The Ink Spots

Among the best and most enduring music of this century are the popular songs of the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Every history of popular music pays homage to one of the most celebrated vocal ensembles in Western music. The Ink Spots "were the most popular and influential black vocal group in show business in the thirties and forties" according to the Faber Companion to Twentieth-Century Popular Music.

The Ink Spots, during their prime recording period (1939 to 1951) had 50 hit records with 11 of their songs reaching the Top Ten between 1940 and 1949. They were awarded a grammy in 1988 for their signature song "If I didn't Care," which has sold more than 19 million copies. In 1989 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

When they started singing together in the early 1930's, they were working as porters at the Paramount Theatre in New York City. At first they called themselves King Jack and the Jesters, but when the Paul Whiteman Orchestra introduced a vocal group with a similar name, a new title was necessary. However, finding a suitable name was not easy and the four vocalists and their manager agonized over it for hours. The manager had been doodling with his pen, which eventually went dry. He shook it, producing four ink blots on the page - the stuff of legend.

The original foursome consisted of Jerry Daniels (lead tenor/guitar), Orville (Hoppy) Jones (bass), Charlie Fuqua (bariton/guitar) and Ivory (Deek) Watson (second tenor). At first, the style was jive and the tunes "hot," with "strong Jazz and blues elements like Stompin' At The Savoy." This was the style that they took to England in the mid-1930's.

By the end of their 1936 tour, Daniels was sick and was replaced by Bill Kennedy (1937-1978), who changed their style, slowing the tempos of most of their songs. Kenny had a remarkable falsetto and bassman Hoppy Jones included a spoken chorus in the middle of each song. This combination, which became their signature, made The Ink Spots' sound distinguishable from all the groups of the period and led to their first hit recording on the Decca label, "If I didn't care" and "My Prayer," both in 1939. In 1940 they added two more hits, "Whispering Grass" and "Do I Worry."

Their music was so enormously popular that a recording with Ella Fitzgerald in 1944 of "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" and "I'm Making Believe" was not only a two-sided hit, but their first million-seller as well. This was one of several collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald. The second and third million-sellers for The Ink Spots were "The Gypsy" and "To Each His Own," both of which were Number 1 on the charts in 1946.

The influence of The Ink Spots on the history of popular music is notable. The music industry was, to a large degree, racially segregated until the 1930's and even then, the black musicians usually performed and recorded for black audiences. There were a few performers during the 1930's and 40's, such as the Mills Brothers, Louis Jordan, and The Ink Spots, who recorded "crossovers," popular music intended for one audience (black) and bought by another (white). It was the change in style of their music to slow ballads that made it attractive to white audiences. The Ink Spots' style found its inspiration in the jubilee gospel songs and, in turn, inspired the early rhythm and blues bands and the "doo-wop" groups like The Ravens and The Orioles.

When The Ink Spots began recording in the mid-1930's, the Depression had made phonograph records too expensive for most people. The new, less expensive labels - Decca, Bluebird, and the American Record Company's Challenger, Melotone, Banner and Perfect lables - easily found a market when they were introduced.

Many black musicians found "colour-blind" radio more accessible than the segregated recording industry, and The Ink Spots performed on hundreds of live and recorded broadcasts. There were also appearances in Hollywood films, including What A Business (1934), The Great American Broadcast and an Abbott and Costello film, Pardon My Sarong (1942).

Hoppy Jones died in 1944, and by 1946, the group consisted of Bill Kenny and his twin brother, Herb, Charlie Fuqua and Deek Watson. It was not a happy union and they eventually went their separate ways, forming new groups.

By 1954, Charlie Fuqua and Deek Watson had each formed their own group called The Ink Spots and Bill Kenny was working solo as "Mr. Ink Spot." Kenny's hit recordings in the U.S. include "It Is No Secret" with the Song Spinners and "That's Just My Way of Forgetting You." Ray Richardson began working with Charlie Fuqua's Ink Spots in 1961. A decade later, Ray became the leader of this group.

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It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
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Java Jive
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If I Didn't Care
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Maybe
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