The Velvets

{{Short description|Doo-wop group from Odessa, Texas}}

{{distinguish|the Velvet Underground}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = The Velvets

| image =

| image_size =

| landscape =

| alt =

| caption =

| background = group_or_band

| alias =

| origin = Odessa, Texas, United States

| genre = Doo-wop

| years_active = {{start date|1959}}–{{end date|1962}}

| label = Monument

| associated_acts =

| website =

| current_members =

| past_members = *Virgil Johnson

• Will Solomon
• Mark Prince
• Clarence Rigsby
• Bob Thursby

}}

The Velvets were an American doo-wop group from Odessa, Texas, United States. They were formed in 1959 by Virgil Johnson, a high-school English teacher, with four of his students. Roy Orbison heard the group and signed them to Monument Records in 1960.Nite, Norm N. Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n' Roll (The Solid Gold Years). Thomas Y. Crowell (1974), p. 630. They recorded in Nashville in Studio B, with the A Team as their backup band. Their first release was a tune called "That Lucky Old Sun". Their biggest hit single was "Tonight (Could Be the Night)", which hit #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.{{cite web|last=Thomas |first=Bryan |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-velvets-mn0000575139 |title=The Velvets - Music Biography, Credits and Discography |website=AllMusic |date=2008-01-01 |access-date=2013-03-05}} The follow-up, "Laugh", peaked at #90, and after a half-dozen further singles the group disbanded.

Virgil Johnson, a former deejay at Radio KDAV in Lubbock, Texas, was the lead tenor singer, with backup from Mark Prince (bass), Clarence Rigsby (tenor), Robert Thursby (first tenor), and William Solomon (baritone). The four were originally Johnson's eighth-grade pupils in an English class which he instructed in Odessa in the 1959-1960 school year.

"That Lucky Old Sun" (#46) and "Tonight (Could Be the Night)" (#50) made brief appearances in the UK Singles Chart in 1961.{{cite book

| first= David

| last= Roberts

| year= 2006

| title= British Hit Singles & Albums

| edition= 19th

| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited

| location= London

| isbn= 1-904994-10-5

| page= 584}}

Their complete recorded output runs to 30 songs, which were collected on one compact disc and released by Ace Records in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-velvets-mw0000367528 |title=The Complete Velvets - The Velvets : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2013-03-05}}