The Persuasions

The Persuasions
The Persuasions, 1972
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	R&B, pop, soul
Years active	1969–present

The Persuasions are an a cappella group that began singing together in Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1960s. The group is composed of original members Jimmy Hayes (bass), Jayotis Washington (tenor, baritone). Cliff Dawson and Raymond Sanders are also longtime singers with The Persuasions. Dave Revels (lead vocals, arranger, and producer) replaced Jerry Lawson, who left in 2003.

The Persuasions recently sang on albums by The Barenaked Ladies and Steve Van Zandt. They were The Kings of A Cappella throughout their long well established career. They have covered artists such as Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead, Roy Hamilton, Jerry Butler, Sam Cooke, and Elvis Presley, and toured, performed, and recorded with Joni Mitchell, Liza Minnelli, the Grateful Dead, and Ray Charles. In addition to their own recordings, they have appeared on albums by artists such as Joni Mitchell, Don McLean, Phoebe Snow, and Paul Pena, and their version of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" appeared on the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

There are talks of a reunion between all of the original, revolving and current members for the purpose of The Persuasions being hopefully inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Frank Zappa was responsible for The Persuasions' first LP, Acappella. He heard The Persuasions singing over the phone from a New Jersey record shop known as Stan's Square Records. The store's owner, Stan Krause, was the group's manager at the time. Prior to that time, The Persuasions had recorded several a cappella tracks for Krause's record label, Catamount Records. Zappa had an appreciation for soul and street corner style singing, and after hearing the group, flew them to Los Angeles to record their first album. The Persuasions were the opening act at The Mothers concerts at Carnegie Hall, 1971. Thirty years later, Zappa fan Rip Rense supervised and encouraged the group in the creation of a Persuasions tribute CD to Zappa, Frankly A Cappella on Earthbeat Records.