The Larks

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.

The story of the Larks begins in the late 1920s, when singer Thermon Ruth founded the Selah Jubilee Singers in New York City, later basing them in Raleigh, North Carolina where they had a radio show. They recorded for Decca Records and other smaller labels in the 1940s, and their membership overlapped with other religious vocal groups in the area, including The Southern Harmonaires. In 1945, Ruth tried to persuade Eugene Mumford of one of these groups, The Four Interns, to join the Selah Jubilee Singers, but before he could do so, Mumford was charged with the attempted rape of a white woman, convicted and imprisoned. He was innocent of the crime and later received a full pardon.

In 1946, Allen Bunn joined The Southern Harmonaires, and soon afterwards joined Thermon Ruth in the Selah Jubilee Singers as the group's guitarist and second lead singer. Three years later, Ruth and Bunn decided to leave to form a new group, The Jubilators. They linked up with Mumford, now released from prison, and with three members of The Southern Harmonaires, David McNeil, Hadie Rowe Jr., and Raymond "Pee Wee" Barnes.

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. Initially, billing themselves as the Selah Jubilee Singers, they recorded four gospel songs for Jubilee Records, before moving on to record as "The Jubilators" for Regal Records in New Jersey. Then they drove to Newark, recording four secular blues songs, including "Lemon Squeezer", as "The 4 Barons" for Savoy Records. Finally, they drove back to Apollo Records in Manhattan, where, as "The Southern Harmonaires", they recorded four more gospel tracks. However, Apollo owner Bess Berman realized the subterfuge. She signed them to a contract which allowed the other companies to release the other recordings, but wanted to promote them as a secular R&B rather than a gospel group.

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