Harptones

Even without matching the sales achievements of peers including the Drifters, the Flamingos, and the Clovers, the Harptones belong in every serious survey of doo wop’s most enduring acts. None of their 45s reached the national Top 40, yet “A Sunday Kind of Love,” “Life Is But a Dream,” and “Memories of You” continue to stand as genre touchstones thanks to their opulent harmonies and refined, jazz-inflected charts. The Harptones trace their beginnings to 1951 inside Harlem’s Wadleigh Junior High School, where schoolmates William Dempsey, Curtis Cherebin, and Freddy Taylor first practiced together under the name the Skylarks. After Eugene “Sonny” Cooke and a classmate known only as “Skillum” joined, the still-new ensemble made its first paid appearance at the Apollo Theatre’s Amateur Talent Contest, delivering “My Dear Dearest Darling” and receiving an audible rejection from the crowd.

Following further membership changes, the Skylarks added William “Dicey” Galloway, who was already singing with another emerging Harlem unit, the Winfield Brothers. Early in 1953 the two groups merged to form the Harps. The lineup now featured tenor Dempsey, baritone Galloway, lead tenor Willie Winfield, first tenor Claudie “Nicky” Clark, bass Billy Brown, and pianist-arranger Raoul Cita. Returning to the Apollo in November 1953, the Harps won first prize with their impassioned reading of Louis Prima’s “A Sunday Kind of Love.” That same evening an MGM Records talent scout in attendance offered the group an audition at the label’s 1650 Broadway facility.

When the Harps appeared at MGM the next week, the scout was unavailable. While the singers rehearsed in the corridor, Bruce Records partners Morty Craft and Leo Rogers heard them from an office down the hall and immediately proposed a contract. To sidestep any clash with Savoy’s Little David Baughn & the Harps, the sextet became the Harptones; Bruce released “A Sunday Kind of Love” just before Christmas 1953. Powered by Winfield’s plush lead and Cita’s ethereal organ introduction, the single became a regional sensation along much of the East Coast, yet uneven distribution prevented national exposure. Cita’s own “Memories of You” appeared in early 1954 and likewise scored locally, earning the Harptones an invitation to disc jockey Alan Freed’s landmark “Moondog Coronation Ball” with the Clovers and Charles Brown. Once more Bruce’s limited reach stifled momentum, prompting the group to regret declining the earlier MGM opportunity. Clark took the lead on the third Bruce release, “I Depended on You.” Winfield returned for the 1954 follow-up “Why Should I Love You,” a performance the Four Lads copied almost exactly for the B-side of their hit “Skokiaan,” thereby eclipsing the Harptones’ original.

Galloway’s induction into the military in autumn 1954 forced Cita to cover baritone parts on the fifth Bruce single, “Since I Fell for You.” Another strong regional seller, it secured a place for the Harptones on Freed’s first New York City “Rock and Roll Jubilee” bill in 1955 alongside the Drifters, the Clovers, the Moonglows, and Fats Domino. Bruce’s distribution shortcomings again blocked national chart placement, yet the group remained tied to the label. After enlisting original Skylark Freddy Taylor, the Harptones issued a blues-inflected cover of Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind” in March. Two months later Bruce folded; Leo Rogers took possession of its masters and placed the Harptones with Old Town Records owner Hy Weiss, who created the Paradise subsidiary expressly for them. Replacing Taylor with Bernard “Jimmy” Beckum, the group recorded the Cita-penned “Life Is But a Dream” for Paradise. Its airy harmonies and jazz-derived form lifted the record into New York’s Top Five, but Weiss invested little in promotion beyond the East Coast, repeating the commercial pattern of prior releases. The ballad “My Success (It All Depends on You)” ended 1955 and coincided with a week-long Apollo engagement. That release closed the Paradise chapter; in spring 1956 the sextet moved to Rogers’ new Andrea imprint for the pop-styled “What Is Your Decision.”

After cutting three songs for the film Rockin’ the Blues, the Harptones ended their association with Rogers and signed with George Goldner’s Rama label to issue “Three Wishes.” The session marked the debut of new member Harriet “Toni” Williams and the return of Dicey Galloway. “On Sunday Morning” followed before year’s end, and early 1957 brought the third and final Rama outing, “The Shrine of Saint Cecilia.” An additional date was scheduled, yet twenty-year-old Billy Brown died of a drug overdose the night before the session; the date was canceled, and contractual duties at Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater kept all but Williams from Brown’s funeral. Skylarks co-founder Curtis Cherebin stepped in, and his arrival aligned with another Apollo residency. After Rama folded, Goldner transferred the Harptones to his Gee label for the gritty ballad “Cry Like I Cried,” their sole Gee release. Galloway soon departed; the group continued briefly with former Solitaires lead Milton Love before disbanding months later.

In early 1959 Morty Craft approached the members, persuading them to regroup and join his new Warwick label. This edition—Winfield, Dempsey, Clark, Cherebin, and Cita—recorded “Laughing on the Outside” without notice, returned that summer with “Love Me Completely,” and issued its final Warwick single, “No Greater Miracle,” in May 1960. By release Clark had exited again, replaced by Hank Jernigan. In autumn 1960 songwriter Billy Dawn Smith placed the Harptones on Coed for “Rain Down Kisses.” When Smith moved to Coed’s Companion subsidiary he took the group along, releasing “All in Your Mind” (a response to Maxine Brown’s “All in My Mind”) in early 1961. Their second Companion single, “What Will I Tell My Heart,” became the Harptones’ only national chart entry, peaking at number 96 on Billboard’s pop list. Despite the breakthrough the group left Companion and landed at MGM’s Cub imprint, where the Otis Blackwell-penned “Devil in Velvet” signaled Beckum’s return in place of Jernigan; the record failed to chart. The Harptones remained silent until early 1964, when they issued the gentle ballad “Sunset” on the small KT label. After that single also vanished, an exasperated Willie Winfield disbanded the act. The remaining members briefly operated as the Soothers long enough to record a cover of Johnnie Ray’s “The Little White Cloud That Cried” for Port before dissolving by year’s end.

In 1970 Raoul Cita accepted an offer to reassemble the Harptones for Rock Magazine’s First Original Rock and Roll Revival concert, bringing back Winfield, Dempsey, Cherebin, and Beckum. The group sustained itself on doo-wop revival bills throughout the decade. In late 1981 the current roster—Winfield, Cita, ex-Fi-Tones member Lowe Murray, and Linda Champion—recorded the album Love Needs a Heart. Two years later they supplied backing vocals for longtime admirer Paul Simon’s Hearts and Bones. More than fifty years after their first recording, the Harptones continue to tour, with Winfield and Cita still directing the ensemble’s path.