Think You Can Recognize These 50s Music Legends?

William Ballard Doggett was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. He is best known for his compositions “Honky Tonk” and “Hippy Dippy”, and variously working with the Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan. His best known recording is “Honky Tonk”, a rhythm and blues hit of 1956 which sold four million copies (reaching No. 1 R&B and No. 2 Pop), and which he co-wrote with Billy Butler.

Etta James was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “The Wallflower”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind”. She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.

Clyde Lensley McPhatter was an American rhythm and blues, soul and rock and roll singer. McPhatter’s high-pitched tenor voice was steeped in the gospel music he sang in much of his early life. He was later the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes and was largely responsible for the initial success of the group. After his tenure with the Dominoes, McPhatter formed his own group, the Drifters, and later worked as a solo performer.

Joseph Amos Milburn, Jr. was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, “Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humour and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics.”

Lee Andrews & the Hearts was an American doo-wop quintet from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formed in 1953. They recorded on the Gotham, Rainbow, Mainline, Chess, United Artists, Grand and Gowen labels. Managed by Kae Williams, in 1957 and 1958 they had their three biggest hits, “Teardrops,” “Long Lonely Nights” and “Try the Impossible.”

Elvis Aron Presley is often referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll” or simply the “King”. with his family when he was 13 years old. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. Presley’s first RCA single, “Heartbreak Hotel”, was released in January 1956 and became a number one hit in the United States.

Harold “Chuck” Willis was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, “C. C. Rider” (1957) and “What Am I Living For” (1958), both reached No.1 on the Billboard R&B chart. He was known as The King of the Stroll for his performance of the 1950s dance the stroll.

Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair or “Fess” for short, was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday of early rhythm and blues and later in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. His piano style has been described as “instantly recognizable, combining rumba, mambo, and calypso.”

Lawrence Eugene Williams was from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including “Bony Moronie”, “Short Fat Fannie”, “Slow Down”, “Dizzy, Miss Lizzy” (1958), “Bad Boy” and “She Said Yeah” (1959). John Lennon was a fan, and The Beatles and several other British Invasion groups recorded several of his songs.

Lloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist, known as “Mr. Personality”, after his 1959 million-selling hit, “Personality”. His first recording, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, was a hit for Specialty Records in 1952. He continued to release records, but none were as popular until several years later, when he refined the New Orleans beat and achieved a series of national hits. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Carl Lee Perkins was an American singer-songwriter who recorded most notably at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 1954. His best-known song is “Blue Suede Shoes”. Called “the King of Rockabilly”, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. He was often referred to as “The Genius”. He pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.

The Orioles were an American R&B group of the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. The Orioles are generally acknowledged as R&B’s first vocal group. They brought their winning formula to their first charted hit “It‚Äôs Too Soon To Know”; a #1 record in November 1948, soon followed by the group‚Äôs second hit, “(It’s Gonna Be a) Lonely Christmas”, in December that same year.

Mabel Louise Smith, known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer. Her 1956 hit single “Candy” received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. In 1952 she was signed by Okeh Records, whose record producer Fred Mendelsohn gave her the stage name ‘Big Maybelle’ because of her loud yet well-toned voice. Her first recording for Okeh, “Gabbin’ Blues”, was a number 3 hit on the Billboard R&B chart, and was followed up by both “Way Back Home” and “My Country Man” in 1953.

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the “Godfather of Soul”. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.

Samuel Cook, known professionally as Sam Cooke, is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocals and importance within popular music. He began singing as a child and joined The Soul Stirrers before moving to a solo career where he scored a string of hit songs like “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Wonderful World”, “Chain Gang”, “Twistin’ the Night Away”, and “Bring it on Home to Me”.

Percy Mayfield was an American rhythm-and-blues singer with a smooth vocal style. He was also a songwriter, known for the songs “Please Send Me Someone to Love” and “Hit the Road Jack”. Mayfield’s vocal style was influenced by such stylists as Charles Brown, but unlike many West Coast bluesmen, Mayfield did not focus on the white market. He sang blues ballads, mostly songs he wrote himself, in a gentle vocal style.

Esther Phillips was a versatile singer and also performed pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music. Her first hit record was “Double Crossing Blues”, with the Johnny Otis Quintette and the Robins (a vocal group), released in 1950 by Savoy Records, which reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. She made several hit records for Savoy with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, including “Mistrusting Blues” (a duet with Mel Walker) and “Cupid’s Boogie”, both of which also went to number 1 that year.

The Cadillacs were an American rock and roll and doo-wop group from Harlem, New York, active from 1953 to 1962. The group was noted for their 1955 hit “Speedoo”, written by Esther Navarro, which was instrumental in attracting white audiences to black rock and roll performers.

Wanda Lavonne Jackson had success in the mid-1950s and 1960s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock-and-roll artist. She is known to many as the “Queen of Rockabilly” or the “First Lady of Rockabilly”. Jackson mixed country music with fast-moving rockabilly, often recording them on opposite sides of a record.

Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins (July 18, 1929 ‚Äì February 12, 2000) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as “I Put a Spell on You”, he sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock.

Roy Hamilton brought soul to Great American Songbook singing. Hamilton’s greatest commercial success came from 1954 through 1961, when he was Epic Records’ most prolific artist. His two most influential recordings, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Unchained Melody”, became Epic’s first two number-one hits when they topped the Billboard R&B chart in March 1954 and May 1955, respectively.

Joseph Vernon “Big Joe” Turner Jr. was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, “Rock and roll would have never happened without him.” His greatest fame was due to his rock-and-roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s. Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, with the Hall lauding him as “the brawny voiced ‘Boss of the Blues'”.

Jack Leroy Wilson Jr., a tenor with a four-octave range, Wilson was nicknamed “Mr. Excitement”, and was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He gained initial fame as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes. Wilson went solo in 1957 and scored over 50 chart singles that spanned the genres of R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop and easy listening, including 16 R&B Top 10 hits, in which six R&B of the repertoire ranked as number ones.

Delores LaVern Baker had several hit records on the pop chart in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her most successful records were “Tweedle Dee” (1955), “Jim Dandy” (1956), and “I Cried a Tear” (1958). In 1990 Baker was among the first eight recipients of the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 1991, she became the second female solo artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following Aretha Franklin in 1987.

Hank Ballard was a rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an integral part in the development of the genre, releasing the hit singles “Work With Me, Annie” and answer songs “Annie Had a Baby” and “Annie’s Aunt Fannie” with his Midnighters.

Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps is an album by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. It was originally released in 1957, four months after its predecessor, Bluejean Bop. It was released on the Capitol label. Cliff Gallup and rhythm guitarist, Willie Williams, had left The Blue Caps in the summer of 1956. Gallup was persuaded by producer, Ken Nelson, to temporarily rejoin for the sessions that resulted in the album.

Eric Hilliard Nelson placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and its predecessors, between 1957 and 1973, including “Poor Little Fool” in 1958, which was the first #1 song on Billboard magazine’s then-newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded 19 additional Top 10 hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. In 1996 Nelson was ranked #49 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Bobby Darin was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor in film and television. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music. He started his career as a songwriter for Connie Francis. He recorded his first million-selling single, “Splish Splash”, in 1958. This was followed by “Dream Lover”, “Mack the Knife”, and “Beyond the Sea”, which brought him worldwide fame.

Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood which were noted for their characteristically “twangy” sound, including “Rebel Rouser”, “Peter Gunn”, and “Because They’re Young”. He had sold 12 million records by 1963. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

The Larks were an African American vocal group, active in the early 1950s. They were not the same group as the Los Angeles-based Larks (originally The Meadowlarks) featuring Don Julian. In 1950, the six-man group drove to New York to record. On one single day, they recorded 17 songs for four different labels, under four different names.

Gene Allison grew up in Nashville, Tennessee singing in the church choir with his brother Leevert. As a teenager, Allison was offered a chance to sing with The Fairfield Four and, later, The Skylarks. Record producer Ted Jarrett signed Allison to Calvert Records to record secular music; soon after Jarrett got him a recording contract with Vee-Jay Records along with Larry Birdsong. Allison’s debut single was “You Can Make It If You Try”, written by Ted Jarrett and released in 1957; it became a hit in the U.S., where it entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1958.

The Crests was an American doo-wop group, formed by bass vocalist J.T. Carter in the mid 1950s. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records. Their most popular song, “16 Candles”, rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1959 selling over one million copies and earning a gold disc status. The group’s other hits include “Step By Step”, “The Angels Listened In”, “Trouble In Paradise”, “Six Nights A Week”, and “A Year Ago Tonight”.

Huey Pierce Smith, known as Huey “Piano” Smith is an American rhythm-and-blues pianist whose sound was influential in the development of rock and roll. His piano playing incorporated the boogie styles of Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons, the jazz style of Jelly Roll Morton and the rhythm-and-blues style of Fats Domino.

The “5” Royales was an American rhythm and blues (R&B) vocal group from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, that combined gospel, jump blues and doo-wop, marking an early and influential step in the evolution of rock and roll. Most of their big R&B hits were recorded in 1952 and 1953 and written by the guitarist Lowman “Pete” Pauling. The “5” Royales were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

The Five Satins are an American doo-wop group, best known for their 1956 million-selling song, “In the Still of the Night.” The group, formed in New Haven, Connecticut, consisted of leader Fred Parris, Lewis Peeples, Stanley Dortch, Ed Martin and Jim Freeman and Nat Mosley in 1954. With little success, the group reorganized, with Dortch and Peeples leaving, and new member Al Denby entering. The group then recorded “In the Still of the Night”, a very big hit in the United States which was originally released as the B-side to the single, “The Jones Girl”.

William Edward “Little Willie” John was an American R&B singer who performed in the 1950s and early 1960s. He is best known for his successes on the record charts, with songs such as “All Around the World” (1955), “Need Your Love So Bad” (1956), and “Fever” (1956). An important figure in R&B music of the 1950s, John was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The El Dorados were an American doo-wop group, who achieved their greatest success with the song “At My Front Door”, a no. 1 hit on the R&B chart in 1955. The group formed in Chicago in 1952, originally as “Pirkle Lee and the Five Stars”. It comprised Pirkle Lee Moses Jr. (lead vocals), Louis Bradley and Arthur Basset (tenors), Jewel Jones (second tenor/baritone), James Maddox and Richard Nickens (both baritone/bass). When Moses Jr. got out of the United States Air Force in 1954, they changed their name to The El Dorados.

The Flamingos are a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted doo-wop group from the United States, most popular in the mid- to late 1950s and best known for their 1959 cover version of “I Only Have Eyes for You”. Billboard magazine wrote: “Universally hailed as one of the finest and most influential vocal groups in pop music history, the Flamingos defined doo wop at its most elegant and sophisticated.

Overton Amos Lemons, known as Smiley Lewis, was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. The music journalist Tony Russell wrote that “Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans.” He hit on a formula for slow-rocking, small-band numbers like ‘The Bells Are Ringing’ and ‘I Hear You Knocking’ only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music with a more ingratiating delivery. Lewis was practically drowned in Domino’s backwash.”

Jerry Lee Lewis is often known by his nickname, The Killer. A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. “Crazy Arms” sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless” and “High School Confidential”.

Richard Steven Valenzuela, known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was a Mexican American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens’ recording career lasted eight months, as it abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash. During this time, he had several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had the American number 2 hit ”Donna”.

Ivory Joe Hunter was an American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid-1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording “Since I Met You Baby” (1956). He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The Happiest Man Alive.

Bobby Mitchell was an American, New Orleans-based, rhythm & blues singer and songwriter. Mitchell was born in the Algiers section of New Orleans. He was a popular recording artist in the 1950s and early 1960s, making records for Imperial Records, Show Biz Records and Rip Records. He first recorded in his teens with the do-wop group “The Toppers”, which was broken up as most of the members were drafted. Mitchell’s single “Try Rock ‘n Roll,” hit the top 20 of the US Billboard R&B chart in 1956.

Robert Thomas “Bobby” Freeman was an African-American rock, soul and R&B singer, songwriter and record producer from San Francisco, best known for his two Top Ten hits, the first in 1958 on Josie Records called “Do You Want to Dance” and the second in 1964 for Autumn Records, “C’mon and Swim”.

Roy Kelton Orbison was known for his powerful voice, wide vocal range, impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. The combination led many critics to describe his music as operatic, nicknaming him “the Caruso of Rock” and “the Big O”. From 1960 to 1966, 22 of his singles reached the Billboard Top 40.

Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids formed one of the original rockabilly acts in rock-and-roll, had a career that paralleled that of Buddy Holly, and released a number one song in the Fifties. Buddy was born Buddy Wayne Knox in 1933 in Happy, Texas. In 1948 he wrote a song that he called Party Doll. In 1955 while a student at West Texas State University, Buddy Knox formed a group called the Rhythm Orchids that included himself on guitar and vocals, Jimmy Bowen on bass, and Don Lanier on lead guitar; he later added Dave Alldred on drums.

Fred Lincoln “Link” Wray, Jr. was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, his 1958 instrumental hit “Rumble” by Link Wray & His Ray Men popularized “the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists,” facilitating the emergence of “punk and heavy rock”. Rolling Stone placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Richard Wayne Penniman, known as Little Richard, had his most-celebrated work dating from the mid-1950s when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship presaged the rise of rock and roll. His music influenced many other popular music genres, including soul, funk and hip hop and shaped generations of rhythm and blues artists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986.

Brenda Lee is an American performer and the top-charting solo female vocalist of the 1960s. She sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s, and is ranked fourth in that decade surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is perhaps best known in the United States for her 1960 hit “I’m Sorry”, and 1958’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, which has become a Christmas standard.

John Watson Jr., known professionally as Johnny “Guitar” Watson, was an American blues, soul, and funk musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with “Ain’t That a Bitch”, “I Need It” and “Superman Lover”. His successful recording career spanned forty years, with his highest chart appearance being the 1977 song “A Real Mother For Ya”.

Delmar Allen “Dale” Hawkins was a pioneer American rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who was often called the architect of swamp rock boogie. Ronnie Hawkins was his cousin. In 1958 Hawkins recorded a single of Willie Dixon’s “My Babe” at the Chess Records studio in Chicago, featuring Telecaster guitarist Roy Buchanan. He went on to a long and successful career.

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller’s “Hound Dog”, in 1952, which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. Thornton’s other recordings included the original version of “Ball ‘n’ Chain”, which she wrote.

Edward Ray Cochran Cochran’s rockabilly songs, such as “Twenty Flight Rock”, “Summertime Blues”, “C’mon Everybody” and “Somethin’ Else”, captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. His image as a sharply dressed and good-looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved an iconic status.

Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio is the 1956 debut album of the influential rockabilly band The Rock and Roll Trio, fronted by Johnny Burnette. Recorded over three separate sessions in 1956, the album includes a number of the band’s singles. 2008’s Icons of Rock calls the album “an all-time rockabilly classic”. Released as a 10″ LP in the UK by Vogue/Coral Records in December 1956 (#10041), it was released again in 12″ format in its US debut by Coral Records in 1957 (#57080) and in 1978 by Solid Smoke (#8001).

Johnny Otis was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He discovered numerous artists early in their careers who went on to become highly successful in their own right, including Little Esther Phillips, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard, and The Robins. Otis has become widely synonymous with being known as the original “King of Rock and Roll” and the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”.

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive.

Ellas McDaniel, known as Bo Diddley, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Clash. His use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a simple five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of hip hop, rock, and pop music.

The Everly Brothers was an American country-influenced rock and roll duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Isaac Donald “Don” Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip “Phil” Everly (January 19, 1939 ‚Äì January 3, 2014) were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr. sold more than 65 million records. His humility and shyness may be one reason his contribution to the genre has been overlooked. During his career, Domino had 35 records in the U.S. Billboard Top 40, and five of his pre-1955 records sold more than a million copies, being certified gold.

Dion and the Belmonts were a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In 1957, Dion DiMucci (born July 18, 1939) joined the vocal group, The Belmonts. The established trio of Angelo D’Aleo (born February 3, 1940), Carlo Mastrangelo (October 5, 1937 ‚Äì April 4, 2016), and Fred Milano (August 26, 1939 ‚Äì January 1, 2012), formed a quartet with DiMucci.

Marvin & Johnny were an American doo-wop duo which recorded in the 1950s. The duo comprised Marvin Phillips (born October 23, 1931) and Emory “Johnny” Perry (born March 1, 1928), who recorded the early doo-wop single, “Cherry Pie”. Phillips was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma and Perry in Sherman, Texas, but their impact in the music industry occurred in Los Angeles in 1954. The pair had become acquainted in 1949 when they were saxophonists for The Richard Lewis Band.

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley’s death in 1981. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten. Following Haley’s death, no fewer than seven different groups have existed under the Comets name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the continuation of Haley’s group.

The Hollywood Flames were an American R&B vocal group in the 1950s, best known for their number 5 hit “Buzz-Buzz-Buzz” in 1957. They formed as The Flames in 1949, in Watts, Los Angeles, at a talent show where members of various high school groups got together. They first recorded in 1950 for the Selective label, and the following year, billed as The Hollywood Four Flames, released “Tabarin”, a song written by Murry Wilson (father of The Beach Boys).

The Drifters are a long-lasting American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group. There were three golden eras of the Drifters; the early 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s (post-Atlantic period). From these, the first Drifters, formed by Clyde McPhatter, was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as “The Drifters”. The second Drifters, featuring Ben E. King, was separately inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as “Ben E. King and the Drifters”. In their induction, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected four members from the first Drifters, two from the second Drifters, and one from the post-Atlantic Drifters.

The Platters is an American vocal group formed in 1952. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre. The act went through several personnel changes, with the most successful incarnation comprising lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor. The group had 40 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1955 and 1967, including four number-one hits.

The Cleftones were an American vocal group formed in 1955 who were then called The Silvertones at Junior High School 40 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. In their first effort as professional musicians, Corbin and Patterson wrote “You Baby You,” which became a hit in 1955. Herb Cox then wrote “Little Girl of Mine” and “Can’t We Be Sweethearts,” for the group. However, after a few minor hits (“Why You Do Me Like You Do” & “See You Next Year”) their next major hits would not come until years later.

Little Anthony and the Imperials is an American rhythm and blues/soul vocal group from New York City founded by Clarence Collins in the 1950s and named in part for its lead singer, Jerome Anthony “Little Anthony” Gourdine, who was noted for his high-pitched voice. The group was one of the very few doo-wop groups to enjoy sustained success on the R&B and pop charts throughout the 1960s. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009, 23 years after the group’s first year of eligibility for induction.

The Penguins were an American doo-wop group of the 1950s and early 1960s, best remembered for their only Top 40 hit, “Earth Angel”, which was one of the first rhythm and blues hits to cross over to the pop charts. The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but had a three-week run at #1 on the R&B chart, later used in the Back to the Future movies. The group’s tenor was Cleveland Duncan.

The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with “Searchin'” and “Young Blood”, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Although the Coasters originated outside of mainstream doo-wop, their records were so frequently imitated that they became an important part of the doo-wop legacy through the 1960s.

Billy Ward and his Dominoes were an African-American R&B vocal group. After a less successful follow-up, the group released “Sixty Minute Man”, on which Brown sang lead, and boasted of being able to satisfy his girls with fifteen minutes each of “kissin'” “teasin'” and “squeezin'”, before “blowin'” his “top”. It reached number 1 on the R&B chart in May 1951 and stayed there for 14 weeks, and crossed over to the pop charts, reaching number 17 and voted “Song of the Year” of 1951.

The Chantels were the second African-American girl group to enjoy nationwide success in the United States, preceded by The Bobbettes. The group was established in the early 1950s by students attending St. Anthony of Padua School in The Bronx. The original five members consisted of Arlene Smith (lead) (October 5, 1941), Sonia Goring Wilson (born Millicent Goring) (1940), Renée Minus White (1943), Jackie Landry Jackson (May 22, 1941 – December 23, 1997) and Lois Harris (1940).

The Del-Vikings are an American doo-wop musical group, who recorded several hit singles in the 1950s, and continued to record and tour with various lineups in later decades. The group was notable for being one of the few racially mixed musical groups to attain success in the 1950s.

The Moonglows were an American R&B group in the 1950s. Their song “Sincerely” went to number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 20 on the Billboard Juke Box chart. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

The Crickets was an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s. Their first hit record, “That’ll Be the Day”, released in 1957, peaked at number three on the Billboard Top 100 chart on September 16. The Crickets helped set the template for subsequent rock bands, such as the Beatles, with their guitar-bass-drums lineup and the talent to write most of their own material.

The Five Keys was an American rhythm and blues vocal group that was instrumental in shaping this genre in the 1950s. They were signed to Aladdin Records in 1951, and in 1952 Rudy West left to join the United States Army, and he was replaced by Ulysses K. Hicks. When Hicks died of a heart attack in Boston in 1955, Rudy West returned to the group. In 1954 Dickie Smith left and was replaced with Ramon Loper. At this point the Five Keys were signed to Capitol Records, and their popularity increased, although more instrumentation was used.

The Skyliners are an American doo-wop group from Pittsburgh. The original lineup was: Jimmy Beaumont (lead), Janet Vogel (soprano), Wally Lester (tenor), Jackie Taylor (bass voice, guitarist), Joe Verscharen (baritone). The Skyliners were best known for their 1959 hit, “Since I Don’t Have You”. They also hit the Top 40 with “This I Swear” and “Pennies from Heaven”. Other classics include “It Happened Today” (1959), “Close Your Eyes” (1961) and “Comes Love” (1962).

Mickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo, composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool. They were the first big seller for Groove Records. Mickey was a music instructor and Sylvia one of his pupils. Baker was inspired to form the group by the success of Les Paul & Mary Ford. They had a Top 20 hit with “Love Is Strange” in 1956, which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

The Heartbeats were a 1950s American doo-wop group best known for their song “A Thousand Miles Away”, which charted at #53 in the US Billboard listings in 1957. They were signed shortly after James “Shep” Sheppard joined the group as lead vocalist and were shuffled between various production companies and record labels over the next few years.

The Clovers was an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. They had a top thirty US hit in 1959 with the Leiber and Stoller song “Love Potion No. 9”. The group was formed at Armstrong High School, Washington, D.C., in 1946 by Harold Lucas (baritone), Billy Shelton and Thomas Woods.

The Spaniels were an American R&B doo-wop group, best known for the hit “Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite”. They have been called the first successful Midwestern R&B group. Some historians of vocal groups consider Pookie Hudson to be the first true leader of a vocal group, because the Spaniels pioneered the technique of having the main singer solo at his own microphone, while the rest of the group shared a second microphone.

The Teenagers are an American-Puerto Rican doo wop group, most noted for being one of rock music’s earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead singer, is also noted for being rock’s first all-teenaged act.

Ruth Alston Brown was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes known as the “Queen of R&B”. She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as “So Long”, “Teardrops from My Eyes” and “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean”. Following a resurgence that began in the mid-1970s and peaked in the 1980s, Brown used her influence to press for musicians’ rights regarding royalties and contracts; these efforts led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

John Marshall Alexander Jr., known by the stage name Johnny Ace, had a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s. He died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 25. Ace’s recordings sold very well for those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that three of his 1954 recordings, along with Thornton’s “Hound Dog”, had sold more than 1,750,000 copies.

Sir Cliff Richard OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor and philanthropist. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. He has total sales of over 21 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Jack Scott is a Canadian American singer and songwriter. He was the first white rock and roll star to come out of Detroit, Michigan. He was inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011 and has been called “undeniably the greatest Canadian rock and roll singer of all time.” After recording two good-selling local hits for ABC-Paramount in 1957, he switched to the Carlton record label and had a double-sided national hit in 1958 with “Leroy” (#11) / “My True Love” (#3). The record sold over one million copies, earning Scott his first gold disc.

Zephire Andre Williams (born November 1, 1936) is an American R&B musician who started his career in the 1950s at Fortune Records in Detroit. His most famous songs include the hits “Jail Bait,” “Greasy Chicken,” “Bacon Fat” (1957) and “Cadillac Jack” (1966). He is also the co-author of the R&B hit “Shake a Tail Feather”.