The Five Keys are regarded as one of the finest groups to ever record in this genre. They are best known for their Capitol recordings of “Glory of Love,” “Close Your Eyes,” “Ling Ting Tong,” “Wisdom of a Fool,” and “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” But in collectors’ circles their earlier recordings for Aladdin such as “My Saddest Hour,” and “Red Sails in the Sunset.”
New York, NY, May 31, 2011 — Grant Williams CEO of Memory Lane Concert Cruises today announced. The prestigious Five Keyes will be among the many groups appearing on its historic Oldies But Goodies Doo Wop Cruise. “The Five Keys were one of the first group’s to sing in five-part harmony, making them a seminal pre rock and roll vocal group, and one of the most influential acts of the 50’s.” said Williams
The Five Keys started out with brothers Rudy and Bernie West with Ripley and Raphael Ingram also brothers as a gospel group that called themselves the Sentimental Four. They were all students at Dunbar Elementary School Newport News, Virginia. In 1948 the Sentimental Four had branched out into pop and r&b and entered and won amateur contests in several local theaters. In early 1949, they decided to change their sound, adding second tenor Edwin Hall as a fifth member. He was from the same neighborhood, and a common friend recommended him to the group. As the group’s sound changed, Ripley Ingram became a key part with his ability to “float” between first and second tenor and above, which is known as a “octave tenor”. Although they now had a fifth member, they strangely did nothing about their name for a while billed as the Sentimental Four for a few more months.
With their changed sound, the Sentimental Four (plus one) won the Jefferson amateur show for five consecutive weeks, the prize for which was a trip to New York to appear on the Apollo Theater amateur show. Just before the Apollo contest Rafael Ingram received his draft notice and quickly joined the Air Force to avoid the Army and sent to Korea, where he lost a foot to frostbite. When he returned home, he became a member of the Avalons, another Newport News group. Rafael’s replacement was baritone/second tenor James “Dickie” Smith, a relative of Harptones’ lead Willie Winfield. Dickie, at the time living in the East End area of Newport News, was a neighborhood friend of the Sentimental Four. He had been singing with a local group called the Virginia Brown Dots, which attended the same amateur shows as the Keys. Dickie was now the “baby” of the group, being a year younger than Rudy.
Before their trip to New York, Jefferson Theater manager Isaac “Ike” Burton, who had become the group’s manager, decided that a name change was in order. They were in his office when a key ring with five skeleton keys on it fell on the floor, and the “Five Keys” they became. They even jokingly toyed with “Five Skeleton Keys”; another name they had kicked around was the “Virginia Gentlemen”. There were around 30 other amateur acts that August Wednesday night at the Apollo in 1949; their regular shows headlined Billie Holiday. But the Five Keys came in first singing the old standard, “Them There Eyes”, and got a standing ovation. Because of their Apollo victory, the group was booked to play a week at the Apollo and another week at the Howard.
Soon after this, the Five Keys became six by adding guitarist Joe Jones. Joe was from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, but was living in Newport News. In the early spring of 1950, before the Brownskin Models tour, Edwin Hall, who had recently married, left the group. He was replaced by second tenor Maryland Pierce, lead singer of a local group called the Four Bees. This group also attended the local amateur shows, and the Keys and the Bees had gone to school together although Rudy, Dickie and Maryland were still in school the groups would “battle” each other in the neighborhood. Now the “classic” line-up was in place: Rudy West (first tenor), Maryland Pierce (second tenor), Ripley Ingram (octave tenor), Dickie Smith (baritone/second tenor), and Bernie West (bass), with guitarist Joe Jones. They also not only had different lead singers, but different kinds of lead singers: Maryland had a bluesy voice for ballads and up-tempo. Rudy had the sweet Bill Kenny-type ballad voice, and Dickie did rhythm and scat numbers.
In the spring of 1950, after Edwin had left, the Five Keys landed a radio show for a couple of months. It was a weekly 15-minute show on WVEC a station in neighboring Hampton, Virginia, each Sunday morning. Than in early 1951, the group signed with Aladdin Records and in April, their first record was released: “With A Broken Heart” / “Too Late”. Sales were mediocre, but in July 1951, Aladdin issued “The Glory of Love” backed with “Hucklebuck With Jimmy. ”The Glory Of Love” featured Rudy West on lead with Dickie Smith taking the bridge – this use of two lead voices became a feature of many Keys’ recordings. By September, the Five Keys’ version of “The Glory Of Love” was taking off in various territories throughout the U.S.A., holding off competition from versions by the Hollywood Four Flames, the Skylarks, and the Four Knights. The record would eventually reach #1 in the R&B charts. Aladdin Records were reporting that “The Glory Of Love” had become the label’s biggest seller ever.
In December 1953, Dickie Smith also received his draft notice, but enlisted in the Air Force. He was recruited a friend of his, baritone Ramon Loper who also had a group the Bob-O-Links that performed around the Newport News area to be his replacement in the group. In June 1954 the Five Keys appeared at Moondog’s Birthday Ball in Akron, Ohio. The show, hosted by Alan Freed also starred Joe Turner, Faye Adams, Al Savage, and the Joe Morris band. The complete sell-out, also noteworthy for more than one-third of the audience was white, a fact not lost on representatives of eastern radio station. WINS in New York which was mulling over plans to bring Freed and his show to the Big Apple. Shortly there after the group saw its association with Aladdin Records ending. The group originally set to go with RCA Victor and its subsidiary label X, later changed to Groove. In August, Dave Cavanaugh A&R representative for Capitol Records announced signing The Five Keys to the Hollywood based major label. This was a breakthrough for the group and one of the few instances of an r&b act getting a shot with a national major. Their first session, held at Capitol’s New York studios in 1954, produced four tunes: “I’m Alone” (led by Maryland Pierce), “Ling, Ting, Tong” (also Maryland), “Trapped, Lost, Gone” (Bernie West), and “I’m Just A Fool” (Ulysses Hicks).
Than on October 1954, Rudy came home from the army. While in the service, he’d sung in good company; with him were Jesse Belvin and David McNeil, bass singer with the Dominoes. He at once rejoined the Five Keys, who now had six singers. Ulysses was being kept but with however plans of phasing him out. Meanwhile, he knew all the arrangements, including some that Rudy didn’t know. However, there were only “Five” Keys onstage at any one time; Rudy was usually out there, but he left the stage when they did “Ling, Ting, Tong”, and Ulysses came out to replace him. Rudy had rejoined the Five Keys when they started a week’s booking at the Apollo Theater on 15 October, 1954. It was during this show that co-star Chuck Willis gave them a song he’d just written. It had a two-voice lead, and he thought it would fit the Keys’ style; the song was “Close Your Eyes”. When this beautiful song was recorded in November, Maryland Pierce took the lead and Rudy West sang the “echo”. “Ling, Ting, Tong” took off in late 1954, eventually peaking at #5 in the R&B charts and even crossing over to reach #28 Pop. However, the Keys were outsold by the kings of the black cover records, Otis Williams and the Charms, who peaked two places higher. With “Ling, Ting, Tong” doing so well, Capitol tried to secure another hit by releasing “Close Your Eyes” (backed with “Doggone It, You Did It”) in January. At the same time, they issued an EP containing all four released songs. “Close Your Eyes” peaked at #5 in the R&B charts, just as “Ling, Ting, Tong” had done. Sadly, in January 1955, Ulysses Hicks collapsed and died of a heart attack while the Keys were touring. He was aged just 25.
At the beginning of 1956, Aladdin issued the final Five Keys single on that label – “Story Of Love”, backed with a rerelease of “Serve Another Round” which was issued in November 1952 on Aladdin. That April, Capitol issued “I Dreamt I Dwelt In Heaven” / “She’s The Most” and in June “Peace And Love”/ “My Pigeon’s Gone”. Also in June, Aladdin sued Capitol for breach of contract (two years after the group had signed for Capitol by RCA Groove) – the magnet was a chunk of “Ling Ting Tong”. Capitol settled out of court. A session for Capitol in June 1956 heralded a change of direction for the Five Keys. Full orchestral instrumentation and a syrupy, pop-sounding female chorus were added, no doubt in a try to grab some of the Platters’ market share. During this same session the beautiful song “Wisdom Of A Fool” was performed and later released in November to become a strong seller.
The end of 1957 saw the beginning of the end for the original Five Keys. Rudy got married, left the group and was replaced by Dickie Threat (pronounced “Threet”), also from Newport News. Shortly after that, Ramon Loper became another casualty. His mother was living in New York, and he decided to stay with her. He ended up working with one of the many Ink Spots groups around. Ramon’s replacement was baritone Charles “Bobby” Crawley, who had sung with Maryland Pierce in the Four Bees back in the late 40’s. The group was now: Maryland Pierce, Dickie Threat, Ripley Ingram, Bobby Crawley, and Bernie West. The last original Capitol release was in November 1958: “One Great Love” and “Really-O, Truly-O”. After this, it was quiet on the Five Keys scene for a while, as Capitol allowed their contract to lapse. In the summer of 1959, the Five Keys signed with Syd Nathan at King Records where they returned, not before time, to their r&b roots. Several fine sides were recorded “Ziggus”, “Dream On”, “Dancing Senorita”, “I Took Your Love For A Toy”, variously led by Maryland Pierce and Dickie Threat, but the group’s time in the spotlight had passed. Rudy followed the group to King as a solo artist and had three releases in late 1959, but none of them sold well. Despite the high quality of the Keys’ King recordings, the group was going in the wrong musical direction in 1959 and 1960. Various “Five Keys” groups played concerts through the 60’s and 70’s but by then the glory days were but a memory.
In April, 1992, the Five Keys were inducted into the UGHA Hall Of Fame, where Maryland and Rudy sang “Close Your Eyes”. Ripley Ingram passed away in early 1995. The beautiful voice of Rudy West was stilled on May 14, 1998. Ramon Loper, who turned up in New York in 2001, passed away in October 2002. Today the Five Key are still performing with Maryland on lead also appearing are George Winfield, Larry Jarvis, Oliver Sidney and Dempsey Spencer.
Be a part of this history-making event, sailing from New York City, New York aboard the New Norwegian Gem on a seven-day Bahamas cruise from May 12-19, 2012. “There has never been an event this spectacular in the last fifty years.” said Williams
Memory Lane Concert Cruises is musical theme cruise operator providing world-class concerts of performing artists in an array of music styles aboard cruise ships.
http://www.mlccruises.com
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Grant Williams
Memory Lane Concert Cruises, LLC
Los Angeles, CA
541 879 6298
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