The Pied Pipers

Originally formed by eight vocalists, the Pied Pipers reached their commercial peak only after four members departed. The four who remained—Billy Wilson, Chuck Lowry, Jo Stafford, and her then-husband John Huddleston—entered the Tommy Dorsey Band in 1939, where they supplied harmonies behind Sinatra on numerous landmark sides. Breaking from Dorsey in 1942, the quartet saw Huddleston enlist in the army; he was succeeded by Hal Hopper, an original member. During the early 1940s the group supplied backing vocals for Johnny Mercer on several recordings, among them “Candy” and “Blues in the Night.” Their debut single, the double-sided “Deacon Jones”/“Pistol Packin’ Mama,” appeared in 1943. As Jo Stafford’s solo schedule intensified she exited in 1944, with June Hutton stepping in. The Pipers continued to register regular chart entries through the remainder of the decade, though their audience steadily diminished in the 1950s. A lineup still performing under the Pied Pipers name remains active.