips signed to Motown Records’ Soul subsidiary, where they were teamed up with producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield. Knight’s tough vocals left them slightly out of the Motown mainstream, and throughout their stay with the label the group was regarded as a second-string act. Between 1967 and 1968, they had major R&B and minor pop hits in America with ‘Everybody Needs Love’, ‘The End Of The Road’, ‘It Should Have Been Me’ and ‘I Wish It Would Rain’, but enjoyed most success with the original release of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, an uncompromisingly tough performance of a song that became a Motown standard in the hands of its author Marvin Gaye in 1969. Gladys Knight And The Pips’ version topped the R&B chart for six weeks at the end of 1967 and also reached number 2 on the US pop charts.
The group enjoyed further R&B and pop hits at the end of the decade with ‘Didn’t You Know (You’d Have To Cry Sometime)’, ‘The Nitty Gritty’, ‘Friendship Train’ and ‘You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You)’, while the poignant ‘If I Were Your Woman’ was one of the label’s biggest-selling releases of 1970 and provided the group with their third R&B chart-topper. In the early 70s, Gladys Knight And The Pips slowly moved away from their original blues-influenced sound towards a more middle-of-the-road harmony blend. Their new approach brought them success in 1973 with the smash hit ‘Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)’ (number 1 R&B/number 2 pop), while further hits during this period included ‘I Don’t Want To Do Wrong’, ‘Make Me The Woman That You Go Home To’, ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ and ‘Daddy Could Swear, I Declare’.
In late 1973, Gladys Knight And The Pips elected to leave Motown for Buddah Records, unhappy at the former label’s shift of operations from Detroit to Hollywood. At Buddah, the group found immediate success with ‘Where Peaceful Waters Flow’ and ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’, an arresting soul ballad which topped both the R&B and pop charts. Major hits such as ‘I’ve Got To Use My Imagination’ and ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me’ (R&B chart-toppers and pop Top 5 hits) mined a similar vein. In 1974, the group performed Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack songs for the movie Claudine, spawning the major hit ‘On And On’, and the following year the title track of I Feel A Song gave them another R&B number 1. Their smoother approach was epitomized by the medley of ‘The Way We Were/Try To Remember’, released the same year (1975) that saw Knight and the group host their own US television series.
Gladys Knight made her acting debut in Pipe Dreams in 1976, for which the group recorded a soundtrack album. Legal problems then dogged their career until the end of the decade, forcing Knight and the Pips to record separately until they could sign a new recording contract with CBS Records. Knight enjoyed minor R&B hits at the end of the decade with the solo singles ‘I’m Coming Home Again’ and ‘Am I Too Late’. About Love in 1980 teamed the reunited group with the Ashford And Simpson writing/production partnership, and produced a strident piece of R&B social comment in ‘Landlord’ and ‘Bourgie’ Bourgie’’. Subsequent releases alternated between the group’s R&B and MOR modes, generating hits such as the R&B chart-topper ‘Save The Overtime (For Me)’ and ‘You’re Number One In My Book’ (both 1983). In 1985 Knight appeared on the chart-topping pop hit ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, alongside Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. After a move to MCA Records in 1986, ‘Love Overboard’ demonstrated that Gladys Knight And The Pips could work equally well in both R&B and pop genres, taking the group back to the top of the R&B charts and into the pop Top 20 at the end of 1987. The latter song earned them a Grammy Award for the Best R&B performance in early 1989, while the group enjoyed two final R&B hits at the end of the decade with ‘Lovin’ On Next To Nothin’’ and ‘It’s Gonna Take All Our Love’.
In 1989, Gladys Knight and the Pips parted company. Merald remained with his sister when she achieved a UK Top 10 hit that year with the James Bond movie song ‘Licence To Kill’ (her highest UK chart position since Gladys Knight And The Pips’ 1977 Top 5 hit ‘Baby Don’t Change Your Mind’), and released her second solo album, Good Woman, in 1991. Her subsequent work has alternated between gospel and mainstream pop, although apart from the R&B Top 5 hit ‘Men’ she has enjoyed relatively minor chart success. She collaborated with Chaka Khan, Brandy and Tamia on the minor hit ‘Missing You’ in 1996, taken from the Queen Latifah movie Set It Off. The same year she was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the Pips. A noteworthy album of standards was released in 2006.
Decision: With 27 top 40 hits, and 10 #1s on the R&B chart, they belong in the HOF...
The Isley Brothers
First formed in the early '50s, the Isley Brothers enjoyed one of the longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music -- over the course of nearly a half century of performing, the group's distinguished history spanned not only two generations of Isley siblings but also massive cultural shifts which heralded their music's transformation from gritty R&B to Motown soul to blistering funk. The first generation of Isley siblings was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, where they were encouraged to begin a singing career by their father, himself a professional vocalist, and their mother, a church pianist who provided musical accompaniment at their early performances. Initially a gospel quartet, the group was comprised of Ronald, Rudolph, O'Kelly, and Vernon Isley; after Vernon's 1955 death in a bicycling accident, tenor Ronald was tapped as the remaining trio's lead vocalist. In 1957, the brothers went to New York City to record a string of failed doo wop singles; while performing a spirited reading of the song "Lonely Teardrops" in Washington, D.C., two years later, they interjected the line "You know you make me want to shout," which inspired frenzied audience feedback. An RCA executive in the audience saw the concert, and when he signed the Isleys soon after, he instructed that their first single be constructed around their crowd-pleasing catch phrase; while the call-and-response classic "Shout" failed to reach the pop Top 40 on its initial release, it eventually became a frequently covered classic.
Still, success eluded the Isleys, and only after they left RCA in 1962 did they again have another hit, this time with their seminal cover of the Top Notes' "Twist and Shout." Like so many of the brothers' early R&B records, "Twist and Shout" earned greater commercial success when later rendered by a white group -- in this case, the Beatles; other acts who notched hits by closely following the Isleys' blueprint were the Yardbirds ("Respectable," also covered by the Outsiders), the Human Beinz ("Nobody but Me"), and Lulu ("Shout"). During a 1964 tour, they recruited a young guitarist named Jimmy James to play in their backing band; James -- who later shot to fame under his given name, Jimi Hendrix -- made his first recordings with the Isleys, including the single "Testify," issued on the brothers' own T-Neck label. They signed to the Motown subsidiary Tamla in 1965, where they joined forces with the famedHolland-Dozier-Holland writing and production team. Their first single, the shimmering "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)," was their finest moment yet, and barely missed the pop Top Ten.
"This Old Heart of Mine" was their only hit on Motown, however, and when the song hit number three in Britain in 1967, the Isleys relocated to England in order to sustain their flagging career; after years of writing their own material, they felt straitjacketed by the Motown assembly-line production formula, and by the time they returned stateside in 1969, they had exited Tamla to resuscitate the T-Neck label. Their next release, the muscular and funky "It's Your Thing," hit number two on the U.S. charts in 1969, and became their most successful record. That year, the Isleys also welcomed a number of new members as younger brothers Ernie and Marvin, brother-in-law Chris Jasper, and family friend Everett Collinsbecame the trio's new backing unit. Spearheaded by Ernie's hard-edged guitar leads, the group began incorporating more and more rock material into its repertoire as the 1970s dawned, and scored hits with covers of Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With," Eric Burdon & War's "Spill the Wine," and Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay."
In 1973, the Isleys scored a massive hit with their rock-funk fusion cover of their own earlier single "Who's That Lady," retitled "That Lady, Pt. 1"; the album 3 + 3 also proved highly successful, as did 1975's The Heat Is On, which spawned the smash "Fight the Power, Pt. 1." As the decade wore on, the group again altered its sound to fit into the booming disco market; while their success on pop radio ran dry, they frequently topped the R&B charts with singles like 1977's "The Pride," 1978's "Take Me to the Next Phase, Pt. 1," 1979's "I Wanna Be With You, Pt. 1," and "It's A Disco Night" and 1980's "Don't Say Goodnight." While the Isleys' popularity continued into the 1980s, Ernie and Marvin, along with Chris Jasper, defected in 1984 to form their own group, Isley Jasper Isley; a year later, they topped the R&B charts with "Caravan of Love." On March 31, 1986, O'Kelly died of a heart attack; Rudolph soon left to join the ministry, but the group reunited in 1990.
Although the individual members continued with solo work and side projects, and also experienced misfortune along the way, the Isley Brothers forged on in one form or another throughout the '90s and into the 21st century. In 1996, now consisting of Ronald, Marvin, and Ernie, they released the album Mission to Please; however, Marvin developed diabetes and left the band the following year -- the disease later necessitated the amputation of both his legs. Ronald and Ernie hooked up for the release of 2001's Eternal, a brand-new selection of R&B cuts featuring collaborative efforts with Jill Scott, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and Raphael Saadiq. On that particular release, Ronald also introduced the alter ego Mr. Biggs. Body Kiss was released in 2003, followed by Baby Makin' Music in 2006, the year after Ronald was convicted of tax evasion charges. Experiencing his own set of serious health issues, Ronald was sentenced to prison and served the latter portion of his sentence at a halfway house in St. Louis, MO before being released in April 2010. On June 6 of that year, Marvin died of complications from diabetes at the age of 56.
Decision: R&B legends, but did not have enough pop hits for the HOF...
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records -- "Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others -- earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since. Yet as much of an international institution as she's become, much of her work -- outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late '60s and early '70s -- is erratic and only fitfully inspired, making discretion a necessity when collecting her records.
Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep. With her sisters Carolyn and Erma (both of whom would also have recording careers), she sang at the Detroit church of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond.
Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half of the '60s, notching occasional R&B hits (and one Top 40 single, "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody") but never truly breaking out as a star. The Columbia period continues to generate considerable controversy among critics, many of whom feel that Aretha's true aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production. In fact, there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the Columbia sides, including the occasional song ("Lee Cross," "Soulville") where she belts out soul with real gusto. It's undeniably true, though, that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than what was to follow, and suffered in general from a lack of direction and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around entertainer, rather than as an R&B/soul singer.
When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic, producer Jerry Wexler was determined to bring out her most soulful, fiery traits. As part of that plan, he had her record her first single, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern R&B musicians. In fact, that was to be her only session actually at Muscle Shoals, but much of the remainder of her '60s work would be recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, although the sessions would actually take place in New York City. The combination was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop: the backup musicians provided a much grittier, soulful, and R&B-based accompaniment for Aretha's voice, which soared with a passion and intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for the first time.
In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movement and other triumphs for the black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968, for instance, and a steady stream of solid mid- to large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to Sam Cooke andthe Drifters. She was also a fine, forceful, and somewhat underrated keyboardist.
Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Day Dreaming." She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at Fillmore West andAmazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.
Franklin had a few more hits over the next few years -- "Angel" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Until You Come Back to Me" being the most notable. Her Atlantic contract ended at the end of the 1970s, and since then she's managed to get intermittent hits -- "Who's Zooming Who" and "Jump to It" are among the most famous. Many of her successes were duets, or crafted with the assistance of contemporaries such as Luther Vandross. In 1986 Franklin released her follow-up to Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, the self-titled Aretha, which saw the single “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” a duet with George Michael, hit the top of the charts. There was also another return to gospel in 1987 with One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Franklin shifted back to pop with 1989’s Through the Storm, but it wasn’t a commercial success, and neither was 1991’s new jack swing-styled What You See Is What You Sweat.
Now solidly an iconic figure and acknowledged as one of the best singers of her generation no matter what her record sales were, Franklin contributed songs to several movie soundtracks in the next few years before releasing the R&B-based A Rose Is Still a Rose in 1998. So Damn Happy followed five years later in 2003 and again saw disappointing sales, but it did generate the Grammy-winning song “Wonderful.” Franklin left Arista Records that same year after 23 years and started her own label, Aretha’s Records, two years later in 2005. A duets compilation, Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen, was issued in 2007, followed by her first holiday album, 2008’s This Christmas Aretha, originally as a Borders exclusive and then distributed by DMI. The first release on her own label, Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, appeared in the spring of 2011. Despite sometimes poor health, she continued to select new projects to work on, ever the institution, her reputation secure as one of the best singers of the modern era.
Decision: The Queen of Soul, 45 top 40 hits, and 17 top 10's.....Yeah, I think she's in.....
Tomorrow:1962 Nominees: Beach Boys, Four Seasons, Herb Alpert & Peter, Paul & Mary
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