The Platters

The Platters
A famous rock and roll group namely, The Platters with their unique music, was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition, and the escalating new genre. The act went through many personnel changes, with the most unbeaten personification which included lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor.

The Platters formed in Los Angeles in 1953 and originally were managed by Ralph Bass. With their contract with Federal Records, they earned modest success before meeting music entrepreneur and songwriter Buck Ram. Ram added new members to the group, conspicuously the addition of lead vocalist Tony Williams and female vocalist Zola Taylor. Under Ram's supervision, the Platters recorded seven singles for Federal in the R&B/gospel style, scoring a few minor regional hits on the West Coast. One song recorded during their Federal tenure, Only You (And You Alone), also written by Ram for the Ink Spots was considered un-releasable by the label.

With their success deficiency albeit, the Platters were a profitable touring group--successful enough that The Penguins, with their #2 Earth Angel single, asked Ram to manage them as well. With the Penguins in hand, Ram was able to negotiate a 2-for-1 deal with the Mercury Records. In order to sign the Penguins, Ram insisted, Mercury also had to take the Platters. Paradoxically, the Penguins would never have a hit for the label.

Convinced by his business partner Jean Bennett and Tony Williams that Only You had potential, Ram had the Platters re-record the song during their first session for Mercury. It got released in the summer of 1955 and became the group's first Top Ten hit on the pop charts, and remained the no#1 in the R&B charts for seven weeks. Following that, The Great Pretender, with lyrics written in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, doubled their success of their debut album. It earned the status of being Platters' first national #1 hit. The Great Pretender was also the act's biggest R&B hit, with a consecutive eleven-week that topped the charts. In 1956, The Platters made an appearance in the first major motion picture based around rock and roll, Rock Around the Clock, and performed both Only You and The Great Pretender.

The group's lineup has modified several times. The original lineup in 1953 included lead vocalist Cornell Gunter, Herb Reed, Alex Hodge, Joe Jefferson, and David Lynch. After, hiring Ram, this lineup, who introduced the band with Tony Williams' voice and his ability to bring life to Ram's songs. In a year, Hodge, Jefferson, and Gunter were replaced by Paul Robi, Zola Taylor, and new lead Tony Williams were in. This lineup lasted until 1960. At that point Williams left for a solo career, and was replaced by Sonny Turner. Mercury refused to issue further Platters releases without Williams on lead vocals, provoking a lawsuit between the label and manager Ram. The label spent two years releasing old Williams-era material until the group's contract elapsed.

Apart from all this, the group faced many legal challenges. Monroe Powell was sued by Jean Bennett, and his group must now include his name in billing.

Soon before Paul Robi passed away because of pancreatic cancer on February 1, 1989, he won a long court battle against Ram's estate and was awarded compensation and exclusive rights to the Platters name. In turn, those rights were later stripped from Robi's widow in 1997, and the exclusive right to tour as The Platters was awarded to Herb Reed. In 2002, Herb Reed's exclusive trademark rights were legally annulled. A member of the 1954-69 lineup, his group still tours as Herb Reed's Platters. In 2007, he discussed the abundance of touring Platters groups: I have to laugh because when you ask me how I feel about it, I'm irate, I'm infuriated... I've lost 25 weeks of work a year.

In January 2006, Jean Bennett, owner of Five Platters Inc., and Personality Productions since 1966, made a deal to sell all of her Platters-related assets and intellectual property rights to the Las Vegas-based company G.E.M. Group, Inc. There was immediate contention between G.E.M. and Bennett, which consequently, led to a lawsuit. In June 2006, G.E.M. Group entered into an agreement with Sonny Turner, former lead singer of The Platters, to be licensed as another of the official Platters groups. Turner, who had been unable to bill himself as Sonny Turner of The Platters since 1972 due to a legal sanction, became the head of ?The Platters', also having the famous Sonny Turner. He performs internationally under the management of G.E.M.