John1948TwoA1's video: Billy Ward and The Dominos - Star Dust

The Dominoes (aka Billy Ward & the Dominoes) had one of the finest musical pedigrees of any R&B vocal group of the 1940s. A lot of R&B acts came out of a gospel background but rare is the R&B vocal group whose founder was trained at Juilliard. Billy Ward (born September 19, 1921, Los Angeles) had a minister father and a musician mother, and was a musical prodigy as a child, schooled in classical music theory and composition as well as performance. Following his military service during World War II, Ward studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where he later became a voice coach; he also began working on Broadway during the late '40s. It was from the ranks of his ex-students that he recruited the original members of the Dominoes: Clyde McPhatter as lead singer, Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass). The Dominoes won a series of talent contests, including a competition on the television show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which got them a lot of engagements and an audition with Ralph Bass, the head of the newly established Federal Records label, part of Syd Nathan's King Records, during the final months of 1950. The Dominoes, with McPhatter's high tenor lead, had a startlingly fresh sound and enjoyed a R&B hit in early 1951 with one song from their first session, "Do Something for Me." It was in May of that year that the group broke through to the top of the R&B charts with "Sixty Minute Man," which also established them as one of the leading crossover acts between gospel and blues. Riding the wave of demand for their performances off of that hit -- one of the first great double-entendre records of the '50s, and a very early example of what would be considered a "rock & roll" record -- the group spent the next seven months on the road, building up a lot of public good will and a reputation as one of the top R&B acts of the era. What made the Dominoes special, besides the excellent arrangements and McPhatter's unique voice, was their appeal beyond the usual racial lines of demarcation. They were huge in the black community, but they were also one of a relative handful of R&B acts that developed a small but fiercely loyal following among younger white listeners as well during the early '50s, which didn't matter a lot at the time -- and, as things worked out, was only incidental to their fate -- but helped plant a seed that blossomed into the full-blown rock & roll boom four years later. The Dominoes' star seemed poised only to rise, but there was already trouble within the lineup as early as 1951, when Charlie White quit and was succeeded by James Van Loan, followed by Bill Brown, who was replaced by David McNeil, formerly of the group the Larks. White (who later joined the Clovers) and Brown passed through a short-lived vocal group called the Checkers, while the reconstituted Dominoes continued scoring hits with "I Am With You" and "That's What You're Doing to Me," before scaling the top of the R&B charts again with "Have Mercy Baby," which was number one for two and a half months in 1952. In the spring of 1953, McPhatter's exit from the Dominoes hit the group's core audience within the black community like news of an earthquake, so beloved was the lead singer among their fans. The group and the singer enjoyed the adulation appropriate to a pop/R&B outfit, but they also evoked deep passions that were more akin to those elicited by a gospel outfit, and his departure from the Dominoes should have derailed the group. Ward must have sensed that there was trouble coming, however, because during the prior year he had approached a young boxer-turned-singer named Jackie Wilson, who had a voice that, if anything, was better than McPhatter's. A high tenor similar to McPhatter, he moved right into the fold with the latter's departure and the Dominoes picked right up with their performances and their contract at King/Federal. Wilson's singles with the group included "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down" and "Rags to Riches," which kept their demand reasonably high for the next year. n late 1956, Wilson quit to begin a solo career that would make him a star. Ward tried to keep the franchise going with the addition of ex-Lark Eugene Mumford as lead singer, and got the group a new contract with California-based Liberty Records. The new incarnation of the Dominoes suddenly found themselves with a major hit in the form of "Star Dust," which rode the pop charts for 24 weeks and got as high as number 13 nationally. This proved to be their last serious assault on the charts. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK: http://john1948.wikifoundry.com/page/John1948%27s+Youtube+Index