Biography
The "5" Royales functioned as a modest yet pivotal connection between the first wave of R&B and the arrival of soul, merging doo wop, jump blues, and gospel elements throughout their output. Chart performance stayed limited, producing seven Top Ten R&B entries across the 1950s, the majority clustered in a stretch from late 1952 through late 1953. Several tracks gained far wider exposure through outside versions, among them James Brown and Aretha Franklin’s readings of “Think,” Ray Charles’s recording of “Tell the Truth,” and the Shirelles’ hit “Dedicated to the One I Love,” later revived for pop audiences by the Mamas & the Papas. Lowman Pauling supplied nearly every song and shaped Steve Cropper’s approach with his incisive, blues-rooted guitar lines, which at peak ferocity anticipated blues-rock. On the earliest sides the guitar stayed relatively restrained while the arrangements lingered between gospel and R&B. That gospel thread traced back to the group’s origins as the Royal Sons Quintet in Winston-Salem, N.C.; they still carried that name into their first Apollo sessions in the early 1950s even though six members were present. The billing changed to the “5” Royales in 1952, yet the lineup remained six voices for a time, the quotation marks placed around the numeral to ease the resulting confusion. “Baby Don't Do It” and “Help Me Somebody” both topped the R&B charts in 1953, and Apollo issued a handful of additional hits before King Records signed the group in 1954. Although the King association lasted through the rest of the decade, only two further Top Ten R&B singles appeared—“Think” and “Tears of Joy,” both in 1957. Those later recordings featured Pauling playing with greater force, unleashing piercing and fluid solos that stand among the most aggressive and unrestrained guitar statements of 1950s rock on both “Think” and the little-known “The Slummer the Slum.” Greil Marcus once remarked that a young Eric Clapton would have paid for the chance to hold Pauling’s coat. The unit continued to emphasize vocal harmony, and the King material, though more contemporary than the Apollo sides, remained closer to doo wop than to soul. Live audiences stayed loyal even when sales lagged, and the band’s steady work at King Records almost certainly left an impression on the young James Brown, who scored one of his first major R&B successes with his own charged cover of “Think.” Without additional hits the group could not continue; after exiting King and cutting a few more sides in the early 1960s, the “5” Royales disbanded by 1965.
Albums
