Billy Ward and the Dominoes

In the next few weeks we're going to talk about some of the groups that had long lasting effects on R&B and Rock & Roll.
The groups that we'll talk about are: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, The Five Crowns,the Drifters,The 5 Royals, Nolan and the Diablos, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the Swallows, The Flamingos, The Orioles, The Impressions, The Heartbeats, Shep and The Limelites, The Moonglows, The Dells, The Jive Five, The Penguins, THe Platters, and The Spaniels.
Let's start with Billy Ward and the Dominoes. Billy Ward (Robert Williams) was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1921. Ward was a music prodigy and won awards for piano composition at the age of 14. After leaving the military Mr. Ward studied music at the Juilliard Music School in New York. There he met Rose Marks and the two became business and songwriting partners.
Ward's first group was first called the Ques. Clyde McPhatter (lead), along with Charlie White (tenor),Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass) made up the group.
Ward acted as the groups pianist and arranger. The group had success at the Apollo Theater, and then appeared on the Auther Godfry show in 1950. The group was recommended to Ralph Bass of Federal Records a subsidiary of King Records. They singed with Federal Records and changed their name to the Dominoes, their first release was "Do something for Me". The song climbed to number 16, in 1951. The groups next hit was "Sixty Minute Man". The song was unique in many ways. First the lead on the song was the bass, second the song was about sex and a mans ability to make love for sixty minutes; 15 minutes of kissin, 15 minutes of teasin, 15 minutes of squeezin and 15 minutes of blowing his top. It reached number one on the R&B charts and stayed there for 14 weeks. The song was a cross-over hit and for that reason it was banned in some markets, which made it that even more popular. Some people contend that Sixty Minute Man was the first Rock & Roll record.
Ward was a strict disciplinarian and failed to pay the members of the group well. This caused major conflicts. Ward and Marks owned the Dominoes name and had the right to hire and fire and paid the singers barely enough to live on. The group started to fall apart in 1951 when Brown and White left the group. They were replaced by James Laon, David McNeil.
In 1952 Alan Freed picked the Dominoes to appear at his Moondog Ball. The group had another big hit with "Have Mercy Baby" wich stayed on the charts for 10 weeks.
In 1953 Clyd McPhatter got fedup and left the group and soon formed a new group called The Drifters.
While McPhatter's leaving the Dominoes was not a good thing for the Dominoes, it was great for do-wop and R&B. The Drifters in their many incarnations became a major influence in R&B. And if that wasn't enough Clyde McPhatter's replacement was none other than Jackie Wilson.
The Dominoes continued to tour and record but never got back to their greatness. Their last hit was a pop hit that went number 13 in 1957. This was their only million seller.
The group toured until the mid sixties.
Biiy Ward played small clubs and did arrangements for other groups. Mr Ward died in February 2002.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the many variations of the Drifters. Many singers passed through the Drifters, but with the exception of Clyde McPhatter, and later Ben E. King, there were no standout singers to emerge form the many different groups.