Biography of the Ink Spots

Ink Spots

"An all-Negro show, headed by the rejuvenated Ink Spots, has everything it takes to be a top entertainment piece. The Spots, making their periodic visit here, were never better. Ella Fitzgerald takes second billing to the Ink Spots, but more than holds up her end with I've got Rhythm, Do Nothing' Till You Hear From Me ....Ink Spots come on with Shoo-Shoo Baby ["Cow-Cow Boogie"?] followed by Lovely Way to Spend An Evening and Don't Sweetheart Me ... Encore with My Heart Tells Me and beg off to thunderous hand with the inevitable If I Didn't Care" (Billboard Magazine, 2/6/44, courtesy More Than Words Can Say: The Ink Spots and Their Music, Goldberg, 1998).

Were the Ink Spots really the "heavyweight champions of quartet singing"? If you believe soul singer Jerry Butler -- founding member of the Impressions who was quoted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Web site -- they were. But beyond the praise and adulation they have received and will continue to receive, there is little doubt that the Ink Spots were pathfinders: they paved the way for many groups to find success, both from the "doo-wop" and from the rhythm & blues movements. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, the Grammy Hall of fame in 1987, the Apollo Hall of Fame, and in 1997 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

They got their start in Indianapolis in the 1920s, having been inspired by early American Jazz and vaudeville acts; their original members included Deek Watson, Charles Fuqua, Orville "Hoppy" Jones and Jerry Daniels.

Before they were the Ink Spots they were the "Riff Brothers" and the "Percolating Puppies." After kicking around Indianapolis for awhile, they went to New York City and met singer Bill Kenny (who replaced Daniels as lead tenor in 1936); and in 1939, they evolved from "jazzy swing" (http://www.rockhall.com) to "intimate balladry," which resulted in a series of hit records.

Their first huge smash was the still-lovely, timeless "If I didn't Care," with those patented, mystically soaring tight harmonies, which sold 19 million records and was followed by a string of big hits including: "My Prayer," "We Three," "Maybe," and "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano." They maintained their faithful following into the early 1950s, and, according to the Hall of Fame biographical information, "became one of the first acts to break down racial barriers by performing at previously all-white Southern venues."

The Ink Spots -- still going strong today in clubs and other venues -- feature the following talent (http://www.theinkspots.com/bios.htm): Harold Winley (Bass Singer/Narrator/intellectual) who goes back 40 years with the group; Sonny Hatchett (Second Lead/Second Tenor) is the group's "comedian," who has played comedy clubs in American and Europe; Grant Kitchings (Lead Tenor), who succeeded Jim Nabbie after Jim passed away in 1992; Morris Dow (Baritone/Guitarist) has also toured with Nancy Wilson, Jimmy McGriff, and has scored music for movies and TV and radio commercials.

Their Web site shares the information that this venerable group has made motion pictures with Abbott and Costello ("The Great American Broadcast" and "Pardon My Sarong"); they appeared often on the Jack Benny Program; they have toured with Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway; they have been "guest artists" with the Houston Pops, the South Florida Symphony, Gold Coast Symphony, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, among many other honors.

The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (Du Noyer, 2003) counts the Ink Spots as among the first generation of Doo-Wop (page 20), but gives the Ink Spots pretty short shrift considering their huge impact on the music scene, and their impact on the cross-over phenomenon when white teenagers began digging music that originated from black roots, and music made by African-American musicians like the Ink Spots, and a bit later The Dells, the Coasters, and many more.

In 1939 (Goldberg, 1998), the world was changing, some changes for the good, some not, according to page 49 of Goldberg's book on the Ink Spots: Adolf Hitler invaded and basically took over Poland, the beginning of his attempt (nearly successful) to conquer all of Europe; Albert Einstein advised President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the atomic bomb is a virtual certainty as a future weapon; ten million Americans are still unemployed, due to a sagging economy left over from the Great Depression; "sit-down" protest strikes are declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court; The Grapes of Wrath is written; Gone With The Wind is filmed; and the Ink Spots record their biggest hit, "If I Didn't Care."