Originally Posted by
milven
Thanks Reese. That explains a lot. As a kid, I bought MY HERO by the Bluenotes. In the seventies, I knew that they were the ancestors of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes but did not know of any history in between and the various name changes back and forth.
You were a kid thinking that Harold was singing those leads on HMBN Philly hits. I was a grown-up and also thought the same for a while. Usually, when someone leaves a successful group for a solo career, it kind of uspsets me. But when Teddy left, I was glad. How deceptive to have Teddy doing all the leads and have someone else headlned in the billing. But it is not unprecedented.
Billy Ward and the Dominoes did it too and had to go through a whole array of lead singers who got no recognition. Clyde McPhatter was one of his underappreciated and underpaid singers. He left to start his own group, the original DRIFTERS.
By the time that I got to know the group in the late fifties, BillyWard and the Dominos had two big hits, STARDUST and DEEP PURPLE. Knowing nothing about the group, I thought that Billy Ward was singing lead. Later I found out it was someone named Gene Mumford. I think in an earlier incarnation , even Jackie Wilson was part of the group.
Back to the Bluenotes, it would be great if UNSUNG did a show about this group. There is a lot of history there.
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