Wednesday 19 September 2018

Billy Ward born 19 September 1921



Billy Ward (born September 19, 1921 - February 16, 2002) was a vocal coach, pianist, arranger, songwriter who formed The Dominoes in 1950. One of the most successful R&B groups of the early 1950s, the Dominoes helped launch the singing careers of two notable members, Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson.

Billy Ward was born Robert Lloyd Williams in Savannah, Georgia. He moved to Philadelphia as a child and sang in his church choir and eventually became its organist (this isn't surprising, since his father was a preacher and his mother a choir singer). He was a 
musical prodigy as a child, and, when he was 14, won an award from famed composer Walter Damrosch for a piano piece he had written, called "Dejection". In the army during World War 2 (drafted October 30, 1942), he rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and supposedly directed the Coast Artillery Choir at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Upon his discharge, Williams spent some time at the Chicago Art Institute, before coming to New York to attend the Julliard School of Music. Once in New York, he became a vocal coach and arranger and also changed his name, for unknown reasons, to "Everett William Ward", then "Billy Ward". While working as a vocal coach and part-time arranger on Broadway, he met talent agent Rose Marks, who became his business and songwriting partner.

The pair set out to form a vocal group from the ranks of his students, hoping to cash in on the new trend of vocal quintets in R&B. The group was at first called the Ques, composed of Clyde McPhatter (lead tenor), whom Ward recruited after McPhatter won "Amateur Night" at the Apollo Theater, Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass). Ward acted as their pianist and arranger. After the group made successful appearances on talent shows in the Apollo Theatre and on the Arthur Godfrey show in 1950, Rene Hall recommended them to Ralph Bass of Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, where they were signed to a recording contract and renamed themselves The Dominoes. Their first single release, "Do Something For Me", with McPhatter’s lead vocal, reached the R&B charts in early 1951, climbing to #6.


                           

After a less successful follow-up, the group released "Sixty Minute Man", on which Brown sang lead, and boasted of being able to satisfy his girls with fifteen minutes each of "kissin'" "teasin'" and "squeezin'", before "blowin'" his "top". It reached #1 on the R&B chart in May 1951 and stayed there for 14 weeks, and crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #17 and voted "Song of the Year" for 
1951. It was an important record in several respects—it crossed the boundaries between gospel singing and blues, its lyrics pushed the limits of what was deemed acceptable, and it appealed to many white as well as black listeners. In later years, it became a contender for the title of "the first rock and roll record".

The group toured widely, building up a reputation as one of the top R&B acts of the era, edging out the Five Keys and the Clovers (two of the top R&B groups of the early 1950s) and commanding an audience which crossed racial divides. However, Ward's strict disciplinarian approach, and failure to recompense the singers, caused internal problems. "Billy Ward was not an easy man to work for. He played piano and organ, could arrange, and he was a fine 
director and coach. He knew what he wanted, and you had to give it to him. And he was a strict disciplinarian. You better believe it! You paid a fine if you stepped out of line," according to Jackie Wilson.

The name "The Dominoes" was owned by Ward and Marks, who had the power to hire and fire, and to pay the singers a salary. Allegedly, Ward paid his singers $100 a week, minus deductions for taxes, food and hotel bills. McPhatter often found himself billed as "Clyde Ward" to fool fans into thinking he was Billy Ward's little brother. Others assumed Ward was doing the lead singing.

White and Brown both left in 1951 to form the Checkers, and were replaced by James Van Loan (1922–1976) and David McNeil (1932–2005, previously of the Larks). In March 1952, the Dominoes were chosen to be the only vocal group at Alan Freed's "Moondog Coronation Ball". The hits continued, with "Have Mercy Baby" topping the R&B charts for 10 weeks in 1952. Later records were credited to "Billy Ward and His Dominoes".

In early 1953, McPhatter decided to leave, and soon formed his own group, the Drifters. His replacement in the Dominoes was Jackie Wilson, who had been coached by McPhatter while also singing with the group on tour. Lamont and McNeil also left and were replaced by Milton Merle and Cliff Givens (Givens had been in The Southern Sons Gospel Quartet, and joined the Ink Spots in 1944 upon the death of original bass Orville "Hoppy" Jones). With Wilson singing lead, singles 
such as "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" continued to be successful, although the Dominoes didn't enjoy quite the same success as they had with McPhatter as lead tenor.

In 1954, Ward moved the group to the Jubilee label and then to Decca, where they enjoyed a #27 pop hit with "St. Therese of the Roses", featuring Wilson on tenor, giving the Dominoes a brief moment in the spotlight again. However, the group was unable to follow that success in the charts, and there were a succession of personnel changes. They increasingly moved away from their R&B roots with appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere

In late 1957, Wilson left for a solo career and was replaced by Gene Mumford of the Larks. Then, the group got a new contract with Liberty Records. They had a #13 pop hit with "Stardust". Stardust was one of the earliest multitrack recordings in the rock & roll era. It was to be their only million seller. This proved to be their last major success, although various line-ups of the group continued recording and performing up to the late 60’s when the Dominoes began a tour of American military bases in Japan and Vietnam. They were due to spend a couple of months in the Far East before returning for engagements in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Puerto Rico.
Billy Ward, Barry D. Williams & Inga Daniels - April 2001
Ward died 16 February 2002, in Inglewood, California. The Dominoes were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2006.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia, All Music & Deep Southern Soul)

10 comments:

boppinbob said...

For: “The Very Best of Billy Ward and the Dominoes” go here:

https://www80.zippyshare.com/v/wEEAgm85/file.html

1. Chicken Blues
2. No! Says My Heart
3. Do Something For Me
4. Weeping Willow Blues
5. Sixty Minute Man
6. Harbor Lights
7. That's What You're Doing To Me
8. I Am With You
9. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
10. Have Mercy Baby
11. When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano
12. I'd Be Satisfied
13. The Bells
14. Pedal Pushin' Papa
15. Yours Forever
16. You Can't Keep A Good Man Down
17. Rags To Riches
18. Christmas In Heaven
19. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
20. Three Coins In The Fountain
21. I Really Don't Want To Know
22. Can't Do Sixty No More
23. Give Me You
24. May I Never Love Again
25. Over The Rainbow

Future superstars Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson, all of the Dominoes' Federal and King hits on one CD-what more could you ask for? Includes their R&B Top 10s Sixty-Minute Man; Have Mercy Baby; Rags to Riches; The Bells; Pedal Pushin' Papa; Do Something for Me; I Am with You; I'd Be Satisfied , and more. 25 tracks!

A big thank you to unknown uploader @ uloz for original link.

boppinbob said...

For “Billy Ward & His Dominoes - Stardust - The Final Years” go here:

https://www88.zippyshare.com/v/KaFSczAC/file.html

Disc 1

BILLY WARD AND HIS DOMINOES - 1957
1. WILL YOU REMEMBER (When You Are Far Away) - Jackie Wilson
2. 'TIL KINGDOM COME - Milton Grayson
3. ST THERESE OF THE ROSES - Jackie Wilson
4. EVERMORE - Jackie Wilson
5. I DON'T STAND A GHOST OF A CHANCE WITH YOU - Milton Grayson
6. TO EACH HIS OWN - Jackie Wilson/ Milton Grayson/Milton Merle
7. WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN - Milton Grayson
8. SEPTEMBER SONG - Billy Ward
9. ST. LOUIS BLUES - Jackie Wilson
10. OH, LADY BE GOOD - Cliff Givens
11. AM I BLUE - Cliff Givens
12. WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING - Jackie Wilson/Cliff Givens
SINGLES
13. HALF A LOVE (Is Better Than None) - Billy Ward
14. HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR HEART - Billy Ward
15. COME ON SNAKE, LET'S CRAWL - Milton Grayson
16. ROCK PLYMOUTH ROCK - Billy Ward
SEA OF GLASS - 1958
17. JOSHUA - Milton Grayson
18. STANDING IN THE NEED OF PRAYER - Billy Ward
19. DEEP RIVER - Group
20. BYE AND BYE - Eugene Mumford/Billy Ward
21. SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT - Milton Merle
22. SOMEONE GREATER THAN I - Milton Grayson
23. ABOVE JACOBS LADDER - Eugene Mumford/Billy Ward
24. SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD - Eugene Mumford
25. THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - Billy Ward
26. THE LULLABY DIVINE - Group
27. WERE YOU THERE? - Cliff Givens/Milton Grayson
28. I AM THE RESURRECTION - Eugene Mumford/Billy Ward

Disc 2

BILLY WARD AND HIS DOMINOES - YOURS FOREVER - 1958
1. STARDUST - Eugene Mumford
2. IF YOU PLEASE - Eugene Mumford
3. MUSIC MAESTRO PLEASE - Milton Merle
4. EATIN' 'N' SLEEPIN' - Group
5. I'LL NEVER ASK FOR MORE THAN THIS - Eugene Mumford
6. DO IT AGAIN - Billy Ward
7. DEEP PURPLE - Eugene Mumford
8. THESE FOOLISH THINGS - Milton Grayson
9. DON'T SAY I LOVE YOU - Billy Ward
10. LUCINDA - Billy Ward
11. SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES - Eugene Mumford
12. YOURS FOREVER - Eugene Mumford
PAGAN LOVE SONG - 1959 (The Orchestra & Chorus of Billy Ward)
13. PAGAN LOVE SONG - Jack Halloran Singers
14. MOONLIGHT AND SHADOWS - Eddie Herring
15. TRADE WINDS - Jack Halloran Singers
16. I'LL WEAVE A LEI OF STARS - Milton Merle
17. BIRD OF PARADISE - Billy Ward & Jack Halloran Singers
18. HURRICANE - Jack Halloran Singers
19. A LEI, A CANDLE AND A PRAYER - Jack Halloran Singers
20. BLUE HAWAII - Jack Halloran Singers
21. BEHAVE, HULA GIRL - Jack Halloran Singers
22. MAGIC ISLAND - Monroe Powell
23. HAWAIIAN WEDDING SONG- Jack Halloran Singers
24. ALOHA OE - Jack Halloran Singers
LIBERTY SINGLES
25. MY PROUDEST POSSESSION - Eugene Mumford
26. SOLITUDE - Eugene Mumford
27. (You Grow) SWEETER AS THE YEARS GO BY - Billy Ward
28. JENNIE LEE - Milton Merle

Billy Ward and His (or 'The' depending on the time frame) Dominoes were one of the greatest vocal groups in R&B. On this 2CD set Jasmine presents three albums in chronological order plus a selection of non LP 45s. Filled to the gunnels with great R&B tunes with lead vocals from many great singers including two of the greats, Jackie Wilson and Eugene Mumford.

Hits include: 'St Therese of the Roses'; 'Deep Purple'; 'Jennie Lee' and of course 'Stardust'.

Much of this later period Dominoes material has never been on CD before until this release. (Jasmine notes)

A big thank you to Mijas @ACM2 blog for original link.

JennyD said...

Oh boy, this is spectacular! Thank you so much for such great work on THREE discs! Billy Ward really takes me back to the old beach days and shag dancing all night long. Sigh. Wonderful days those were, and now I can close my eyes and listen to these and be right back there in my imagination, and all thanks to you :D

joanofark06 said...

The links are dead. Anyway to re-up?

File has expired and does not exist anymore on this server

boppinbob said...

Hello Joanofark06, Here's a new link for Stardust - The Final Years

www.filefactory.com/file/3bj2uqq0ikpl/jascd%20%20Billy%20WARD%20%26%20HIS%20DOMINOES%20-%20Stardust%20-%20The%20Final%20Years.rar

I am searching for the Very Best album and will post if found. Regards, Bob

joanofark06 said...

Ok, thanks for that "working" link. Very much appreciated. I just found “The Very Best of Billy Ward and the Dominoes” and am torrenting it, so if your interested, write me? I've been collecting and archiving music for most of my life (over 30+ years), as it's been pretty much of a life long hobby for me, and a love of mine. I have so much, it's hard to keep it all cataloged/organized and have to stop it from running off sometimes, lol. I'm joanofark06 at gmail!

joanofark06 said...

I have the Very Best album now. It's in Flac, but I can easily convert it into MP3 format if needed.

Lisa Shanklin said...

Thank you for this blog Billy Ward was my father .

Unknown said...

Hi Lisa,
My name is Rachel. Your father was my father's uncle and my great uncle. His brother Charles was my dad's father. Can you message me at ray6carter@aol.com? I would love to speak with you.

Lisa Shanklin said...

Yes I will email you about my dad . Billy Ward