Lowman Pauling born 14 July 1926

Lowman Pauling, born Lowman Pete Pauling, Jr. (14 July 1926 – 26 December 1973) was one of the founder members and guitarist of the rhythm and blues vocal group the 5 Royales from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. They combined gospel, jump blues and doo-wop, marking an early and influential step in the evolution of rock and roll. 

Musician and songwriter Lowman “Pete” Pauling was born and lived in Winston-Salem during his early childhood. Lowman and his younger brother, Clarence, moved to West Virginia, where their father worked as a coal miner, after his parents’ divorce. During their teenage years, the Pauling brothers moved back to Winston-Salem to live with their mother, Arsula. Back in Winston-Salem, Lowman and Clarence formed a gospel group with family and friends. This act – the Royal Sons Quintet –played on local radio stations WSJS, WAIR, and WAAA on Sunday mornings. 

The group began recording for Apollo Records in the early 1950s, changing its name to the Royals after abandoning gospel for secular music. Clarence Pauling later shortened his name to "Clarence Paul". He left the group to become involved with Motown as a producer. Other members included the vocalists Jimmy Moore, Obadiah Carter, and Otto Jeffries, with Johnny Tanner singing lead. 

Tanner's younger brother, Eugene, later replaced Jeffries. The robust Johnny Tanner sang lead on most of the group's hits, including "Think," but the sweeter-voiced Eugene Tanner stepped to the microphone for the group's best-known song, "Dedicated to the One I Love." "Baby Don't Do It" and "Help Me Somebody" became hits in 1953, and the group soon signed with King Records. In addition to heartfelt odes Pauling also wrote comic and risque tunes, including "Monkey Hips and Rice". 

Pauling used an extra-long strap for his guitar, sometimes playing it down around his knees for comic effect. The group shared stages with all the major R&B artists of the 1950s, including Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, once substituting for the latter's Raelettes at a show in Durham, North Carolina. 

Confusion arose when two groups of Royals began touring, the other led by the Detroit R&B star Hank Ballard. According to members of the "5" Royales, the confusion peaked in 1953 when an unscrupulous promoter booked Ballard's group in Winston-Salem, trying to pass the Detroit band off as the hometown group with the same name, much to the chagrin of a local audience. Shortly thereafter, the air cleared when Winston-Salem's Royals became the "5" Royales by adding an “e” in their name. Detroit's Royals became The Midnighters. (The "5" was in scare quotes because there were actually six members at the time.) Both groups had hits at King working with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame producer Ralph Bass, becoming good friends and routinely competing in battles of the bands at clubs like the Royal Peacock, in the Sweet Auburn section of Atlanta. 

                              

With King, "Think" and "Tears of Joy" became hits for the "5" Royales in 1957. Some of their lesser-known tracks from this period are now critically acclaimed as innovative. Their later sides, however, are their best, as Pauling became much more assertive on the guitar, dashing off some piercing and fluid solos. Some of these solos are among the heaviest and wildest in '50s rock, on both relatively well-known cuts like "Think," and virtually unknown numbers like "The Slummer the Slum." 

Rock critic Dave Marsh chose the 1958 "5" Royales hit "The Slummer the Slum" as one of the top 1001 singles of all time in his book The Heart of Rock and Soul, crediting Pauling with capturing the first intentional use of guitar feedback on record, years before better-known squawks from The Beatles, The Yardbirds, and The Velvet Underground. In the 1960s, R&B gradually gave way to more polished soul music and the Royales' career waned rapidly. The band still recorded, including for Memphis label Home Of The Blues as well as Vee-Jay, ABC-Paramount, Smash Records and the Todd label. 

The "5" Royales broke up in 1965, though various combinations of musicians toured under the group's name into the 1970s. For a time Pauling continued recording with the pianist and frequent Royales collaborator Royal Abbitt as El Pauling and the Royalton. Pauling's brother, Clarence Paul, a former member of the Royal Sons Quintet, found success as a producer and songwriter at Motown Records in the 1960s. 

After years of struggle with alcohol dependency, Lowman Pauling ended up working as a night watchman at a Manhattan church and died of an apparent seizure on December 26, 1973.He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Winston-Salem, as were his brother Clarence, who is buried next to him, and his band mates Otto Jeffries (1912–1975) and Obadiah Carter (1925–1994). Health problems forced Eugene Tanner (1936–1994) to take disability benefits in the years before his death on December 29, 1994. His brother Johnny Tanner (1924–2005) died of cancer. Jimmy Moore (1926–2008), was the last surviving member of The "5" Royales.  

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)