Jimmy Ricks born 6 August 1924

Jimmy Ricks (6 August 1924 – 2 September 1974) was an American Rhythm & Blues and Jazz singer. Though a deep bass singer, Ricks was a co-founder and vocal lead of the R&B group The Ravens. 

Jimmy "Ricky" Ricks was born in Adrian, Georgia, later moving to Jacksonville, Florida. During World War II, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a waiter in Harlem and met Warren "Birdland" Suttles, from Fairfield, Alabama. In early 1946, they decided to form a vocal group and recruited Leonard "Zeke" Puzey, who had recently won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater, and Ollie Jones. They found a manager, Ben Bart, and an accompanist, Howard Biggs, and made their first recordings for Bart's small Hub record label. They called themselves the Ravens, and so initiated the trend for vocal groups to name themselves after birds—groups who later followed included the Orioles, the Crows, the Larks, the Robins and the Penguins. 

Although the group were strongly influenced by the Ink Spots, the Delta Rhythm Boys and the Mills Brothers, they used Ricks' bass voice, rather than a more conventional tenor, as the lead on many of their recordings, and this became their trademark style. Their material was also more varied, including elements of pop, jazz, R&B, and gospel styles. After their initial single, "Honey", Jones left the group and was replaced by Maithe Marshall. The contrast between Ricks' bass voice and Marshall's tenor became integral to their success. 

In 1947 the Ravens left the Hub label to join National Records, and had immediate hits on what was called at the time the "race records" chart with a version of "Ol' Man River" (from the musical Show Boat) and "Write Me A Letter", which rose to no. 5 on the "race" chart and crossed over to the pop chart. Their run of successes on what came to be known as the R&B chart continued through to early 1950, with the basic line-up of Ricks, Suttles, Puzey, and Marshall essentially remaining together for several years. Their version of "Count Every Star" (1950) was later used in the film Revolutionary Road. 

                                    

The Ravens primarily existed to showcase bass singer Ricks; in this they were successful, such that Ricks' voice became the standard against which every rhythm and blues bass was measured for the next generation. Although the group had relatively few chart hits, they were popular in concert, commanding a fee of $2,000 a night. The group recorded for Columbia Records and its subsidiary OKeh in 1950, before moving to the Mercury label. In 1951 Marshall and Puzey both left; Joe Van Loan became a long-term replacement for Marshall as lead tenor, and there were various other shorter-term group members. The group had its final hit on the R&B chart in late 1952, when "Rock Me All Night Long" rose to no. 4, the highest position the group reached in their career. 

In 1953 they moved to the Jubilee label, but with the rise of rock and roll their style became increasingly unfashionable. After several earlier breaks from the group, Suttles left for the final time in 1954. Ricks left for a solo career in 1956. After his departure, the group was led by Joe Van Loan, who at one point brought his brothers Paul and James into the group; however, the group finally disbanded in 1958. 

Ricks recorded as a solo singer without notable success for a number of labels, including Atlantic where he also recorded with LaVern Baker and Little Esther. In 1971, he and Suttles temporarily revived the Ravens, with additional members Gregory Carroll and Jimmy Breedlove. In the early 70’s Ricks had begun a comeback as a singer with The Count Basie Orchestra, but this was short-lived as he died July 2, 1974 in Albany, New York.  There are a few existing recordings, that were supposed to be released on Norman Grantz' Pablo label in December 1998, but apparently the CD never materialized. 

Suttles, Puzey and Marshall also appeared together, with Evans, as the Ravens in 1974. Another reunion was held by the United in Group Harmony Association (UGHA) in 1987. This reunion once again featured Suttles, Puzey, and Marshall as well as Jones. As both Ricks and Evans had passed away by this point (in 1974 and 1984 respectively), lead on "Without A Song" was done by Suttles. 

The Ravens were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2006, Suttles accepted the Harlem Jazz & Music Festival 2006 Rhythm & Blues award on the group's behalf. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Marv Goldberg) 

Here's some rare footage of The Ravens singing on a Television broadcast from 1949. The Ravens first recorded "My Sugar Is So Refined" for HUB Records in 1946 and then again in 1949 (the year of this video). The Ravens were Left To Right: Richie Cannon – Baritone, Maithe Marshall - 2nd Tenor, Jimmy Ricks – Bass, Leonard Puzey – Lead, Howard Biggs is at the Piano.

Joe Van Loan born 6 December 1927

Joe Van Loan (6 Dec 1922 - 15 Dec 1976) American vocalist and bandleader. 

Joseph Harold Van Load possessed one of the most remarkable high tenor voices in the history of R&B. When Joe was discharged from the United States Navy in 1946, he formed a group called the Canaanites. They recorded both gospel and secular sides for the Gotham label. In mid-1949, the Canaanites changed their name to the Bachelors and recorded secular music in self-produced sessions. Demos in hand, Joe went around to record companies to try and interest them in the product. The only company that purchased any of the masters was Mercury, although some of their output was later released as by the "Joe Van Loan Quartet" on the tiny Carver label of Newark (part of World-Wide Records). 

Joe then joined a group called the Songmasters, who were managed by Jimmy Gorham of the Selah Jubilee Singers. A sometime member of the group was Mary Hayes, who was also managed by Gorham. Once again, the sides were independently recorded, but this time, Joe couldn't get any of them released. In 1950, he turned up on "Joog, Joog" by Duke Ellington. Most of the vocal is done by Lu Elliott, with an unidentified group in the background. However, on the second bridge, the vocal is taken by Van Loan. Also that same year, he recorded one known song, as the vocalist with the Elmer Snowden Quartet. This was an instrumental unit fronted by jazz banjoist Snowden. As with so many of Van Loan's other tracks, this one was also unreleased. 

In 1952 he joined the influential rhythm and blues group, The Ravens who were formed in the Harlem District of New York City in 1946. One of the pioneering post-World War II Rhythm and Blues groups, and the earliest named for birds, they had such hits as, "Darktown Strutters' Ball", "Green Eyes", and "Rock Me All Night."  In 1952, while still a member of the Ravens, Joe joined Warren Suttles' Dreamers for a single session backing Wini Brown. As "Her Boyfriends", they recorded "Be Anything - Be Mine" and "Heaven Knows Why" (see Warren Suttles and the Dreamers). Joe later backed her again with an unknown group of "Boyfriends". On June 9, 1952, the Dreamers backed up bandleader Arnett Cobb on a pair of sides. Once again, Joe Van Loan is present on these. 

In mid-1954, Joe got together with some friends of his and cut a record. These "friends" just happened to be three-quarters of the Du. They cut a single record under the name "Dixieaires", a name used by J.C. Ginyard for many groups he was with over the years. Joe's lead on "Traveling All Alone" makes it one of his finest numbers. Since this Dixieaires group was more or less the Du Droppers, Joe decided to make it more or less official, appearing with that group, starting in late August 1954, as a fifth member. However, since Harvey Ray left a few weeks later, they were down to a quartet again. There are photos of the Du Droppers with Joe, but no recordings. 

                              

Since Joe was still with the Ravens, and since the Ravens had recently signed with Jubilee, nobody wanted to get into a contract dispute. In fact, when the Du Droppers recorded again (in April 1955), there were witnesses present to swear that the new "secret lead" was not Joe Van Loan. (In fact it wasn't; it was "Carnation Charlie" Hughes, right before he joined the Drifters.) Around September 1956, to keep the Ravens going, Joe brought in his two brothers, Paul Van Loan (tenor) and James Van Loan (former baritone/second tenor of the Dominoes for three years).  Joe Van Loan would remain with the Ravens until they disbanded at the end of 1958. 

There's an ad from July 1958 advertising Joe Van Loan, "formerly of the Ravens" making an appearance at the "T" Bar in Milmont Park, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1958, Joe recorded "Forever" and "Give Me Your Heart" for Philadelphia's new V-Tone label, backed by the Parliaments. 

                                     David McNeil, Curtis McNair, Joe Van Load                                                Charlie Fuqua

In 1959, Joe Van Loan, Willie Ray, Orville Brooks, and Dave Bowers formed the Buccaneers, who toured extensively, but made no recordings. They changed their name to the Valiants and recorded "Let Me Go Lover"/"Let Me Ride", released in September 1959, on the Joy label. Joe released a few singles up to the mid 60’s on the Parkway, Ford  and Sudaja labels. He spent his last years singing with Charlie Fuqua’s & Ray Richardson's Ink Spots. He died in December 1976 at the age of only 54 and was buried in Beverly National Cemetery. 

(Edited from Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks)