The Platters:

The Most Successful Doo Wop Group

by Erika Cox

 

The predecessors of the Doo Wop sound, the Platters were a smooth sounding blend of Rhythm and Blues music and Rock and Roll.

 

Similar to the Clovers, the Platters achieved success as a crossover group appealing to white and black audiences.

 

They influenced most of the Doo Wop groups to come, including many of the Motown groups in the 60’s and like many of the early Doo Wop groups, their sound was mellow, smooth and polished with adult ballads.

 

The group started in Los Angeles in 1952 with lead singer Tony Williams and group members David Lynch, Herb Reed, Paul Robi and Zola Taylor.

 

The Platters had a long running successful career and have been referred to as the second biggest rock event to happen in 1955. After performing with independent record companies for some time, the Platters signed with Mercury records under the management of Buck Ram.

 

Much like the Clovers and Ahmet Ertegun’s contribution to them, the Platters success was mostly credited with Buck Ram, who wrote songs and managed the group. Buck Ram also worked with the Penguins and helped produced their big hit “Earth Angel” in 1955.

The Platters debuted on the charts in 1955 with “Only You”, a huge crossover success for them. The hits kept coming throughout the end of the decade for the Platters with four records that hit number one.

 

Like most Rhythm and Blues groups in the 1950’s, white artists would get most of the music chart recognition for the Platters’ songs because they covered the songs. Many times the song would usually go higher on the charts with the cover artists.

 

To briefly explain how covers worked, a song would be recorded by the original group or artists, record producers would scour the market looking for these new songs, sung mostly by Black artists, then the producer or manager located a clean cut white group or artist to record the song and before the song by the original group hit the radio stations, the cover group’s version of the song will be played on the radio stations first.

 

This would inevitably allow the cover group to receive all the fame, credit and money for the song. The meaning behind covering a group or artist at that time had to do with racism; adults did not want their children listening to Black music.

 

However, for the Platters the cover of “Only You” did not fair as well on the charts as did the Platter’s original version and this allowed an opening for Platters to crossover into the Pop music mainstream and appeal to white audiences.

 

This allowed the Platters to receive a very good amount of popularity. The Platters went on to sell approximately 53 million records worldwide becoming the most successful Doo Wop group of the 50’s.

The Platters did have a number of member changes throughout their span. Tony Williams left the group to go solo and was replaced by Sonny Turner. Even though the Platters had their last hit in 1967 they remained a huge influence on the second wave of Doo Wop and early 60’s teen idol groups.

 

There are still groups calling themselves the Platters but they don’t include any of the original members of the group. There also have been many lawsuits because of other groups using the Platters name.

 

The group has remained an influential group and an important one in the Rock and Roll music scene, not to mention Rhythm and Blues. Herb Reed, who founded the Platters, still performs as an original member of the original group.

 

The Platters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
 

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