The Five Satins earned lasting recognition through their signature doo wop recording “In the Still of the Night,” a track that elevated the ensemble to prominence even though no subsequent release matched its commercial reach.
Their story traces back to the Scarlets, a New Haven, Connecticut vocal ensemble fronted by Fred Parris that came together in 1953 during his high-school years. That earlier outfit scored a regional success with “Dear One” the next year. In 1954 Parris assembled the Five Satins alongside Al Denby, Ed Martin, and Jim Freeman. Soon afterward the new group cut “In the Still of the Night,” a composition Parris had written in the basement of a neighborhood church; Standard Records issued the single in spring 1956. By year’s end the master had been picked up by Ember, propelling the song to number three on the R&B survey and number twenty-five on the pop chart.
Parris had already been called into military service by the time the record climbed the listings. Stationed in Japan, he remained overseas when the group followed up with “To the Aisle,” on which Bill Baker sang lead. That single reached the R&B Top Ten in summer 1957. Returning in 1958, Parris rebuilt the lineup by bringing in Richie Freeman, Sylvester Hopkins, West Forbes, and Lou Peeples. This edition enjoyed a modest success in autumn 1959 with “Shadows.”
Exposure on Art Laboe’s inaugural Oldies but Goodies collection returned “In the Still of the Night” to the pop charts in 1960 and prompted another minor hit that year, a revival of the standard “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Throughout the later sixties and into the early seventies Parris guided successive versions of the Five Satins on oldies package tours across the United States and Europe, occasionally committing new material to tape.
The group joined Kirsner Records in 1974 and issued “Two Different Worlds.” Two years later they briefly performed as Black Satin and scored a Top Fifty R&B entry with “Everybody Stand Up and Clap Your Hands (For the Entertainer).” They soon resumed the Five Satins name. Their final chart appearance came in 1982 with the Elektra-released doo wop medley “Memories of Days Gone By,” which peaked at number seventy-one on the pop side. From the eighties onward Parris continued to direct rotating lineups that appeared regularly on nostalgia bills in both America and Europe. Fred Parris passed away on January 13, 2022, at the age of eighty-five.
