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The Flamingos
In my opinion, The Flamingos were one of the two
greatest doo-wop groups associated with the Chess record company, the other being the
Moonglows. Fans of the Dells may disagree.
Their sound was truer to that of a group of young men bursting out of the ghetto with
world-class harmonies and jumping rhythm & blues stylings. The later End
recordings would search for and emphasize the group's "crossover" appeal
(Remember, the End album covers depict white
 teenagers at a party, pink
flamingos in a garden, and the group, resplendent in supper-club wear) by broadening the
group's repertoire to include songs like Oscar Hammerstein's "Everybody's Got A Home
But Me" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" along with the Swallows' "I Only
Have Eyes For You" and the Five Royales' "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy."
The earlier Chess recordings cast a different light on the young group, featuring
then-typical jumps like "Chicka-Boom" and "Ko Ko Mo." But it was their
early Chess ballads like "Dream Of A Lifetime", " Whispering Stars"
and "A Kiss From Your Lips" that would foreshadow the coming of the
professionalism epitomized by the Temptations, and foretell the Flamingos eventual
recognition as a world-class, Hall of Fame supergroup.
Tuesday, December 12, 2000, New York, NY -- The Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame Inductees for the Sixteenth Annual Induction Ceremony were announced today:
The Flamingos, Chicago's pioneering doo-wop aggregation -- Nathaniel Nelson, John Carter,
Terry Johnson, Tommy Hunt, Ezekiel Carey, Paul Wilson, Jacob Carey and Sollie McElroy --
gave us the trend-setting classic hit "Golden Teardrops," and their soulful
rendition of the pop standard, "I Only Have Eyes For You";
Visit
Soul Patrol for more doo
wop!
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