Biography
The Carols ranked among the earliest R&B vocal ensembles to secure a contract with a major label. Marv Goldberg’s 1974 Bim Bam Boom profile recounts that the Detroit quintet originated in 1948 as the gospel outfit Unity Baptist Five. Ford Motor Company colleagues Richard Coleman (first tenor), William Davis (second tenor), Wilbert Tindle (baritone), Tommy Evans (bass), and James Worthy (pianist/arranger) comprised the lineup. Evans’s striking resemblance to the Ravens’ bass singer Jimmy Ricks prompted the shift from sacred to secular repertoire. After capturing a local amateur contest at Detroit’s Frolic Show Bar, owner Hyman Gastman took on management duties and arranged a New York engagement in which the group supported Lionel Hampton on the DuMont Network program Cavalcade of Bands. That exposure earned an audition at Columbia, which released the Carols’ first single, “Please Believe in Me,” during summer 1950. The disc drew scant notice, as did its successor, “If I Could Steal You from Somebody Else.” Back in Detroit, Coleman departed; Kenneth Duncan assumed first-tenor duties. The revised roster worked the Motor City club circuit and eventually exchanged Gastman for Al Green. When a projected Decca agreement collapsed, Green obtained a Savoy contract that produced the group’s final release, the 1953 single “I’ve Got a Feeling.” In spring 1954 Evans replaced the departing Ricks in the Ravens, bringing the Carols’ run to a close.
Albums
