The Platters and Buck Ram

It is impossible to talk about The Platters with out talking about Buck Ram! Born Samuel Ram to Jewish parents, it has been said that the history of rock & roll could not be written without including Buck Ram. Ram was one of the top five song writers for BMI in it's first fifty years. Ram wrote, arranged, and produced for various artist, like The Coasters, The Drifters, Ike & Tina Turner, Ike Cole, Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and others. The connection between Ram and future groups and future music runs from Ram through The Coasters and The Drifters to Leiber and Stoller. Ram started adding singers to groups to define a sound which is how Leiber and Stoller operated with their arrangements.
Ram is mostly remembered for his association with The Platters, whom he signed to a contract in 1953. Ram was working as a talent manager, A&R man for a dance band when Tony Williams, the brother of one of clients auditioned for him. Ram was looking for someone to sing the songs he had written and found the voice he was looking for in Tony Williams. Ram built The Platters around Williams. Ram arranged and produced all recordings by The Platters after they signed with Mercury Records, until his death. Ram also wrote their biggest hits including, "Only You (And You Alone)", "The Great Pretender", "Magic Touch",and "Twilight Time".
When Mercury announced that it would release "Only You" on their purple"race music" label Ram insisted that the records be relabeled stating that The Platters had worked to hard to have their market limited by a record label. Mercury agreed and the records were released on Mercury's regular label, thereby making The Platters one of the first cross-over artist.
As a follow-up to "Only You" Ram wrote "The Great Pretender" in a hotel washroom. "The Great Pretender" was anumber 4 hit for Freddie Mercury in 1987. Ram had no idea who Freddie Mercury was, but was thrilled that his songs was on the charts again, he laughed all the way to the bank. Ram also wrote "Twilight Time" and "Chew Chew Chew Your Bubble Gum" with Ella Fitzgerald.
Ram was involved in a controversy about the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas". Ram claims that he wrote the song and then talked about it two songwriters that he hardly knew, and that they took credit for the song until he forced them to give him credit. On Bing Crosby's recording of the song the credits are listed as Kent, Gannon, and Ram.
No matter what else Ram did in his life, his greatest success was The Platters.

THE PLATTERS
The Platters were a group formed in Los Angeles in the early 50's. They were managed by Ralph Bass and signed to Federal Records, where they had little success. The original group included, Alex Hodge, Cronell Gunther David Lynch, Joe Jefferson, Gaynel Hodge, and Herb Reed.
After signing with Ram, the group went through several changes before finding the mix that put them on the charts. The winning combination was Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor.
The Platters didn't chart at first, but a great touring group and were so successful that the The Penguins asked Ram to manage them as well. Mercury Records agreed to sign both groups. Sadly The Penguins never had a hit with Mercury Records.
Believe it or not Ram had to be talked into recording "Only You' by Tony Williams and Jean Bennett. Released in 1955 the song became the groups first top ten hit, and stayed on the charts for seven weeks. Their follow-up "The Great Pretender" went to number one and stayed on the charts for 11 weeks. In 1956 The Platters were in the first major motion picture based around rock & roll, Rock Around the Clock. They sang "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".
The Platters unique vocal style hit a nerve in America, and a string of hits followed. "I'm Sorry" (#11), "He's Mine" (#23) in 1957, "Enchanted" (#12) in 1959 and "The Majic Touch" (#4) in 1956. The Platters also found a way of making old hits new, with standards like, "My Prayer", "Twilight Time", "Harbor Lights", "If I Didn't Care" and Jerome Kerns, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". Kerns' widow expressed concern the that her late husband's song would be turned into a rock & roll song. It topped both American and British charts.
This hit making group stayed together until 1960, when trouble started creeping in.
As a group The Platters began to have some problems with their public. In 1959 four members of the group were arrestd in Cincinnati, on drug and prostitution charges. No one was convicted of the charges, but their professional reputation was seriously damaged and US radio stations started removing their song from their play list, forcing the group to book thenselves in Europe. During that time Tony Williams left the group for a solo career and was replaced by Sonny Turner. Mercury Records refused to issue any Platters records that did not have Tony Williams on lead. This action caused a law suite between Ram and Mercury Records. Mercury released only Williams lead records until The Platters contract expired.
From this point on it seems that there was always a law suit going on and a new group of Platters being formed. In 1966 The Platters had a small hit with "I Love You 1,000 Times". However they would never have the success of the Tony Williams group. It seems That every member of the group formed a group of Platters. There were so many groups of Platters that some were named for the lead of the group, like Herb Reed's Platters.
It is My opinion that The Platters were the classiest Do-Wop group ever!
There is not a lot of information about Tony Williams after he left The Platters, but if you listen to him sing "My Prayer" you can hear the power and control that he had with a song. His solo csreer should have compared with Jackis Wilson's, but it never did.

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