Born Jerome Anthony Gourdine in 1940 and raised in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene projects, Little Anthony first attracted notice with his plaintive ballad phrasing, a trait that became the group’s signature even as they interspersed their sets with more rhythm-and-blues-oriented dance numbers. While still in high school he performed with the Duponts, who cut the 1957 single “Prove It Now,” but the quartet disbanded after graduation. Gourdine then joined the Chesters, an outfit Clarence Collins had organized with Ernest Wright, Jr., and which also included Tracy Lord and Nat Rogers. After issuing one record on Apollo, the singers signed with End Records in 1958; the label rechristened them the Imperials, and disc jockey Alan Freed soon prefixed the name with “Little Anthony.”
Their debut End release, the aching ballad “Tears on My Pillow,” climbed to the Top Five on both the pop and R&B charts, its impact heightened by the singer’s youthful timbre that evoked the recently ascendant Frankie Lymon. The B-side, “Two People in the World,” also charted, establishing the Imperials among the era’s most sought-after vocal ensembles. Subsequent efforts such as “So Much,” “Wishful Thinking,” and “A Prayer and a Juke Box” failed to replicate that success until the novelty dance track “Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop” returned them to the upper chart reaches in 1960, though it stopped short of the Top Ten. Follow-ups “My Empty Room” and “Please Say You Want Me” stalled, prompting Little Anthony to launch a solo career in late 1961.
Collins, Wright, Sammy Strain, and George Kerr kept the Imperials active; Kerr yielded his spot to Kenny Seymour in 1962. Neither the soloist nor the remaining quartet scored further hits, so Gourdine rejoined in late 1963, displacing Seymour. The following summer the reconstituted lineup joined DCP Records, where producer-songwriter Teddy Randazzo made them a focal point. His initial production, “I’m on the Outside (Looking In),” reached number 15 on both the pop and R&B listings in 1964, restoring their commercial visibility. The follow-up, “Goin’ Out of My Head,” became a Top Ten pop hit that later turned into a pop standard through frequent covers. Momentum continued with the dramatic ballad “Hurt So Bad,” another Top Ten entry and their second R&B Top Fiver of 1965, while “I Miss You So” and the pop/R&B Top 20 “Take Me Back” provided additional chart entries that year.
Although singles continued to appear, only 1969’s “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” cracked the Top 50 on either chart. That same year the group moved to United Artists, and Ernest Wright, Jr., departed to join Tony Williams’ later incarnation of the Platters. Kenny Seymour returned briefly before Bobby Wade replaced him in 1971, the year of the Imperials’ final chart single, “Help Me Find a Way (To Say I Love You).” Sammy Strain exited in 1972 and later joined the O’Jays; Harold Jenkins took his place. Little Anthony left again in 1975 to pursue solo recording and acting, effectively ending the classic lineup, yet a Collins-led version scored one last British hit with 1977’s “Who’s Gonna Love Me.” Gourdine embraced born-again Christianity in 1978 and issued the gospel album Daylight. He rejoined Collins, Wright, and Strain in 1992, and the quartet has toured the oldies circuit consistently since.
