Dee Clark

Though largely unknown among contemporary audiences, Dee Clark was one of the most successful R&B singers of the late '50s and early '60s, his resonant, expressive tenor gracing classics like "Raindrops" and "(Hey) Little Girl." Delecta Clark was born in Blytheville, Arkansas on November 7, 1938; from the age of three, he grew up on Chicago's West Side, in 1952 joining with schoolmates Sammy McGrier and Ronnie Strong in the Hambone Kids. A fad that required performers to slap their thighs, chests, and other parts of the body in emulation of what's now known as a Bo Diddley beat, the Hambone Kids were popular long enough for the teenage trio to collaborate with Red Saunders & His Orchestra for a single, also titled "Hambone," issued on Okeh in 1952. The record was a minor hit, but in 1953 Clark moved on, assuming lead duties with the Chicago vocal group the Goldentones -- when local DJ Herb "The Kool Gent" Kent took over their management, he rechristened his charges the Kool Gents, landing them a recording deal with Chicago's Vee-Jay label. The group issued its debut single "This Is the Night" in early 1956, followed that summer by "I Just Can't Help Myself." (As the Delegates, they also released "The Convention," a novelty record inspired by that year's presidential election.) After one final Vee-Jay session yielding 1957's "Mother's Son," the label's general manager Ewart Abner convinced Clark to go solo -- his debut "Gloria" was, in fact, a Kool Gents recording, although only Clark's name appeared on the label. He struggled to forge his own style, mimicking Clyde McPhatter on the follow-up "Seven Nights" and aping Little Richard on 1958's "Oh, Little Girl." Neither charted, but when Little Richard himself abruptly quit performing to enter Bible college, his booking...