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Groupe Doo Wop US
originaire de Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie), les Silhouettes étaient composées de
Bill Horton puis John "Bootsie' Wilson, Earl Beal, Richard "Rick" Lewis et Raymond Edwards
puis Cornelius Brown.
To most
listeners, the Silhouettes are another one of rock & roll's one-hit wonders,
another of those R&B harmony vocal groups that scored big once (with "Get a
Job") and never repeated that trip up the charts. And that is true -- they never
scored a second nationally charting single. But they did carry on a lot longer
than most people think, continuing to perform and even record right to the end
of the 1960s, with at least two of the group's four original members present at
any time. Additionally, the impact of "Get a Job," a song that was written by
group member Rick Lewis (and credited to all four Silhouettes), is astonishing
to contemplate as a popular culture flash point. It became, for many listeners,
the quintessential doo wop song -- or, at least, one of a handful of songs
thought of automatically when the musical term is mentioned (although some
purists also loathed the song for its seeming burlesque of doo wop's attributes).
More than that, it inspired good work and imitation in others; the Miracles were
one of several groups that delivered "answer songs" to "Get a Job." In this
case, their debut single "Got a Job" took up a positive message in contrast to "Get
a Job"'s whiny tone. That positive message, in turn, helped to define and
distinguish the Miracles and Motown Records from most of their competition for
years to come. Some 11 years after that, in the midst of the Vietnam War and the
Woodstock era, a group of young enthusiasts for old-time rock & roll, looking
for a name to call their outfit, went back to an old song, "Get a Job," and its
backing chorus, and ended up called themselves "Sha
Na Na."
The Silhouettes' history went back five years earlier than "Get a Job," to the
early '50s, when Earl Beal (born July 18, 1924) and Raymond Edwards (born
September 22, 1922) formed a gospel group called the Balladeers, who performed
in the Philadelphia area and recorded a pair of singles in 1954. That same year, Bill
Horton (born December 25, 1929; died December 23, 1995) joined as lead singer,
replacing original Balladeer member Clarence Basil, and a little later the group
changed their name to the Gospel Tornadoes. More personnel changes followed, and
in 1956, Rick Lewis (born September 23, 1933) joined. Lewis had not only sung
with different gospel outfits since the early '50s, but had started writing
songs while he served in the U.S. Army. The group was popular but was barely
making any kind of a living at all performing gospel, and it was in those
circumstances that Lewis convinced them to give rock & roll a try.
The Gospel Tornadoes became the Thunderbirds. They tried without success to get
a record out until they crossed paths with disc jockey Kae Williams, who was
trying to start up a label of his own in Philadelphia and liked what he heard
one night at a club where they were performing. The group was signed to his
Junior Records label and cut its first single in the fall of 1957 -- the
intended A-side was the original ballad "I Am Lonely," backed with an upbeat
tune that Lewis had written after getting out of the army entitled "Get a Job."
Just as they were preparing to cut the record, they also learned of another
outfit called the Thunderbirds, that had a prior claim on the name -- in
response, at the suggestion of Beal, they changed their name once again,
borrowing the title of a 1957 hit by the group the Rays, called "Silhouettes."
"I Am Lonely" b/w "Get a Job" came out on Junior Records in November of 1957.
The song was picked up by Dick Clark for play, as an almost certain hit, on
American Bandstand that same month, but with a caveat -- Junior Records was a
tiny local label, and if the record broke on American Bandstand and got any kind
of response, Williams was going to be in over his head fulfilling orders. He
made a licensing deal with Al Silver's Herald-Ember Records, a much larger New
York-based independent, with access to more working capital and plants with more
pressing capacity. It proved a wise move. "Get a Job" was hard to resist, with
strong singing, a great beat, and an array of a half-dozen memorable hooks (starting
with the "yip-yip-yip" opening), and even a memorable tenor sax break by Ronnie
McGill. The group and the record were featured on Bandstand more than once from
late 1957 until mid-1958, and there were 200,000 orders for the single after its
first play on the show. It eventually topped both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts
in Billboard magazine, only the third doo wop single to reach number one in the
pop listings.
The Silhouettes' second single, "Headin' for the Poorhouse" b/w "Miss Thing,"
was far less successful, although it did generate some airplay in early 1958 --
both songs tried to recreate some aspect of "Get a Job"'s hooks and sound, to no
avail. A third single, "Bing Bong," failed to chart nationally despite selling
well in New York and Philadelphia (which, together, comprised a big chunk of the
whole U.S. market), and its failure prompted Williams to end his licensing deal
with Ember. The next two singles were issued nationally by Ace Records, and both
sold respectably without ever charting nationally. The Silhouettes ceased
recording after 1958, because of their unhappiness with Williams' decisions as
their producer, and the fact that, according to subsequent interviews, the group
saw precious little money for their having had a number one record.
By the end of 1961, Horton and Edwards had left the group, while Lewis and Beal soldiered
on with two new members, John "Bootsie" Williams on lead vocals and Cornelius "Brother"
Brown as bass. Things began looking up when the reconstituted Silhouettes were
signed by producer Jerry Ragovoy, who got three modestly successful records out
from them. By 1963, they were back with Williams, who tried to repeat the "Get a
Job" formula and sound with "Rent Man." It failed to chart, although it did sell
locally when released through Junior Records. By 1966, the group, revamped yet
again, was being billed as the New Silhouettes. In 1968, the first album ever
issued of Silhouettes material, The Original and New Silhouettes '58/'68 Get a
Job, showed up on the Goodway label -- it was made up of classic Silhouettes material
and new songs cut by the current lineup.
Ironically, the group called it quits at just the time when Sha
Na Na became favorites of the rock & roll revival boom, using a name derived
from the Silhouettes' signature song. The Silhouettes weren't even around to
cash in on those revival shows, or the "oldies circuit" that grew up in its
wake. It wasn't until the 1980s that the original Silhouettes got back together,
initially as a one-off event at the behest of disc jockey Norm N. Nite. The
response was so overwhelming that they continued working together, partly for
the fun of it, but also to reclaim their legacy. The Silhouettes hadn't known
much about the business of music when they'd started out recording together, but
they'd learned a lot over the years, and in the mid-'80s, as the copyright
renewal date for "Get a Job" approached, they reclaimed ownership of that song
and, subsequently, everything else they'd written. The original four members
kept working together until Horton's death in 1995. The Silhouettes remain among
the most loved and respected of R&B harmony groups of the 1950s.
https://www.thesilhouettes.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silhouettes
Talents : Bill Horton : Lead (1956-61, 1980-93) then John Wilson : Lead (1961-1968) - Earl Beal : Baritone (1956-68, 1980-93) - Richard "Rick" Lewis : Tenor (1956-68, 1980-93) - Raymond Edwards : Bass (1956-61, 1980-93) , then Cornelius Brown : Bass (1961-1968)
Style musical : Doo Wop, Rhythm 'n' Blues
Get A Job
(1957)
Headin' For The Poorhouse
(1958)
Miss Thing
(1958)
Bing Bong
(1958)
Wish I Could Be There
(1962)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
78 t. & Singles
| 1957 | 78 t. JUNIOR 391 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 1957 | SP JUNIOR 45-391 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 12/1957 | 78 t. & SP EMBER E-1029 (US) | . |
Get A Job
|
| 03/1958 | 78 t. & SP EMBER E-1032 (US) | . | |
| 08/1958 | 78 t. & SP EMBER E-1037 (US) | . |
Bing Bong
|
| 09/1958 | SP JUNIOR 396 (US) | . |
I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / What Would You Do |
| 09/1958 | SP ACE 552 (US) | . | I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / What Would You Do |
| 1959 | SP JUNIOR 400 (US) | . |
Evelyn / Never Will Part |
| 05/1959 | SP ACE 563 (US) | . | Bill HORTON & The SILHOUETTES - Evelyn / Never Will Part |
| 1960 | SP 20th Fox 240 (US) | . |
Never / Bull Frog |
| 1961 | SP EMBER E-1029 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 1962 | SP GRAND 142 (US) | . |
Wish I Could Be There
|
| 12/1962 | SP IMPERIAL X5899 (US) | . |
The Push / Which Way Did She Go |
| 1963 | SP JUNIOR 993 (US) | . |
Your Love (Is All I Need) / Rent Man |
| 1964 | SP LANA 108 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 07/1965 | SP FLASHBACK 13 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 1967 | SP JAMIE 1333 (US) | . |
Climb Every Mountain / We Belong Together |
| 1968 | SP GOODWAY 101 (US) | . |
Not Me Baby / Gaucho Serenade |
| 1970 ? | SP LOST-NITE LN 254 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 06/1973 | SP GOLDIES 45 D-2485 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 10/1976 | SP HI-OLDIES 439 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
| 1978 | SP JANUS 6.12373 AC (GER) |
 |
Remember Then
(EARLS) /
Get A Job
(SILHOUETTES) |
| 1978 | SP LOST-NITE LN 418 (US) |
Bing Bong / Voodoo Eyes |
|
| 07/1987 | SP STATESIDE STATES 2 (UK) |
 |
Get A Job
(Silhouettes)
/ Stagger Lee (ISLEY BROTHERS) |
| 1987 ? | SP RIPETE R45-175 (US) | . |
Venus (SHOCKING BLUE) /
Get A Job
|
| 19?? | SP COLLECTABLES COL-1187 (US) | . |
I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / What Would You Do |
| 19?? | SP COLLECTABLES COL-1495 (US) | . |
Get A Job
/ I Am Lonely |
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Albums
| 1968 | LP 12" Goodway GLP-100 (US) |
 |
The Original And New '58/'68 Silhouettes - Get A Job - Get A Job / I Am Lonely / Rent Man / Your Love (Is All I Need) / Bing Bong Lover / Get A Job (New 1968) / Not Me Baby / Gaucho Serenade / Climb Ev'ry Mountain / We Belong Together |
| 1983 | LP 12" C.R.S. CRS-03 (US) |
 |
Workin' Hard! - I Wonder Where / Once In A Life Time / I Want To Be With You / Someone / She's Gone / Workin' Hard / You Left Me / Lovely Love Affair / Making Believe |
| 11/1996 | CD COLLECTABLES COL-5748 (US) |
 |
Get A Job - A Golden Classics Edition - Get A Job / I Am Lonely / Miss Thing / Heading For The Poorhouse / Bing Bong / Voodoo Eyes / I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / What Would You Do / Never Will Part / Evelyn / Vision In The Night / Rent Man / Your Love Is All I Need |
| 08/2001 | CD Rhythm 1006 (US) |
 |
The Complete Package - Get A Job / I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / I Wanna Know / Shadow (Bill HORTON & The DAWNS) / Rentman / Move On Over (To Another Land) / I Am Lonely / The Push / Climb Every Mountain / Headin' For The Poor House / Like To See You In That Mood (Bill HORTON & The DAWNS) / No One Can Take Your Place / Gaucho Serenade / Miss Thing / Never Will Part / Working Hard / For Your Precious Love / Bing Bong / Which Way Did She Go / Vision In The Night / Stormy Weather / What Would You Do / VooDoo Eyes / Not Me Baby / She's Gone / Evelyn / Wish I Could Be There / Never / Your Love Is All I Need / Bull Frog |
| 09/2009 | CD COLLECTABLES ? (US) |
 |
THE SILHOUETTES MEET THE FIVE CROWNS - SILHOUETTES : Get A Job / I Am Lonely / I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / Heading For The Poorhouse / Bing Bong / FIVE CROWNS : You're My Inspiration / Keep It A Secret / $19.50 Bus / A Star / You Came To Me |
| 04/2010 | CD ZYX SIS 11602 (US) |
 |
GOLD - The Platters / The Silhouettes - Platters : Only You (And You Alone) / I'm Sorry / (You've Got) The Magic Touch / You'll Never Never Know / My Prayer / On My Word of Honor / The Great Pretender / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / Twilight Time / Silhouettes : Get A Job / I Am Lonely / Heading For The Poorhouse / I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / Voodoo Eyes / Miss Thing / What Would You Do / Bing Bong |
| 04/2010 | CD Music & Melody MUS 110282 (UK) |
 |
The Best of the Platters & the Silhouettes - Platters : Only You (And You Alone) / I'm Sorry / (You've Got) The Magic Touch / You'll Never Never Know / My Prayer / On My Word of Honor / The Great Pretender / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / Twilight Time / Silhouettes : Get A Job / I Am Lonely / Heading For The Poorhouse / I Sold My Heart To The Junkman / Voodoo Eyes / Miss Thing / What Would You Do / Bing Bong |
© Rocky Productions 11/08/2018
