The Five Crowns

You won't find the Five Crowns mentioned in most music reference books, even those devoted specifically to 1950s rock & roll. Many fans of R&B vocal groups, however, regard them as the definitive Harlem vocal group, and a few simply declare them the greatest vocal group that ever lived. Although the Five Crowns under their own name never made any impression on the national charts, they regularly charted locally in New York and were stars in Harlem. Their later 1950s incarnation, featuring original member Doc Green, James Clark, Elsbeary Hobbs, Benjamin Nelson (aka Ben E. King), and Charles Thomas, became the post-1958 Drifters, responsible for "There Goes My Baby" and the core of the group that later recorded "Up On the Roof," "Under the Boardwalk," and "On Broadway." The Five Crowns were founded in the early 1950s on 115th Street in Harlem, and originally consisted of Wilbur "Younkie" Paul, Dock Green, and James "Poppa" Clark, John "Sonny Boy" Clark, and Claudie "Nicky" Clark. James Clark and Wilbur Paul alternated as lead singer, while Dock Green sang the baritone and bass parts. Their manager, Lover Patterson, also handled the Cadillacs, another New York-based vocal group that would make a considerable national splash of their own. The group was signed to a contract with Rainbow Records in the summer of 1952, and released their first single, "A Star"/"You're My Inspiration," in September of 1952 -- "You're My Inspiration" rose to number nine locally on the Cashbox charts, and lingered there right into December of that year. Their second single, "Who Can Be True"/"$19.50 Bus," vanished without leaving much of a trace late in 1952, and their third, "Keep It a Secret"/"Why Don't You Believe Me?," issued in early 1953, didn't do much better, although "Why Don't You...