Billy Ward (born Robert L. Williams, 19 September 1921, Savannah, Georgia, died 16 February 2002, Inglewood, California grew up in Philadelphia, the second of three sons of Charles Williams and Cora Bates Williams, and was a child musical prodigy, winning an award for a piano composition at the age of 14. Following military service with the Coast Guard Artillery Choir he studied music in Chicago, and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. While working as a vocal coach and part-time arranger on Broadway, he met talent agent Rose Marks, who became his business and songwriting partner.
The pair set out to form a vocal group from the ranks of his students, hoping to cash in on the new trend of vocal quintets in R&B. The group was at first called the Ques, composed of Clyde McPhatter (lead tenor), whom Ward recruited after McPhatter won "Amateur Night" at the Apollo Theater, Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass). Ward acted as their pianist and arranger. After the group made successful appearances on talent shows in the Apollo Theater and on the Arthur Godfrey show in 1950, Rene Hall recommended them to Ralph Bass of Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, where they were signed to a recording contract and renamed themselves The Dominoes. Their first single release, "Do Something For Me", with McPhatter’s lead vocal, reached the R&B charts in early 1951, climbing to #6.
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 #1 on the R&B chart in May 1951 and stayed there for 14 weeks, and crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #17 and voted "Song of the Year" for 1951. It was an important record in several respects—it crossed the boundaries between gospel singing and blues, its lyrics pushed the limits of what was deemed acceptable, and it appealed to many white as well as black listeners. In later years, it became a contender for the title of "the first rock and roll record".
The group toured widely, building up a reputation as one of the top R&B acts of the era, edging out the Five Keys and the Clovers (two of the top R&B groups of the early 1950s) and commanding an audience which crossed racial divides. However, Ward's strict disciplinarian approach, and failure to recompense the singers, caused internal problems. "Billy Ward was not an easy man to work for. He played piano and organ, could arrange, and he was a fine director and coach. He knew what he wanted, and you had to give it to him. And he was a strict disciplinarian. You better believe it! You paid a fine if you stepped out of line," according to Jackie Wilson. Ward most likely got the idea of levying fines against group members from his tenure in the military. Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice gives a unit commander authority to mete a certain amount of punishment to troops under his or her command without going through a court-martial, which includes fines (partial forfeiture of pay).
The name "The Dominoes" was owned by Ward and Marks, who had the power to hire and fire, and to pay the singers a salary. Clyde McPhatter was being paid barely enough to live on, even though most of the Dominoes' success was due to McPhatter's soaring vocal abilities. "Whenever I'd get back on the block where everybody'd heard my records - half the time I couldn't afford a Coca-Cola," according to McPhatter. Allegedly, Ward paid his singers $100 a week, minus deductions for taxes, food and hotel bills. McPhatter often found himself billed as "Clyde Ward" to fool fans into thinking he was Billy Ward's little brother. Others assumed Ward was doing the lead singing.
White and Brown both left in 1951 to form the Checkers, and were replaced by James Van Loan (1922–1976) and David McNeil (1932–2005, previously of the Larks). In March 1952, the Dominoes were chosen to be the only vocal group at Alan Freed's "Moondog Coronation Ball". The hits continued, with "Have Mercy Baby" topping the R&B charts for 10 weeks in 1952. Later records were credited to "Billy Ward and His Dominoes".
In early 1953, McPhatter decided to leave, and soon formed his own group, the Drifters. His replacement in the Dominoes was Jackie Wilson, who had been coached by McPhatter while also singing with the group on tour. Lamont and McNeil also left and were replaced by Milton Merle and Cliff Givens (Givens had been in The Southern Sons Gospel Quartet, and joined the Ink Spots in 1944 upon the death of original bass Orville "Hoppy" Jones). With Wilson singing lead, singles such as "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" continued to be successful, although the Dominoes didn't enjoy quite the same success as they had with McPhatter as lead tenor.
In 1954, Ward moved the group to the Jubilee label and then to Decca, where they enjoyed a #27 pop hit with "St. Therese of the Roses", featuring Wilson on tenor, giving the Dominoes a brief moment in the spotlight again. However, the group was unable to follow that success in the charts, and there were a succession of personnel changes. They increasingly moved away from their R&B roots with appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Elvis Presley went to hear Jackie Wilson and the Dominoes in Las Vegas in 1956 and was so impressed with Wilson's singing that he went back to Sun Studios and cut the Million Dollar Quartet's version
of Don't Be Cruel. Elvis introduces the song by saying how Wilson sang it much better than him and then proceeds to do an impersonation of the much slower Dominoes version, backed by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.
In late 1957, Wilson left for a solo career and was replaced by Gene Mumford of the Larks. Then, the group got a new contract with Liberty Records. They had a #13 pop hit with "Stardust". Stardust was one of the earliest multitrack recordings in the rock & roll era. The session was on March 7, 1957. The tapes have been mixed into true stereo. This is one of the very first songs (1957) by a rock & roll/RnB artist in real stereo. The track also reached #13 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1957. It was to be their only million seller. This proved to be their last major success, although various line-ups of the group continued recording and performing into the 1960s.
They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dr Hepcat and I have managed to assemble all the Z.Z. Hill material except for these two albums - this is a call to our Southern Soul fans to see if we can fill these last 2 holes in his discography. The first is the first Malaco album - the other appears to be his last record on the 601 label. 
made a field recording of Grey Ghost singing "Hitler Blues" after hearing him perform at a Navasota skating rink. The song was mentioned in Time magazine and ultimately broadcast over BBC radio in an Alistair Cooke story about the American musical response to World War II. Although the notoriety of "Hitler Blues" did not make Grey Ghost a star, he became a familiar figure in East Austin clubs like the Victory Grill and Fat Green's during their postwar heyday. In 1965, local music historian Tary Owens recorded several Grey Ghost songs, which led to festival appearances alongside Mance Lipscomb and Janis Joplin. After years of relative obscurity, Owens tracked down Grey Ghost again in the mid-Eighties, introducing him to a new generation of blues fans via regular gigs at Antone's and the Continental Club. The city proclaimed Dec. 7, 1987, as Grey Ghost Day, and he was voted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame the following year. Grey Ghost's one eponymous solo album was released in 1992 on Owens' Spindletop label. He also appeared on Catfish's Texas Piano Professors compilation alongside Erbie Bowser and Lavada "Dr. Hepcat" Durst. Grey Ghost passed away on July 17, 1996, at age 92. – Greg Beets 
of cord between amplifier and guitar, and would occasionally get up on his assistant's shoulders, or even take his guitar outside the club and bring traffic to a stop. His sound was just as unusual — he was playing with distorted guitar more than a decade before rock guitarists did the same, and his gospel-influenced vocals were easily identifiable.
solo with distorted overtones. His first recording session was in 1947, and he had a minor rhythm and blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles covered. His biggest success was "The Things That I Used to Do" (1954). The song, produced by a young Ray Charles, was released on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label. The song spent weeks at number one on the R&B charts and sold over a million copies, soon becoming a blues standard. It also contributed to the development of soul music.
Thanks again to Cliff!
Another new one from Cliff; once again if you are already a Gate collector then you likely have these tracks, but this set benefits from being a more modern remastering.
Does this have any DB that I didn't already have? Unlikely, but it likely sounds better so I couldn't resist! Thanks again Unky C
liff!
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 #1 on the R&B chart in May 1951 and stayed there for 14 weeks, and crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #17 and voted "Song of the Year" for 1951. It was an important record in several respects—it crossed the boundaries between gospel singing and blues, its lyrics pushed the limits of what was deemed acceptable, and it appealed to many white as well as black listeners. In later years, it became a contender for the title of "the first rock and roll record".
In early 1953, McPhatter decided to leave, and soon formed his own group, the Drifters. His replacement in the Dominoes was Jackie Wilson, who had been coached by McPhatter while also singing with the group on tour. Lamont and McNeil also left and were replaced by Milton Merle and Cliff Givens (Givens had been in The Southern Sons Gospel Quartet, and joined the Ink Spots in 1944 upon the death of original bass Orville "Hoppy" Jones). With Wilson singing lead, singles such as "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" continued to be successful, although the Dominoes didn't enjoy quite the same success as they had with McPhatter as lead tenor.
In 1954, Ward moved the group to the Jubilee label and then to Decca, where they enjoyed a #27 pop hit with "St. Therese of the Roses", featuring Wilson on tenor, giving the Dominoes a brief moment in the spotlight again. However, the group was unable to follow that success in the charts, and there were a succession of personnel changes. They increasingly moved away from their R&B roots with appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Elvis Presley went to hear Jackie Wilson and the Dominoes in Las Vegas in 1956 and was so impressed with Wilson's singing that he went back to Sun Studios and cut the Million Dollar Quartet's version 
Biography
Returning to Chicago, he became acquainted with Curtis Mayfield, which saw Gone Bad Again (1990) being issued. However, Pride's recordings remained second place to performing live. The WMB Records release, Love at Last (1995), contained re-recordings of several of Pride's earlier cuts. His 1997 Ichiban release was Twisting the Knife, followed by I Won't Give Up (2000). Pride signed a recording contract with Severn Records in 2002, which preceded his first release for them, Words of Caution. His early 1970s recordings were collected on the compilation album, The Memphis/El Paso Sessions 1970-1973, which Severn issued in June 2003. Allmusic noted that the collection "remains a treasure trove of previously obscure soul music that spotlights one of the many great singers almost lost to history."
In 2004, Pride undertook a brief tour in the UK. Alongside Darrell Nulisch, Pride was also the headline act at the Severn Records Soul and Blues Revue, in Chicago, in 2006. Snippets of his composition, "Bringin' Me Back Home," were used in the 2007 film, Feast of Love. Pride's appearance at the Severn Soul Review in 2010 was a significant comeback. He had been booked to appear in 2004, but he had had a heart attack before he could perform.
"Betty Harris (born 1939, in Orlando, Florida) is an American Soul Singer. Her recording career in the 1960s produced three hit records that made the Billboard R&B and pop charts: "Cry to Me" (1963), "His Kiss" (1964) and "Nearer to You" (1967). However, her reputation among soul music connoisseurs far exceeds her commercial success of the 1960s, and her recordings for the Jubilee and Sansu record labels are highly sought after in the 2000s by fans of Northern Soul and Deep Soul.
In 1963, after being in the music business for a few years, Betty Harris recorded a slowed down version of Solomon Burke's hit of the year before, "Cry to me", produced by the original record's producer, Bert Berns, and released on the Jubilee record label. Taken at a slower pace, Betty's rendition turned the song into a Billboard pop# 23 hit and Deep Soul Classic. A total of 8 songs further singles were released on Jubilee, also produced by Bert Berns, with "His Kiss" released 1/04/64, another Deep Soul ballad, making the lower part of Billboard#89 Pop and R&B charts.
In 1964, Betty Harris switched record labels to Sansu, a New Orleans label, where she was produced by legendary New Orleans producer Allen Toussaint. Her Recording with Sansu produced 20 singles. Of those, only "Nearer to You" Billboard # 85, an atmospheric, dramatic soul ballad, now considered one of the milestones of Deep Soul, achieved U.S. national chart success. However, practically all of her recordings for Sansu, uptempo tunes and ballads alike, featuring Allen Toussaint's raw yet sophisticated Southern Soul arrangements behind with Betty's rich, distinctive vocal, are considered prime specimens of the classic soul era; some notable recordings were "I'm Evil Tonight", a beat ballad favored among Northern Soul circles; "I Don't Want To Hear It", "Show it" and "Twelve Red Roses", stirring uptempo tracks; "Can't Last Much Longer" and "What'd I Do Wrong", emotive Deep Soul ballads.
All of the Sansu recordings were compiled into an album released in the U.K. (but not the U.S.), in 1969, called "Soul Perfection", an album which, in its vinyl format, although not extremely rare, commands relatively high prices of $200 to $300 in 2007.
