Platters, the #99 Artist of the Rock Era

"Unforgettable and beautiful music."

"One of the greatest groups in the history of music."

"Absolutely beautiful."

"History makers."

"Such a great group--smooth as silk!"

"Awesome, beautiful and so romantic."

"One of the greatest groups of all-time.  They were immortal."

"Music with so much class and feeling."

"Timeless, ageless masterpieces from an incredible group."

"Their music is magic."


This legendary group, with their groundbreaking sound--smooth, romantic and sophisticated--provided the perfect transition from the vocal harmonies of the Ink Spots to the Everly Brothers of the Rock Era.  With the shrewd management of Buck Ram, the group transformed the doo-wop sound popular at the time into lush, romantic ballads that captured the hearts of teens who came of age in the '50s.

This incredible R&B group formed  as a doo-wop quartet of teenagers in Los Angeles in 1952, although most of the original members were born outside California.   Cornell Gunter (b. November 14, 1936 in Coffeyville, Kansas) founded the group originally known as the Flamingos (not the same group as the Chicago-based group who later had the hit "I Only Have Eyes For You") with brothers Alex Hodge (b. 1935) and Gaynel Hodge (b. January 4, 1937 in Los Angeles) and Joe Jefferson. 

The group performed in clubs in the Los Angeles area and entered amateur talent shows, but work was hard to find.  At one of their shows, Ralph Bass of Federal Records saw their act and signed them to a recording contract. 

David Lynch (b. July 3, 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri), a neighbor of the Hodges who was a cab driver at the time, moved into the lineup to replace Jefferson.  Gunter, who later joined the Coasters in 1957, left in 1953, replaced by lead singer Tony Williams (b. April 5, 1928 in Elizabeth, New Jersey).  

By the end of World War 2, Williams was a sergeant of the United States Army Air Forces (later known as the U.S. Air Force).  His sister Bertha, had relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles, changed her stage name to Linda Hayes, and enjoyed the 1953 hit "Yes I Know (What You're Putting Down)", an answer song to Willie Mabon's "I Don't Know".  

But Hayes did two things more important to history.  She hired Buck Ram as her manager and talked Tony into moving to Los Angeles as well.  At the time he joined the Platters, Tony washed cars for a living and sang in talent shows at night.

Bass saw Williams singing at the famous Club Alabam (at 42nd Street and Central Avenue).  Although his voice was nowhere near the amazing level it eventually reached, Bass saw great potential.  With Williams now in the fold, Bass was ready to reserve studio time for the group.  But just prior to that, the Chicago group the Flamingos scored a hit with "That's My Desire".  So the group changed their name to the Platters, after a term disc jockeys used to refer to the records they played.


The Platters recorded for the first time on September 15, 1953 and released two singles on Federal Records with little success.  

Gaynel, who had sung and played piano on all the group's songs to this point, left soon after to join the Hollywood Flames, with Herb Reed (born in 1931 in Kansas City, Missouri), an auto mechanic at the time who was singing with a gospel group at the time, taking his place.  

The group appeared on the television show Ebony Showcase, but not long after, Jefferson left to join Gaynel Hodge in Gaynel's new group, the Turks.  

Unable to sustain themselves with their music, the four members worked as parking lot attendants at the time.  Alex told the group of a producer from Chicago who had recently moved to Los Angeles and was anxious to meet them.  

The producer was Buck Ram, who arranged for such acts as Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Cab Calloway in the 1930's and '40s and was credited with discovering a 15-year-old Ella Fitzgerald.  By this time running a talent agency in Los Angeles called Personality Productions, writing and arranging for publisher Mills Music.  On February 15, 1954, Ram purchased the group's management contract from Bass.   

The Platters recorded four more songs on Federal Records, enjoying some regional hits and performing well on tour.  That summer, the Platters sang backing vocals for Williams' sister, Linda Hayes.  Ram liked the sound, and became interested in hiring a female singer to join the group, which at the time was a revolutionary idea.  For a while, he considered adding Hayes.

Instead, Ram brought in Zola Taylor (b. March 17, 1938 in Los Angeles), who was singing with the Teen Queens, another group Buck managed, and going to school at Centennial High School.  The group, led by Shirley Gunter, Cornell's sister, regularly practiced at the home of Alex Hodge.  

With this lineup (Williams, Taylor, Lynch, Alex Hodge and Reed), the Platters recorded their third session of four songs, including the Ram song "Only You (And You Alone)", on May 20, 1954.  But Buck wasn't happy at all with the recording of "Only You" and told Federal not to release it.

When Hodge got into trouble with the law for possession of marijuana, he was replaced with Paul Roby, who later spelled his last name Robi.  Roby painted houses for a living and also soloed, played piano and arranged songs in the area.  With Hodge's departure, none of the original members of the Flamingos remained.

Ram gave Williams all of the lead vocals for the group.  Williams grew up singing gospel music with church choirs and had developed a silky soft voice which was highlighted by a rich vibrato.  The Platters rehearsed hard for two years, developing the sound that soon would make them superstars.

Meanwhile, Ram's first Los Angeles client, the Penguins, scored the Top 10 hit "Earth Angel" (co-written by Gaynel Hodge).  Mercury Records, a fledgling label at the time, was interested in signing the Penguins but had no interest in the Platters at all.  Ram went into the offices of Mercury and said that to sign the Penguins, Mercury would also have to sign the Platters.  Either Mercury would sign both groups or neither would.

 

In an ironic twist, the Penguins never enjoyed another hit, while the Platters are here in 2017 as The #99 Artist of the Rock Era*.  Ram had the group re-record "Only You" for Mercury Records and it placed at #5 in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

 

Within a year, the Platters performed in concerts, on television and in major nightclubs throughout the world. The group recorded "The Great Pretender", which rose to #1 in the U.S. and Australia and #5 in the U.K.

Ram wrote the million-selling "The Great Pretender" in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada while the group was performing there.  

The Platters performed each of their first two hits in the movie Rock Around the Clock in 1956.

Under Ram's leadership, the Platters had achieved success previously unreachable.  Ram did another key thing--he incorporated the group and set it up so each member received a 20% share in the stock, full royalties and paid Social Security.  

 

In 1956, the group scored a Top 5 hit with "(You've Got) The Magic Touch".

The innovative Ram then brought in Sammy Kaye and his orchestra to back the group on their next single.  Doo wop groups rarely sang with any accompaniment, and a string arrangement behind such a group had never been utilized before.  But the arrangement fit perfectly on "My Prayer", a remake of a 1939 hit that topped the chart in the United States for five weeks and sold over one million singles.

The group released their self-titled debut album in 1956, which included the flip side of "My Prayer", "Heaven On Earth".

The Platters appeared in the movie The Girl Can't Help It with their performance of "You'll Never Never Know", which reached #11.

Later in the year, the group added Rupert Branker, pianist for the Chords.  The two groups had met in 1954 when the Chords traveled to California to promote "Sh-Boom" and when the Platters needed a pianist, they remembered Branker.  

Ram also brought Prentice Moreland into the group, which seemed to be a mystery move at the time.  But Ram had been grooming Williams to break away from the group as a solo artist and needed a replacement for Williams when the time came.

In 1957, the group scored another of their most popular songs with a cover of "I'm Sorry", originally recorded by Bobby Wayne in 1952, which the Platters performed in the movie Rock All Night.

Later in the year, the group released the single "My Dream", which peaked at #24 but nevertheless illustrates Williams' amazing lead and their trademark harmonies.

In 1958, the group released the album The Flying Platters followed by On Parade the next year and Volume IV (which contained "The Great Pretender" and "The Magic Touch").   Mysteriously, the group was not able to reach the Top 10 in its next 11 single releases before they returned with "Twilight Time", co-written by Ram with Al and Morty Nevins.  The Platters introduced the song on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show and it promptly raced to #1 and was certified Gold.

The Platters released the album The Flying Platters Around The World in 1958, followed by Remember When? the following year.  "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was originally written by Cole Porter in 1933 for the musical Roberta, and the Platters re-worked the song and recorded it in France while they were on tour.  It climbed to #1 for three weeks and also sold over one million copies.

The group reached #12 with "Enchanted" in 1959.

However, as the members left one by one, Ram and his partner, Jean Bennett, bought their stock.  At the time, the group was successful and no one thought anything of it, but before long, Ram owned the right to the Platter's name.  The move would later haunt the members and lead to an endless series of lawsuits and eventually, the deal was nixed by a court.

The group ran into trouble in the summer of 1959 when the four male members were arrested on drug and prostitution charges in Cincinnati, Ohio.  They were acquitted, but the reputation of the Platters was shattered and radio stations began refusing to play their songs.

The Platters peaked at #8 with "Harbor Lights" in 1960.  Although they released 14 singles after that, "Harbor Lights" was their final big hit.

Williams left in 1960 for a solo career, replaced by Sonny Turner.  Mercury felt Williams was the key ingredient to the group's success and would not release further Platters songs without Williams.  This led to a court battle that lasted two years until the group's contract expired.

Taylor left in 1962, replaced by Beverly Harris, who was replaced by Barbara Randoph, who in turn was replaced by Sandra Dawn in 1965.  Also that year, Nate Nelson, the former lead singer of the Flamingos (who had the hit "I Only Have Eyes For You" and not the group which eventually formed the Platters), replaced Robi.

The coming and going of members led to multiple versions of the group touring at the same time.  Former members recruited new members and went off on tour.  In order to put his stamp on the group, Ram named the group the Buck Ram Platters, who were signed to Musicor Records and record his songs.  

The group had a resurgence in 1966 and '67.  Sonny Turner was the new lead singer with Reed, Lynch, Nelson and Dawn the other members.  Nelson left in 1967 and Rejina Koco replaced Dawn in 1969.  Reed, the final original member, also left in 1969.

The group, with continual lineup changes, remained together in some capacity until 1995.

Powell, who had assembled a group under the Platters' name, was sued by Bennett for breach of contract.  Under an agreement, Powell could tour under the name The Platters featuring Monroe Powell.  In 1994, Bennett licensed the name to a tribute group for a resident show in Las Vegas that lasted for 15 years.  

Shortly before he died of pancreatic cancer on February 1, 1989, Robi won a court battle against Ram's estate that gave him comopensation and the right to the Platters' name.  Those rights were taken from Robi's widow in 1997 and given to Reed.  Rulings in 1999, 2002 and 2004 gave Bennett the right to the Platters' name.  Numerous other lawsuits and court battles have taken place over the years.

The Platters amassed 40 hits from 1955 to 1967, with seven Top 10 hits and four huge #1 songs.  They achieved five Gold singles and have sold over 100 million records worldwide, according to the newspaper The Boston Globe.  They have appeared in 27 films and toured the world, performing in over 90 countries.

In 1990, the Platters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.