The Harptones
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Short description|American doo-wop group}}
The Harptones are an American doo-wop group which formed in Manhattan, New York in 1953.
The group never had a top forty pop hit, or a record on the US Billboard R&B chart,{{cite web|title=Passings: Raoul Cita of the Harptones|url=http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2014/12/passings-raoul-cita-of-harptones.html|website=VVN Music|access-date=May 2, 2018}} yet they are known for both their lead singer Willie Winfield and their pianist/arranger, Raoul Cita. The Harptones recorded for Coed Records and other labels. The Harptones may have been the first doo-wop group to have a full-time arranger among their members, and Cita knew how to work to Winfield's strengths.{{cite web|title=TRB Enterprises Honoring our Pioneers|url=http://www.toddbaptista.com/raoul.html|website=www.toddbaptista.com|access-date=May 2, 2018}} Their best-known recordings include "A Sunday Kind of Love" (1953), "Why Should I Love You?" (1954), "Life is But a Dream" (1955), "The Shrine of St. Cecilia" (1956), and "What Will I Tell My Heart" (1961).
In 1956, they recorded some songs for the film Rockin' the Blues: "Mambo Boogie", "Ou Wee Baby",{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3TVuGrbM90 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/e3TVuGrbM90 |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Harptones—OO Wee Baby|work=YouTube|access-date=December 18, 2014}}{{cbignore}} and "High Flying Baby".{{cite web|url=http://www.uncamarvy.com/Harptones/harptones.html|title=Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks – HARPTONES|publisher=Uncamarvy.com|access-date=December 18, 2014}}
The song "Life is But a Dream" was featured in the 1990 film GoodFellas; it appears on the film's soundtrack album.{{cite web|title=Goodfellas: Music from the Motion Picture|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goodfellas-Music-Motion-Picture/dp/B000002IQ4|publisher=Atlantic|access-date=May 2, 2018|date=October 29, 1990}}
Members
=1951–1954=
- Willie Winfield (lead)
- Billy Brown (bass)
- Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor)
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- William "Dicey" Galloway (baritone)
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
=Early 1955=
- Willie Winfield (lead)
- Billy Brown (bass)
- Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor)
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- Freddy Taylor (baritone)
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
Dicey Galloway was drafted in November 1954.
=Late 1955=
- Willie Winfield (tenor)
- Billy Brown (bass)
- Claudie "Nicky" Clark
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone)
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
=Early 1956=
- Willie Winfield (tenor)
- Bobby Spencer
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone)
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
=1956 movie ''Rockin' The Blues''=
- Willie Winfield (tenor)
- Freddy Taylor
- Billy Brown
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
=Early 1957=
- Willie Winfield (tenor)
- Billy Brown
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- William "Dicey" Galloway
- Toni Williams
- Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)
Billy Brown died of a drug overdose in spring 1957.
=Late 1958=
- Willie Winfield (tenor)
- William Dempsey (second tenor)
- William "Dicey" Galloway
- Toni Williams
- Curtis Cherebin
Dicey Galloway left in October and was replaced by Milton Love of The Solitares for a short time, before splitting. Galloway died on July 18, 2017, in Houghs Neck in Quincy, Massachusetts at age 84 after suffering from multiple illnesses.{{cite web|url=http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20170728/william-dice-galloway-doo-wop-singer-and-quincy-resident-dies-at-84|title=William 'Dice' Galloway, doo-wop singer and Quincy resident, dies at 84|author=Mary Whitfill|publisher=The Patriot Ledger|access-date=July 28, 2017}}
=1959–1963=
- Willie Winfield
- Nicky Clark
- William Dempsey
- Curtis Cherebin
- Raoul Cita
Nicky Clark left after a few months, to be replaced by Wilbur "Yonkie" Paul, who was in turn replaced by Hank "Pompi" Jernigan.
=Early 1964=
- Willie Winfield
- Nicky Clark
- William Dempsey
- Jimmy Beckum
- Raoul Cita
=Late 1964=
- Nicky Clark
- William Dempsey
- Curtis Cherebin
- Hank "Pompi" Jernigan
- Raoul Cita
Nicky Clark died In July 1978, at the age of 43.
=1970–1972=
- Willie Winfield
- Curtis Cherebin
- Jimmy Beckum
- William Dempsey
- Raoul Cita
=1972–mid-1990s=
- Willie Winfield
- Marlowe Murray
- Linda Champion
- Raoul Cita
=Mid 1990s–1999=
- Willie Winfield
- Marlowe Murray
- Linda Champion
- William Dempsey
- Raoul Cita
The line-up appeared on Doo Wop 50. Linda Champion left due to health problems around 2000.{{cite web|url=http://www.theoriginal-harptones.com/group.htm|title=News|publisher=Theoriginal-harptones.com|access-date=December 18, 2014}}
=2000–2008=
- Willie Winfield
- Marlowe Murray
- Vicki Burgess
- William Dempsey
- Raoul Cita
=2008–2014=
- Willie Winfield
- Don Cruz
- Vicki Burgess
- William Dempsey
- Raoul Cita
- Tommie Shider
Billy Brown died of a drug overdose in 1957.
Marlowe Murray died on December 11, 2008, from cancer, at the age of 73.{{cite web|title=Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks – FI-TONES|url=http://www.uncamarvy.com/FiTones/fitones.html|website=www.uncamarvy.com|access-date=May 2, 2018|language=en}}
Raoul J. Cita died on December 13, 2014, from liver and stomach cancer, at the age of 86.{{cite web|url=http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2014b.html|title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 2014 July To December|publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com|access-date=December 18, 2014}}
Willie Winfield died from a heart attack on July 27, 2021, aged 91. William Dempsey is the only original surviving member of The Harptones.{{cite news|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/arts/music/willie-winfield-dead.html|title=Willie Winfield, Angelic-Voiced Doo-Wop Singer, Is Dead at 91|work=The New York Times|date=August 3, 2021|access-date=August 4, 2021}}
Awards and recognition
The Harptones were featured more times than any other group in the United in Group Harmony Association's official top 500 vocal group recordings list, compiled 1996–2000.{{cite book|title=The Top 1000 Doo-Wop Songs: Collector's Edition|date=2014|publisher=Ttgpress|isbn=9780982737651|page=111|language=English}} They were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.{{cite web|title=The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame {{!}} The Harptones|url=http://vocalgroup.org/inductees/the-harptones/|website=vocalgroup.org|access-date=May 2, 2018}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.theoriginal-harptones.com/ Harptones official web site]
- [http://www.uncamarvy.com/Harptones/harptones.html Article about The Harptones by Marv Goldberg]
- [http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/harptones.html Article about The Harptones by J.C. Marion]
- {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p13145|label=The Harptones}}
- {{Discogs artist|The Harptones}}
- [http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/the_harptones.html 'The Harptones' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page]
- {{imdb name|id=4094223}}
- [https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-07-27_11_30/page/n65/mode/1up Review of 1982 album Love Needs] The Boston Phoenix
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Category:1953 establishments in New York City
Category:2014 disestablishments in New York (state)