Kingsmen

Little is documented regarding the formative period of the King's Men, a quintet specializing in old-time Southern gospel and unrelated to the Portland, OR garage band the Kingsmen whose "Louie, Louie" endures as a defining frat-rock staple. Big Jim Hamill established the act as a quartet in 1955 while based in Ashland, NC. Theodore J. Twiggs and Eugene R. Smith received songwriting credits on the group's lone contemporary release, the March 1957 single "Don't Say You're Sorry," which attracted scant attention; two of the five members were subsequently drafted into the Armed Services. Several years afterward the King's Men regrouped and sustained activity across three decades, encompassing the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Further recordings appeared, predominantly gospel standards, yet the ensemble's principal distinction lay in live delivery, where booming tenors and resounding baritones conveyed authentic gospel power. The lineup persisted through the 1970s as departing members were succeeded by newcomers.