The Five Satins

The Five Satins
Fred Parris in 2007
Background information
Origin	New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Genres	Doo-wop
Years active	1954–present
Members	Fred Parris Richie Freeman Eugene Dobbs Bonita Brooks Pat Marafiote James Moore Gregory Borino Jerry Langley
Past members	Lou Peebles Larry DiSalvi Stanley Dortch Ed Martin Jim Freeman Al Denby Tommy Killebrew Jessie Murphy Bill Baker Sylvester Hopkins Wes Forbes Corky Rogers Jimmy Curtis Nate Marshall Nadina Perry

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, Lou Peebles, Stanley Dortch, Ed Martin and Jim Freeman and Nat Mosley in 1954. With little success, the group reorganized, with Dortch and Peebles 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". The single was initially issued on the tiny local "Standord" label (45 stock # 200) and after some local Connecticut sales, it was released the following year on the New York label Ember (45 stock # 1005), and "In The Still Of The Night" ended up charting at number three on the R&B chart and number 25 on the pop charts. Two singles later, the follow-up track "Pretty Baby (That's Why I Sing)" (Ember 1025) got weeks of airplay on powerful CHUM in Toronto, in November 1957. An August 1958 release, "A Night To Remember" (Ember 1038), got some Boston airplay. During late 1959 (in San Francisco, CA) and early 1960 (in both San Antonio, TX and Rochester, NY), their classic 45 side garnered renewed current airplay, becoming a Top 10 hit in all three listed markets. "In The Still of the Night" became an even bigger hit when it appeared as the lead track on Original Sound Records' OLDIES BUT GOODIES Vol.1. The series eventually ran to 15 volumes. The series has been in continual print in one form or another since that first volume was released in 1959. In total, their signature track sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. A case of painfully bad timing affected the group's lead singer. Uncle Sam had come calling, and Parris entered the Army very soon after the huge success of "In The Still Of The Night", forcing the group to reorganize again, with Martin, Freeman, Tommy Killebrew, Jessie Murphy and new lead Bill Baker. Baker quickly proved to be a highly capable replacement, however, as this lineup immediately hit big with another timeless, very successful effort, Billy Dawn Smith's "To the Aisle" (Ember 1019), in September 1957.