Walter Ward born 28 August 1940

Walter Ward (August 28, 1940 – December 11, 2006) was an American R&B singer, and lead vocalist of The Olympics. 

Ward was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and began singing professionally as a child with his father and three uncles, in a gospel group known as 'The Ward Brothers'. Ward's family moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s. In 1954, when he was attending Centinela High School in Compton, California, Ward and his cousin Eddie Lewis formed a group known as 'The Challengers'. After winning a number of talent shows, Ward and Lewis were approached by another singing duo who asked to join their group. The new quartet became The Olympics. The group also included Charles Fizer (tenor), Walter Hammond (baritone), and Melvin King (bass). 

Their first record was credited to Walter Ward and the Challengers ("I Can Tell" on Melatone Records). After the name change, they recorded "Western Movies" (Demon Records) in the summer of 1958. Co-written by Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith, "Western Movies" made it to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song reflected the nation's preoccupation with western themed movies and television programs. It told the story of a man who lost his girl to TV westerns, and it included doo-wop harmonies as well as background gunshots and ricochet sound effects. 

                                   

In 1959, the group recorded "(Baby) Hully Gully" (Arvee Records), which initiated the Hully Gully dance craze. "Big Boy Pete," which the group released in 1960, served as inspiration for The Kingsmen's "The Jolly Green Giant". Over the next ten years The Olympics recorded upbeat R&B songs, often about dances popular at the time. 

In 1965, The Olympics were one of the first to record "Good Lovin'", penned by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick. That same year Fizer was shot and killed during the Watts riots in 1965. Shortly thereafter, King left the group after his sister died in an accidental shooting. In 1966, the Olympics signed with Mirwood, the label run by ex-Vee-Jay executive Randy Wood (and not the Randy Wood from Dot Records). They recorded two hits: "(Baby) Do the Philly Dog" and the gospel-drenched East-side soul single "Mine Exclusively," which inched into Billboard's Hot 100 chart, reaching number 99 in May 1966. 

Sensing a resurgence of interest in the group, Wood decided to put out an album by the Olympics, but since he had only two minor hits, he opted to have them re-record their old hits from Demon, Arvee, and Tri- Disc for an album called Something Old, Something New. (These re-recorded versions have often been included in a vast majority of the reissues and various artist albums where the Olympics appear, much to the annoyance of collectors.) Revamped versions of the group, which continued to include Ward and his cousin, failed to match earlier successes, but the Olympics found an enduring home on the oldies circuit in the US and overseas. They continued to release singles until 1973. 

Walter Ward's song "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (the B-side to "Western Movies") was recorded twice by John Lennon in 1971: the February 1971 studio recording was not issued until the 1998 John Lennon Anthology, then again on Wonsaponatime. A June 1971 live recording with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention was issued on 1972's Some Time in New York City, and on Zappa's 1992's Playground Psychotics. 

Ward's last performance with The Olympics was on November 12, 2006, at a Doo-Wop Spectacular on Long Island, New York. He died in Northridge, California in December 2006, at the age of 66 after a long illness. Eddie Lewis, tenor singer and last original member of the Olympics, died on May 31, 2017. Current members of The Olympics are Vel Omarr, Alphonso Boyd, and Samuel E. Caesar. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Rocky 52, with some photos from Marv Goldberg)