Willie Winfield born 24 August 1929

Willie Winfield (24 August 1929 - July 27, 2021) was the lead vocalist with the 1950s doo-wop group the Harptones. 

Willie Lee Elijah Winfield was born on August 24, 1929 in Surry, Virginia. He sang in a church group in Norfolk and with his brothers Clyde and Jimmy. After moving to New York in 1950, he and his brothers sang with two other men on street corners and practiced under the Manhattan Bridge. 

The Harptones were formed in New York City's Harlem district. Its members came from several other local vocal groups, none of which had any success. Originally called The Harps, the group consisted of Raoul J. Cita, Willie Winfield, William Dempsey James, Clyde Winfield, William "Dicey" Galloway and Curtis Chrebin. In November of 1953 the group performed at the world-famous Apollo Theatre on its Amateur Night and took first prize, singing an old Louis Prima number called "A Sunday Kind of Love".

A scout for MGM Records was at the show, liked their performance and asked the group to audition for him at his office. When they showed up at the office, however, they found that it hadn't opened yet. While waiting in the hall they began singing together, and were heard by a team of music producers in a nearby office. They grabbed the group and took them to a nearby rehearsal studio to their partner, a man named Monte Bruce. Bruce was so impressed with the group that he decided to sign them to a contract and form his own label for them, Bruce Records. Their first record for Bruce also turned out to be their biggest: "A Sunday Kind of Love". Before the record was released the group had to change its name from The Harps to The Harptones, in order to avoid confusion with a gospel group called The Harps of Music. 

The record was a hit and resulted in the group touring major East Coast cities, such as New York, Baltimore and Washington. They recorded several follow-up records that sold well on the East Coast, but Bruce Records was still only a small company and couldn't get the national distribution the group needed to become really well known. IN 1955 the label went bankrupt, and the group was signed by Old Town Records, which in turn placed the group on its subsidiary, Paradise Records. 

                              

For that label they recorded "Life Is But a Dream". The record hit #4 on the New York charts. After touring with pioneering rock DJ Alan Freed, the group left Old Town Records and signed with Andrea Records. After recording one record with that label the group left and signed with veteran producer George Goldner, who put them on his Rama label. They continued appearing in Freed's rock shows and even put in an appearance in a rock film, Rockin' the Blues (1956). Although they continued to record, they went through several personnel changes and their records didn't perform as well as they and their label wanted. In 1959 the group disbanded. 

In 1959 one of their old producers, Morty Craft, began a new label--Warwick Records--and persuaded the group to re-form and sign with him. However, after two years the group left Warwick for Coed Records. Their stay at Coed was distinguished by their recording of "What Will I Tell My Heart", which reached #96 on the national Top 100 charts--their only song to do so. They soon left Coed for Cub Records, a subsidiary of MGM Records (the label that originally wanted to sign them). After Cub they signed with a newly formed label, KT Records. In 1964 they renamed themselves The Soothers and without Wiullie Winfield released their version of the old Johnnie Ray weeper "The Little White Cloud That Cried". Releasd on the small Port Records label, it was not successful, and the group disbanded. Winfield began delivering prayer cards to funeral homes. 

In 1969 the group's manager received a call from a producer who wanted to know if the group would be interested in re-forming. They were, and began appearing at rock revival shows and their own concerts. The group, although often with personnel changes, continued to perform and record. In 1992 they were inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1999 they performed on the PBS "oldies" special Doo Wop 50 (1999). 

Winfield toured with various incarnations of the Harptones until he retired in 2019 at the age of 89. On Winfield’s last appearance, at a doo-wop weekend in April 2019 at Half Hollow Hills East High School in Dix Hills, NY, he ended his career with another signature ballad, “Life Is But a Dream.” He sat on a stool until the end of the song and after the group sang “Will you part in” he stood up, leaned on his cane and finished the line and song in his familiar tenor – “my life… mine Love? This is my dream.” And he hit the high notes. 

Willie Winfield died from a heart attack on July 27^th 2021 in a Brooklyn hospital. He was 91.

(Edited mainly from IMDb, Daily ZBusiness Press & various sources)