Post by Diamond Girl on May 6, 2007 18:43:44 GMT -5
Zola Taylor of The Platters dies at 69
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zola Taylor, who broke gender barriers as the first female member of the 1950s R&B group The Platters and later became entangled in a public soap opera as one of three women claiming to be pop idol Frankie Lymon's widow, has died, her nephew reported Tuesday. She was 69.
Taylor, who had been bedridden following several strokes, died Monday at Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside County from complications of pneumonia, said her nephew Alfie Robinson.
Founding Platters member Herb Reed said he spotted Taylor, the sister of Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, rehearsing with a girl group in 1955 and knew immediately she had the charisma and vocal chops the band needed.
The all-male group had just signed with Mercury after its single Only You topped the charts and its manager thought they needed a female voice to soften their sound.
"She was a very pretty young lady and what a great, great smile," Reed told The Associated Press. "And she had this baby voice that everyone liked."
Reed said Taylor, a contralto, turned out to be a great fit. She showed up on time, knew her harmony parts and charmed audiences with her smile and beauty. With her in the lineup, The Great Pretender raced to the number one spot on both R & B and pop music charts in the U.S. and Europe, according to The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul by Irwin Stambler. It didn't take long before the group's success spawned a rush of imitators.
"It was a great surprise to everyone," Reed said. "We were the first Afro-American group to have a girl singer. That was the talk of the nation. All of the sudden, other groups started looking for girls."
The Platters' success began to fizzle after 1959, when four members were arrested in a Cincinnati hotel and accused of using drugs and soliciting prostitutes. Reed said he had been out of touch with Taylor since the early 1960s.
Taylor was back in the spotlight in the 1980s when she and two other women all claimed to be Lymon's widow and fought over his royalties. Lymon, a juvenile pop sensation in the 1950s with such hits as Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, had died of a drug overdose in 1968 at age 25.
Robinson said she told him that the two wed in Mexico while she was touring with the Platters and forgot to file papers in San Diego.
Reed said he was as surprised by the uproar as the titillated public.
"I never heard Zola say anything about marrying Frankie Lymon, I never saw him with her and he never mentioned anything about it," he said.
The drama was a focal point in the 1998 Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Halle Berry played Taylor.
Robinson, Taylor's closest known living relative, said his aunt continued touring with other lesser-known acts until 1996 and wed two other times. Her last husband died in 1982, he said. She had no children.
Robinson said funeral arrangements were pending.
www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-05-01-zola-taylor_N.htm
Zola Taylor
Platters singer known as 'The Dish'
Published: 02 May 2007
Zola Taylor, singer: born Los Angeles 17 March 1934; died Los Angeles 30 April 2007.
Some of the most distinctive moments in the rock'n'roll films of the 1950s belong to the vocal group the Platters, with its line-up of four male singers and one woman, Zola Taylor, known as "The Dish". She looked very elegant in Rock Around the Clock (1956), The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Rock All Night (1957), surrounded by the male Platters in dinner jackets.
Their appearance hardly represented the rock'n'roll world that the films were promoting, and the same could be said of the Platters' records, which were usually superior middle-of-the-road ballads with an oh-so-gentle rock'n'roll beat. But, Taylor once reflected, "Not a group out there could touch us when we walked out on stage. We were a God-blessed winning team."
Taylor was born in Los Angeles in 1934, although many sources say 1938. She was a fine singer and she made her first record, "Make Love to Me", in 1953. Buck Ram, who had written the standards "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Twilight Time", wanted a vocal group that was more sophisticated than others of the day, singing quality material rather than novelties. After a few changes, he settled on Tony Williams (lead tenor), Herb Reed (bass), David Lynch (second tenor) and Paul Robi (baritone). In 1955, he played a masterstroke by adding glamour with the contralto Zola Taylor. This also gave the group a more romantic sound.
Ram had previously recorded the Platters on his song "Only You", but he knew that the arrangement sounded wrong. He recorded the song again, adding a contemporary beat. The single was released on the US Mercury label and was soon in the nation's Top 10.
This was followed by two more successes, "The Great Pretender" and their first US No 1, "My Prayer". Taylor took the lead vocal on the rhythmic B-side, her own composition, "Bark, Battle and Ball", which owed much to Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ram attributed the Platters' success to "simple melodies, simple lyrics and no over-production". To a degree, this is right, but the group's main strength was Williams's dynamic lead vocals. The records sounded far more lively than those of the Ink Spots or the Mills Brothers.
Because of a problem over distribution, "Only You" was a UK hit for the Hilltoppers and "The Great Pretender" for Jimmy Parkinson. When the Platters' records could finally be released in the UK in 1956, they had a double-sided Top Five single with "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".
The Platters recorded prolifically and the albums and the B-sides allowed the group members to shine. Taylor was featured on lead vocal on the B-sides "He's Mine" (1957), "Indiff'rent" (1957) and "My Old Flame" (1958). She and David Lynch sang a romantic duet, "Goodnight, Sweetheart, It's Time to Go", on the album The Platters (1957).
In March 1957, the Platters came to the UK. Although their music was aimed at rock'n'roll fans, they topped a variety bill with Vera Cody and her horse, Goldie, and the "acrobatical nonsense" of the Two Palmers. Taylor took centre stage for "He's Mine" and a novelty duet with Paul Robi, "Gum Drop". The group appeared on the television show Sunday Night at the London Palladium. When they returned in 1960, they shared the same programme with the UK's newest star, Cliff Richard, and the viewing figures were nearly 20 million.
The Platters continued to have hits, including very atmospheric revivals of "Twilight Time" (1958), "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (1958) and "Harbour Lights" (1959). Jerome Kern's widow was so incensed by their revival of his composition "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" that she tried to stop its distribution. She was unsuccessful and the record was a No 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Late in 1959, the four male members of the Platters were arrested in Cincinnati on the charge of holding an orgy with prostitutes and drugs. The case was dismissed, but the judge gave the Platters a strong rebuke, saying that they had a duty to keep their lives clean. Some US radio stations removed their records from playlists.
Shortly after that, Tony Williams left to work solo, and although his replacement, Sonny Turner, was excellent, the group had lost its momentum. Zola Taylor left in 1964 and went on to work with Paul Robi and David Lynch as the Original Platters. Buck Ram was furious as he contended that he owned the group's name and that his group was the original. He said, "The singers come and go, but the people don't mind so long as the songs are done the way they want to hear them - the way I wrote them."
The singer Frankie Lymon died of a heroin overdose in 1968 and over the years there was a battle for his royalties, notably from his composition "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". In court, Taylor claimed that she and Lymon had been sexually active since the tour The Biggest Rock'n'Roll Show of 1956 when Lymon was only 14. She claimed to have married him in 1965, but could not produce a marriage certificate and lost her claim. In the 1998 filmWhy Do Fools Fall in Love, she was played by Halle Berry.
Spencer Leigh
news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2502066.ece
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zola Taylor, who broke gender barriers as the first female member of the 1950s R&B group The Platters and later became entangled in a public soap opera as one of three women claiming to be pop idol Frankie Lymon's widow, has died, her nephew reported Tuesday. She was 69.
Taylor, who had been bedridden following several strokes, died Monday at Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside County from complications of pneumonia, said her nephew Alfie Robinson.
Founding Platters member Herb Reed said he spotted Taylor, the sister of Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, rehearsing with a girl group in 1955 and knew immediately she had the charisma and vocal chops the band needed.
The all-male group had just signed with Mercury after its single Only You topped the charts and its manager thought they needed a female voice to soften their sound.
"She was a very pretty young lady and what a great, great smile," Reed told The Associated Press. "And she had this baby voice that everyone liked."
Reed said Taylor, a contralto, turned out to be a great fit. She showed up on time, knew her harmony parts and charmed audiences with her smile and beauty. With her in the lineup, The Great Pretender raced to the number one spot on both R & B and pop music charts in the U.S. and Europe, according to The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul by Irwin Stambler. It didn't take long before the group's success spawned a rush of imitators.
"It was a great surprise to everyone," Reed said. "We were the first Afro-American group to have a girl singer. That was the talk of the nation. All of the sudden, other groups started looking for girls."
The Platters' success began to fizzle after 1959, when four members were arrested in a Cincinnati hotel and accused of using drugs and soliciting prostitutes. Reed said he had been out of touch with Taylor since the early 1960s.
Taylor was back in the spotlight in the 1980s when she and two other women all claimed to be Lymon's widow and fought over his royalties. Lymon, a juvenile pop sensation in the 1950s with such hits as Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, had died of a drug overdose in 1968 at age 25.
Robinson said she told him that the two wed in Mexico while she was touring with the Platters and forgot to file papers in San Diego.
Reed said he was as surprised by the uproar as the titillated public.
"I never heard Zola say anything about marrying Frankie Lymon, I never saw him with her and he never mentioned anything about it," he said.
The drama was a focal point in the 1998 Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Halle Berry played Taylor.
Robinson, Taylor's closest known living relative, said his aunt continued touring with other lesser-known acts until 1996 and wed two other times. Her last husband died in 1982, he said. She had no children.
Robinson said funeral arrangements were pending.
www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-05-01-zola-taylor_N.htm
Zola Taylor
Platters singer known as 'The Dish'
Published: 02 May 2007
Zola Taylor, singer: born Los Angeles 17 March 1934; died Los Angeles 30 April 2007.
Some of the most distinctive moments in the rock'n'roll films of the 1950s belong to the vocal group the Platters, with its line-up of four male singers and one woman, Zola Taylor, known as "The Dish". She looked very elegant in Rock Around the Clock (1956), The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Rock All Night (1957), surrounded by the male Platters in dinner jackets.
Their appearance hardly represented the rock'n'roll world that the films were promoting, and the same could be said of the Platters' records, which were usually superior middle-of-the-road ballads with an oh-so-gentle rock'n'roll beat. But, Taylor once reflected, "Not a group out there could touch us when we walked out on stage. We were a God-blessed winning team."
Taylor was born in Los Angeles in 1934, although many sources say 1938. She was a fine singer and she made her first record, "Make Love to Me", in 1953. Buck Ram, who had written the standards "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Twilight Time", wanted a vocal group that was more sophisticated than others of the day, singing quality material rather than novelties. After a few changes, he settled on Tony Williams (lead tenor), Herb Reed (bass), David Lynch (second tenor) and Paul Robi (baritone). In 1955, he played a masterstroke by adding glamour with the contralto Zola Taylor. This also gave the group a more romantic sound.
Ram had previously recorded the Platters on his song "Only You", but he knew that the arrangement sounded wrong. He recorded the song again, adding a contemporary beat. The single was released on the US Mercury label and was soon in the nation's Top 10.
This was followed by two more successes, "The Great Pretender" and their first US No 1, "My Prayer". Taylor took the lead vocal on the rhythmic B-side, her own composition, "Bark, Battle and Ball", which owed much to Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ram attributed the Platters' success to "simple melodies, simple lyrics and no over-production". To a degree, this is right, but the group's main strength was Williams's dynamic lead vocals. The records sounded far more lively than those of the Ink Spots or the Mills Brothers.
Because of a problem over distribution, "Only You" was a UK hit for the Hilltoppers and "The Great Pretender" for Jimmy Parkinson. When the Platters' records could finally be released in the UK in 1956, they had a double-sided Top Five single with "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".
The Platters recorded prolifically and the albums and the B-sides allowed the group members to shine. Taylor was featured on lead vocal on the B-sides "He's Mine" (1957), "Indiff'rent" (1957) and "My Old Flame" (1958). She and David Lynch sang a romantic duet, "Goodnight, Sweetheart, It's Time to Go", on the album The Platters (1957).
In March 1957, the Platters came to the UK. Although their music was aimed at rock'n'roll fans, they topped a variety bill with Vera Cody and her horse, Goldie, and the "acrobatical nonsense" of the Two Palmers. Taylor took centre stage for "He's Mine" and a novelty duet with Paul Robi, "Gum Drop". The group appeared on the television show Sunday Night at the London Palladium. When they returned in 1960, they shared the same programme with the UK's newest star, Cliff Richard, and the viewing figures were nearly 20 million.
The Platters continued to have hits, including very atmospheric revivals of "Twilight Time" (1958), "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (1958) and "Harbour Lights" (1959). Jerome Kern's widow was so incensed by their revival of his composition "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" that she tried to stop its distribution. She was unsuccessful and the record was a No 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Late in 1959, the four male members of the Platters were arrested in Cincinnati on the charge of holding an orgy with prostitutes and drugs. The case was dismissed, but the judge gave the Platters a strong rebuke, saying that they had a duty to keep their lives clean. Some US radio stations removed their records from playlists.
Shortly after that, Tony Williams left to work solo, and although his replacement, Sonny Turner, was excellent, the group had lost its momentum. Zola Taylor left in 1964 and went on to work with Paul Robi and David Lynch as the Original Platters. Buck Ram was furious as he contended that he owned the group's name and that his group was the original. He said, "The singers come and go, but the people don't mind so long as the songs are done the way they want to hear them - the way I wrote them."
The singer Frankie Lymon died of a heroin overdose in 1968 and over the years there was a battle for his royalties, notably from his composition "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". In court, Taylor claimed that she and Lymon had been sexually active since the tour The Biggest Rock'n'Roll Show of 1956 when Lymon was only 14. She claimed to have married him in 1965, but could not produce a marriage certificate and lost her claim. In the 1998 filmWhy Do Fools Fall in Love, she was played by Halle Berry.
Spencer Leigh
news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2502066.ece