The Platters were a vocal group formed in LA in 1953. Their transformation from doo-wop to pop and rock and roll helped bridge the gap between tin pan alley and the modern era of pop music.
The Platters had a brief and fairly low-key career before they were taken under the wing of producer and songwriter Buck Ram. Ram added a female vocalist Zola Taylor and made Tony Williams the group’s lead singer. More significantly, he changed the style of music that they were performing. Ram steered the band away from an R&B/gospel sound towards ‘the new’ rock and roll, albeit a less frenetic version than other artists such as Bill Haley. The rock and roll of the Platters allowed the quality of their voices to shine through.
“Only You” gave the them their first Top 10 chart entry, bettered by their follow-up “Great Pretender” which went to No.1. They performed both of these tracks on the Rock Around the Clock film, released in 1956. Further hits followed in the form of reinterpretations of older tracks, “If I Didn’t Care” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”. They went on to have the first rock and roll album in the Top Ten in the US. Their chart success was relatively short lived however, and after 1961 they only registered one Top 30 hit. What the Platters did do was play live, and extensive touring became their main focus.
The years 1953 to 1960, with the line-up of Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor, were considered the Platter’s heyday. As original members started to leave and were replaced, former members started their own ‘Platters’. Eventually, there were dozens of similarly named groups simultaneously performing all over the US. With ‘original member’ status Herb Reed’s Platters, which still tours today, seems to have the best claim.
In recognition of their contribution to the genre the Platters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
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