The Orioles
| The Orioles | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Vibra-Naires Sonny Til and his New Orioles |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Genres | R&B |
| Years active | 1946–1956 |
| Labels | It's a Natural, Vee-Jay |
| Associated acts | The Ink Spots |
| Members | David Warren, Ray Apollo, Clark Walker, Dwight Datcher |
| Past members | Diz Russell, Sonny Til, Alexander Sharp, George Nelson, Johnny Reed, Tommy Gaither, Ralph Williams, Charlie Harris, Gregory Carroll, Chauncy Westbrook, Maurice Hicks, Tex Cornelius, Jerry Holeman, Billy Adams, Paul Griffin, Frank Todd, Jimmy Brown, Delton McCall, Billy Taylor, Gerald Gregory, Lawrence Joyner, Bobby Thomas, Clarence Young, Mike Robinson, Eddie Palmer, Eddie Jones, Skip Mahoney |
The Orioles were a successful and influential 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. Baltimore natives, they blended rhythm with group harmonies. Dubbing themselves after Maryland’s state bird, the Orioles started the trend of bird groups (The Cardinals, The Crows, The Flamingos, The Larks, The Penguins, The Ravens, The Wrens, etc.). They brought their winning formula to their first charted hit "It’s Too Soon To Know"; a #1 record in November 1948, soon followed by the group’s second hit, "(It's Gonna Be A) Lonely Christmas", in December that same year.
Around 1947, Sonny Til sang regularly in amateur shows at the Avenue Cafe in Baltimore, where he met Nelson, Sharp and Gaither. They decided to form a group, calling themselves The Vibra-Naires, and aspiring songwriter Deborah Chessler became their manager. In April 1948 the group appeared on the Arthur Godfrey radio talent show in New York City, with Richard Williams as bass singer, but he was then replaced by Johnny Reed.
The group won a recording deal with the "It's A Natural" record label, a subsidiary of Jubilee Records, and changed their name to The Orioles in honor of the state bird of Maryland and in emulation of another popular group, The Ravens. In July 1948, they recorded Chessler's song "It's Too Soon To Know", with Sonny Til taking lead vocals. The record reportedly sold 30,000 copies in its first week, rising to #1 on the national R&B charts in November 1948, and leading to cover versions by artists such as the Ravens, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. It was also one of the first "race" songs to cross over into mainstream markets, reaching # 13 on the pop charts.
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