The Dell-Vikings

by Erika Cox

The Del-Vikings (also spelled Dell-Vikings) were one of the first successful Doo Wop groups and one of the few racially integrated groups to achieve success in the 1950’s.

The Del-Vikings often had a confusing career life. First, their songs were famous for the syllables “dum dum dum dum dum dum-be-oo-bee” and there were multiple spellings either Del-Vikings or Dell-Vikings and with or without the hyphen. Also, the group went through many member changes and at one time there were two groups called the Del-Vikings.

The group started in 1955 at the Pittsburgh Air Force where the original members; Clarence Quick, Kripp Johnson, Don Jackson, Samuel Patterson, and Bernard Robertson were stationed. The group often performed on the base and won a talent contest in 1956, from there they started competing nationally in New York and other cities.

The group attracted attention from a local Pittsburgh disc jockey, Barry Kaye, and recorded a demo tape for him they liked how they sounded and with Kaye’s suggestion the group went to audition for Fee-Bee Records. Although, recording in a basement, the group recorded a few songs and released their first single called “Baby, Let Me Know”.

Since the members were enlisted in the Air Force there was always the concern that anyone of them could be transferred to another city and that is exactly what happened when Paterson and Robertson were transferred to Germany. So, the first replacement took place when David Lerchey and Norman Wright signed up with group after Paterson and Robertson left. Lerchey was the group’s first white member. The group soon recorded their second hit, “Come Go With Me” in 1956. Soon after, Jackson left the group and was replaced with the second white member, Gus Backus.

The group became a success and gained popularity with their song “Come Go With Me”, which went to the Top Ten on the charts. After their initial success, Fee-Bee Records had the group record a few more songs in a regular studio. Also, Alan Freed signed them to perform at one of his famous revues at the Brooklyn Paramount on Easter weekend. After their initial success, the group got the attention of Mercury Records that wanted the group to sign with them. Mercury discovered that Fee-Bee Records contract was invalid because when the members signed contracts with Fee-Bee only Kripp Johnson was twenty-one all the rest of the members were under twenty-one at the time.

This meant that the other members were free to sign with Mercury, however, Johnson was still bind to the contract with Fee-Bee Records. Of course, with the chance to make more money the other members left the group, which eventually caused to Del-Vikings groups. Because Mercury won the rights to the groups’ name, they renamed the group the Dell-Vikings. However, Fee-Bee Records signed other singers to form a group, and along with Johnson created another group named the Del-Vikings.

This caused major confusion because both groups released songs around the same week there were two Del-Viking groups out at the same time with songs. The spelling was different with Fee-Bee’s group that spelled their name with one “L” and Mercury’s group was spelled with two “L’s”. The Fee-Bee group released a song that had been sung with Backus (who was now with Mercury) singing the lead and also there were songs released by Fee-Bee’s new group that the original Del-Vikings group recorded before the split. Although extremely confusing, there were four labels by three groups of Dell-Vikings, this, however, worked out to the benefit of the group(s) for a time the Del-Vikings had three hit singles on the charts in 1957.

The new Fee-Bee group achieved more success than the Mercury group and eventually Mercury’s Dell-Vikings broke up when Backus was transferred by the Air Force to another location. Success eventually dried up for the groups after various attempts to reunite in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In the 1980’s, Kripp Johnson reunited with Lerchey and Wright and two other members to tour and since then various members have toured and performed as different versions of the Del-Vikings.

The Del-Vikings were one of the first rhythm and blues groups to completely grasp the style of rock and roll, and in doing so, they incorporated both musical forms without diluting either. The Del-Vikings were one of the first rhythm and blues groups to take elements of rock and roll and introduce it to the musical format of doo-wop. They successfully blended the rock and roll sound into doo-wop without destroying the rhythm and blues sound of doo-wop.

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