Deek Watson born 18 July 1909

Deek Watson (July 18, 1909 - November 4, 1969) was a tenor, baritone, and sometimes "talking bass" singer, guitar and tipple player, composer, and actor. He was an original member of The Ink Spots. He was their designated lead singer for uptempo, jive songs. He left The Ink Spots in late 1944 and formed his new vocal group, The Brown Dots.

Ivory “Deek” Watson was born in Mounds, Illinois. In his late teens he started out as a member of a coffee pot band called the "Percolating Puppies" that played on the street corners of Indianapolis about 1928. After some time on his own he became a member of the "Four Riff Brothers" about late 1932. This group performed around Indianapolis and later did more than 60 radio shows over WLW in Cincinnati. In Cleveland, he met Jerry and Charlie and they formed a trio in the fall of 1933 which became better known as the "King, Jack and Jester." This group moved to Cincinnati about the end of 1933 and began regular broadcasts over WLW and WSAI during which they performed in about 200 fifteen minute shows. 

Four Ink Spots

In July 1934, they accepted a booking at the Apollo Theater, New York, supporting jazz bandleader Tiny Bradshaw. At this point they had changed their name to "The 4 Ink Spots". Later that year, the Ink Spots achieved international success touring the UK with Jack Hylton's Orchestra. The group became the Ink Spots when they relocated to New York City. After Herb Kenny replaced original member Daniels, the group began a slow evolution toward its distinctive sound. The Ink Spots laid the groundwork for countless doo-wop and rhythm-and-blues vocal groups. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. 

The Ink Spots

After many fall outs with tenor Bill Kenny over the leadership of the group, Deek Watson left to form The Brown Dots in 1944. He immediately put together a competing Ink Spots group consisting of lead tenor Joe King, bass Jimmy Gordon, and an unknown baritone. By late January 1945, a lawsuit brought by the Ink Spots caused Deek Watson to claim that he would form a new group based on a "completely new idea". This new idea was simply to change their name to the Brown Dots and to sound as much like the Ink Spots as possible (although the Brown Dots employed more extensive harmonies). 

                                    

By March 1945, they were recording for Newark (New Jersey)-based Manor records. At their first session, they recorded four songs, including "Sentimental Reasons" (written by Pat Best and led by Joe King). This song would become more popular through the years as "For Sentimental Reasons" or "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons".  In October 1946, they starred in the movie Boy! What A Girl! (in which they sang “Satchelmouth Baby” and “Just In Case You Change Your Mind”; the movie also featured the Slam Stewart Trio, Al Jackson, Warren Patterson, and Tim Moore [as the “girl” of the title]). They also appeared in Sepia Cinderella that same year (doing “Long Legged Lizzie” and “Is It Right?”). Deek mugged his way through both movies, and even had a speaking part in Sepia Cinderella. 

The Brown Dots

By late 1946, Watson and the rest of the Brown Dots weren't getting along. Rather than break up the group, Nabbie, Best, and Gordon recruited tenor Danny Owens. Originally calling themselves the Sentimentalists, they began recording for Manor behind Deek's back (just to see if they could make it on their own). When Deek finally found out, he left them and formed another Brown Dots group. They recorded for Castle as “Deek Watson and the 4 Dots” in 1948 . They then became the “Brown Dots” and cut sides for Majestic (1948), Manor (1949), and Varsity (1949). 

After Charlie Fuqua left Bill Kenny’s Ink Spots in August of 1952, he formed his own Ink Spots group and recruited Deek Watson, Jimmy Holmes and Harold Jackson. Deek only lasted as a member of this group until early 1953. he organized a new Ink Spots group that recorded for the Grand Award label in 1955. For the 3rd and last Grand Award album, Deek had an entirely different group with Ollie Crawford, Gene Miller and Henry Baxter. Many of the songs on the Grand Award records have been reissued on Colortone, Waldorf, Audition labels and possibly other labels although new songs by the same groups appear on some of these other labels. 

Once again, Deek was dropped by this group. As happened when he was a member of the original Ink Spots, Deek got in trouble rolling his eyes and acting in what many thought was a demeaning manner. He went on to form other groups, one of which recorded for the Coronet label and other poor quality, budget label records were made.

Later (about the mid-1960s), Deek had another group that saw the return of original Ink Spot Charlie Fuqua along with Lloyd Washington and George Holmes that did go on tour - including appearances in Australia. Deek's last known Ink Spots group included Lloyd Washington, Dodge Bolt and Gene Mumford about 1967. Deek’s died from complications of a stroke on November 4, 1969 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

(Edited from Wikipedia, Unca Marvy’s R&B Pages & Britanica)