SUBSEQUENT NOTE: One of the reasons this article is so inconsequential (even after massive re-writing) is that everyone remembered events differently: Buck Ram, Tony Williams, Herb Reed, Zola Taylor. Since all but Reed are deceased, I'm not going to try to reconcile all the differing accounts. I'll just keep it as general as possible.
In the musical spectrum of the 50s, the Platters stood solidly and proudly in the middle. Like the Ink Spots a decade earlier, the Platters were the most successful black group of their time, and like the Ink Spots, they gained broad-based acceptance only after leaving their roots behind to forge their own distinctive style.
The Platters started in late 1952 as the "Flamingos," a loose aggregation of Los Angeles teenagers. Present at the outset were Cornell Gunter, Gaynel Hodge, his brother Alex Hodge, Joe "Jody" Jefferson, and Curtis Williams. Over time, Cornell wandered off to join the Flairs; Curtis Williams wandered off to join the Hollywood Flames (and later the Penguins); Gaynel Hodge also joined the Hollywood Flames, but stayed with the Flamingos too; and Joe Jefferson just wandered off (he'd re-surface in the Turks a few years later and also released "School Days Will Be Over" on Class in 1958).The first to leave seems to have been Curtis Williams. His replacement was bass Herb Reed. Herb was originally from Kansas City and had started out as a tenor. He knew Alex Hodge, who was dating a girl who lived in Herb's building. At the time, Herb was an auto mechanic and also a member of a local gospel group.
Early on, the Flamingos made it to TV, when they (probably Cornell Gunter, Joe Jefferson, Alex Hodge, and Herb Reed) appeared on the Ebony Showcase TV show, singing "Old MacDonald," with Cornell in the lead. This was either a talent or variety show broadcast from Nick Stewart's Ebony Showcase Theater. (Stewart had been the voice of Br'er Bear in Disney's Song Of The South.)
When Joe Jefferson left, his replacement was tenor David Lynch, who lived around the corner from the Hodge brothers. Originally from St. Louis, at the time he joined the Flamingos, he was a cab driver.
The hard one to replace was Cornell Gunter. There are various (and wildly differing) stories told about how Tony Williams came to be the new lead singer. Suffice it to say that he did (and the rest, as they say, is history).
Samuel Anthony "Tony" Williams came from Elizabeth, New Jersey. His sister, Bertha Williams, had relocated to Los Angeles, changed her name to "Linda Hayes," and in early 1953 had herself a hit with "Yes I Know (What You're Putting Down)," an answer to Willie Mabon's recent smash, "I Don't Know." (A year later, she'd have her only other national hit with "Take Me Back.") But Linda did two things that were even more important: selecting Buck Ram for her manager and talking her brother into coming to Los Angeles too. When he got there, he washed cars for a living while making the rounds of talent shows at night. It was at the Club Alabam that Tony Williams came to the attention of Ralph Bass, who headed up King Record's Federal subsidiary. Bass seems to have been the one who put Tony with the Flamingos, whom he'd also heard at the Club Alabam and had signed to Federal. (Supposedly, they were used for nondescript backups. Their first studio work was reportedly behind Big Jay McNeely in July 1953 as part of the band shouting going on in "Nervous, Man, Nervous." If so, it's impossible to pick out their voices.)
Although the sound of the Flamingos was raw and untutored, Bass saw something in it. With Tony Williams added, Bass was ready to record them. However, before that happened, Chicago's Flamingos started hitting it big on the Los Angeles charts with "That's My Desire." Oh, well, there were plenty of other names to choose from. Since records were referred to as "platters," what could be more natural? It was either Alex Hodge or Herb Reed who redubbed them the "Platters."
The Platters' first recording session was held on September 15, 1953, at which time the group consisted of Tony Williams (tenor), Gaynel Hodge, (tenor), David Lynch (tenor), Alex Hodge (baritone), and Herb Reed (bass). The songs recorded were: "I'll Cry When You're Gone" (led by Tony), "Give Thanks" (Tony), "I Need You All The Time" (Tony), and "Hey Now" (Herb).
In October, the world was introduced to the Platters when Federal released "Give Thanks" and "Hey Now." The world didn't care. This was, unfortunately, to be a hallmark of their Federal recordings. At least "Give Thanks" was ranked "good" in the November 21 trade papers.
In January 1954, Federal released "I'll Cry When You're Gone" and "I Need You All The Time." Both sides were ranked "fair" on January 23. Things would get a bit better after this.
The Platters' second session was held on March 16, 1954. The four songs they recorded that day were: "Love All Night" (led by David), "Roses Of Picardy" (Herb), "Tell The World" (Tony), and "Beer Barrel Boogie" (Herb).
Very soon after this session, Gaynel Hodge (who had both sung and played the piano on all their songs up to this point) left to be with the Hollywood Flames full time (he'd been singing with them for a while, in spite of being with the Platters).
Lacking direction, the group turned to Samuel "Buck" Ram (Tony's sister's manager), who would be the Platters' guiding light for the rest of their recording career. Ram had played the violin and saxophone as a teenager. He earned a law degree to please his parents, then immediately switched to music, writing and arranging for many acts during the 1940s, including the Ink Spots, Ina Rae Hutton, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. He was one of the writers of Bing Crosby's 1943 hit, "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and in 1944, his "Twilight Time" was a charter for the Three Suns.
In Los Angeles, Ram had set up Personality Productions to handle local talent. By 1954, he'd hired an aspiring singer, Jean Bennett, to do some office work. In return, he said, he'd find a vocal coach for her. Instead, Jean took over the office, doing all of Ram's (and the Platters') publicity and promotion work for the next 40 years. She ended up traveling all over the country to promote the Platters and, in fact, purchased Personality Productions from Buck Ram in 1966. She never did get back to singing.As soon as he took them over, Ram issued a little brochure on the Platters. It lists only four members: Tony, David, Alex, and Herb. However, since it does list the four songs that they'd just recorded in March (as "soon to be released" items), we can date it to late March or early April.
"Roses Of Picardy," coupled with "Beer Barrel Boogie" was their next release, in April 1954. You can see that the Platters had no defined sound at this time, since both sides were led by Herb. On the bright side, the trades rated both sides "good" on May 8.
After hearing what the Platters had done in two unremarkable sessions, Ram recruited Zoletta Lynn "Zola" Taylor, the girlfriend of the departed Gaynel Hodge. He seems to have gotten her from Shirley Gunter's Queens (Shirley was the sister of former lead Cornell Gunter), although Zola had had one solo outing on RPM ("Oh! My Dear"/"Make Love To Me") in March 1954. Ram's reasoning was that, under his guidance, the Platters could emulate the Pop vocal groups of the 40s (like the Modernaires and the Pied Pipers). The "baby" of the group, Zola was still attending Centennial High School.
Thus, on their third session, the Platters were: Tony Williams (tenor), Zola Taylor (alto), David Lynch (tenor), Alex Hodge (baritone), and Herb Reed (bass). On May 20, 1954, they recorded "You Made Me Cry" (David), "Don't Tickle" (Zola), "Only You" (Tony), and "Humble Bumble Bee" (Herb). The true runt of that litter was "Only You," a Buck Ram composition. Tony doesn't hold his notes well and the group sounds like they'd rather go to sleep than continue on. In a word-"boring and mediocre" (ok, so it's three words, but you get the idea). I've heard three different takes of the song (two with Herb Reed whistling) and it's tough to pick the "best" of them.
In June, Federal issued "Tell The World," backed with "Love All Night." The trades rated both sides "good" on June 26, 1954, but the public still wasn't buying.
Sometime after the May session, Alex Hodge left; he was the last of the original Flamingos members. In his place, the Platters acquired Paul Roby (who, for reasons I've never known, went on to spell his name "Robi"). Originally from New Orleans, Robi had been a soloist, pianist, and arranger around Los Angeles (as well as a house painter). He'd also been in some non-recording Los Angeles groups: the Mellow Moods and the Emanons.
The Platters hadn't gotten much better musically at this point, but their line-up of Tony Williams (tenor), Zola Taylor (alto), David Lynch (tenor), Paul Robi (baritone), and Herb Reed (bass) would stay intact for the rest of the decade.
In July, the Platters backed up Linda Hayes on a couple of tunes: "My Name Ain't Annie" (an answer to the Midnighters' "Work With Me Annie"). It wasn't released until October, by which time the Midnighters' "Annie Had A Baby" proved that the sound was going to last. The other tune was the unreleased "I Just Wanna Mambo."
Their next session was held on September 29, 1954, at which time they recorded another four songs: "Voo-Vee-Ah-Bee" (David), "Maggie Doesn't Work Here Anymore" (David), "Shake It Up Mambo" (Tony), and "Take Me Back, Take Me Back" (Tony).
Federal released Linda Hayes' "My Name Ain't Annie" on the parent King label and it was rated "excellent" on October 16. That same month they issued "Shake It Up Mambo," backed with "Voo-Vee-Ah-Bee." Reviewed on November 13, both sides were rated "good."
December 1954 saw the release of "Take Me Back, Take Me Back," coupled with "Maggie Doesn't Work Here Anymore." Once again, the trades called both sides "good" (on January 15, 1955), for all the "good" it did for sales.
On January 14, 1955, the Platters backed up Linda Hayes again, this time on "Please Have Mercy" and "Oochi Pachi" (which was essentially a duet between Linda and Tony). These were released the following month and given "good" reviews on February 19.
Federal had, at this point, given up on the Platters. Still without a hit, the Platters had two solid assets: a line-up that would remain intact for the rest of the decade and Buck Ram's vision of their potential for success far beyond the world of Rhythm & Blues.
At the time, Ram also managed another vocal group, the Penguins (with former Flamingo, Curtis Williams). The tremendous success of their recording of "Earth Angel" in late 1954 gave Ram the leverage he needed. Mercury Records was eager to sign the Penguins, but Ram insisted the label also take the Platters. Mercury reluctantly agreed, and were surprised to be rewarded by a string of hits. "Only You," "The Great Pretender," "The Magic Touch," "My Prayer," "Twilight Time," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," to name a few.
While they were waiting for their first Mercury session, the Platters did a little extracurricular recording. They're the non-descript group (with David Lynch in the lead) on Joe Houston's cover version of "Shtiggy Boom," released on RPM in March 1955.But whatever they had been was gone. Between their September 1954 session and their first for Mercury (April 26, 1955), they'd been practicing. Suddenly, they were a coherent group; suddenly Tony Williams could reach and hold his notes; suddenly the world was listening.
At their first Mercury session, they re-recorded "Only You (And You Alone)" (with Tony once again leading their prior flop) and this time got it right. The other songs recorded that day were "Bark, Battle, And Ball" (an answer to "Shake, Rattle, And Roll," led by Zola), "I Wanna" (David), and "Why Should I" (Tony).
"Only You (And You Alone)"/"Bark, Battle, And Ball" were released in May 1955 and did rather well. After both sides were ranked "good" on July 9, "Only You" entered the R&B charts in July, climbing straight to the top. (It would stick around for 30 weeks, including 7 at #1.) More important, it entered the Pop charts, remaining for 22 weeks and peaking at #5. Only three weeks after its review, the trades rated it a Pick Of The Week, claiming it was selling well in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Nashville.Note that, unlike many of the groups of the day, the Platters, other than Zola, weren't youngsters. When the Mercury version of "Only You" entered the national R&B charts on July 30, 1955, she was 17, Herb and Paul were 23, Tony was 27, and David was the grand old man at 28.
[Note: I'm not going to go crazy detailing all of the Platters' Mercury sessions. There were an awful lot of them, many featuring heavy-duty "standards," geared towards LPs (probably the first time this had been attempted for an R&B group). I'm not even going to list every release (they're all in the discography). For a really good article about the Platters, see the booklet, written by Pete Grendysa, that accompanies the Bear Family 9-CD set "Four Platters And One Lovely Dish."]
When "Only You" was riding the charts, Syd Nathan at King Records probably found out from Ralph Bass that the Platters had recorded the song for him. He dug it out of the can and released it on Federal (with "You Made Me Cry" as the flip) in November 1955. I almost feel sorry for Syd; it must have been hard to wade through all the crummy takes of "Only You" in order to find one that could be released just to fool the public and make a couple of bucks.
Also in November, Mercury released "The Great Pretender"/"I'm Just A Dancing Partner." Not only did "The Great Pretender" also reach #1 on the R&B charts, it remained there for 11 weeks. Amazingly, it also spent two weeks at #1 on the Pop charts.
Not to be the one to lose a dime, Syd Nathan reissued two of the older Federal releases in December 1955: "I Need You All The Time"/"Tell The World."
The next Mercury release, in February 1956 was "(You've Got) The Magic Touch"/"Winner Take All." They were slipping. "The Magic Touch" only reached #4 (both on the R&B and Pop charts).
In March 1956, the whole country got to see the Platters when they appeared in the Alan Freed movie Rock Around The Clock, singing "Only You" and "The Great Pretender."In two sessions in April, they recorded the ten tracks that would make up their first LP, The Platters. (There would be 18 Mercury LPs between April 1956 and January 1965.) The album made hits out of two of the tracks: "On My Word Of Honor" and "I Wanna."
While the roots of the Platters were in R&B, they were being billed as a Rock 'N Roll act. However, by the time of "The Magic Touch," they were clearly something different.
In June 1956, Mercury issued "My Prayer"/"Heaven On Earth." "My Prayer" shot the Platters back up to the top of the charts. This one was even more amazing than "The Magic Touch": Not only did it reach #1 on both the R&B and Pop charts, it spent longer on Pop (23 weeks, as opposed to 17) and remained #1 longer (5 weeks, as opposed to 2). This made the Platters something special in the world of R&B.
Also in June, Federal tried one more time, reissuing two more of their early sides: "I Need You All The Time" and "Give Thanks." When no one bought them for the second time, Federal finally gave up.
Sometime in 1956, Buck Ram formed "The Five Platters, Inc." to try and protect the name. He was acutely aware of the mess that had resulted in the Ink Spots when each of the members sued the others to get control of the lucrative name. Each Platter assigned his (or her) rights in the name to the corporation and received $250 a week (not a bad salary in 1956, but nowhere near what the Platters were bringing in). As usual with a deal like this, it became meaningless. Many, many competing Platters groups have formed over the years. So what if they can be challenged in court? Each one that forms dilutes the value of the name.In late 56, a sixth Platter was added: Rupert Branker, who had been the pianist for the Chords. When the Chords came to California, in the summer of 1954, to promote "Sh-Boom," they met the Platters, an up-and-coming local group. Said Buddy McRae of the Chords, "the Platters would come backstage and talk with us." The Platters even asked the Chords for autographs! When the Platters needed an accompanist a couple of years later, they remembered Rupert and picked him for the spot.
In December 1956, the Platters were back on the big screen, singing "You'll Never, Never Know" in The Girl Can't Help It (which I saw, as did you, for the Platters and Little Richard; I was completely unaware, as were you, of Jayne Mansfield).
April 1957 saw the release of their next cinematic outing: Roger Corman's Rock All Night, in which they sang "He's Mine" and "I'm Sorry." Later that year, they were in another Corman extravaganza, Carnival Rock, doing "Remember When." Then there was the sleazy Girls Town (October 1959), for which they did "Wish It Were Me" and "I Love You." They also appeared in Europa Di Notte, a 1959 Italian film that showed niteclub acts all over Europe. (It was released in the U.S. in 1963 as European Nights.) In it, the Platters sang "You'll Never Know."Better than their last three big screen triumphs were those on the small screen. They were guests on the Ed Sullivan Show at least five times between 1957 and 1959. This served to present them to parents, as well as their teenage fans. They only seemed to make a single appearance on American Bandstand (on February 20, 1959), but were guests on Dick Clark's Saturday night show twice (January 17, 1959 and September 3, 1960).
The Platters continued on with their string of Mercury hits: "Heaven On Earth" went to #13 (R&B)/#39 (Pop), "You'll Never, Never Know" (#9/#11), "It Isn't Right" (#10/#13), "On My Word Of Honor" (#7/#20), "I'm Sorry" (#15/#11), "He's Mine" (#5/#16), "My Dream" (#7/#24).
But by February 1958, it had been a year and a half since they'd seen the number one spot on the charts. That would change when "Twilight Time" was released in March. Buck Ram's 1944 hit was given a new lease on life with Tony Williams' crystal-clear soaring lead.
Later that year, the Platters followed up the monster success of "Twilight Time" with "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," the Otto Harbach-Jerome Kern tune that had been sung by Irene Dunn in the 1935 film Roberta. The Platters arrangement wasn't something their fans had seen before. While there had been violins in "Twilight Time," "Smoke" had a full orchestral arrangement. Did it hurt? Not if you think it's bad to land at the #3 R&B chart position (or spend three weeks at #1 on the Pop charts).
What were the secrets of this remarkable success? The Platters' sound was crisp and clear and, above all, understandable. In the early days, they specialized in sophisticated adult ballads, while still clinging to their R&B roots. Later, their lush harmonies were framed by string-laden arrangements and benefited from Mercury's state-of-the-art recording technology.Mercury also issued LPs. Loads of them. Most R&B LPs of the day contained an act's hits, with a couple of extras thrown in that might represent their next release. Not so the Platters. While they had a couple of albums like that, they would have whole sessions that were geared directly towards albums. For example, their first LP, The Platters, released in April 1956, had about half its content from released (or future) singles. But their second LP from August of that year, The Platters - Volume Two, contained only songs that were never on singles.
You would think that with the tremendous success of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," the Platters would be riding the top of the charts for a long time to come. Not so. In fact, they were to have only two more Top Ten hits for the rest of their Mercury career ("Enchanted," which rose to #9 on the R&B charts in 1959 and "Harbor Lights," which reached #8 on the Pop charts in 1960).
What happened to the Platters? Lots of things, in my opinion. First, their phenomenal success came just at the time when R&B was charging, full-tilt, into R&R. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" peaked when the "Teen Idol" phase of music was just beginning (think Frankie Avalon, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, and Fabian). After a while, the fresh, new sound of any act starts getting formulaic and stale; the Platters were no exception. It seemed that the group was being pushed further and further into the background as just a minor adjunct to Tony Williams' lead. (This isn't really true, however. Looking at the session sheets reveals that David, Paul, Zola, and Herb were all doing lots of leads. Those, however, were mostly on LP cuts and weren't the songs that were charting. The public wanted Tony Williams; they just didn't want him as much as they used to.)
In spite of that, the Platters continually toured the world - Mercury dubbed them "the international ambassadors of musical good will."
Then, in 1959, Tony Williams announced his intention to pursue a solo career. (It was known in the industry at least as early as January; by April it had been announced to the world. However, Tony continued on with the Platters through all of 1959.) In mid-1957, he'd gone solo for a single recording ("Let's Start All Over Again"/"When You Return") that made no impact whatever (although I remember Alan Freed playing it). Strangely, while the record-buying public was crazy about Tony Williams' lead voice, they turned a deaf ear to his solo efforts. His first try, issued in September 1959, was an LP entitled A Girl Is A Girl Is A Girl. It didn't work; the Platters did poorly without Williams and Williams did poorly without the Platters.
In the fall of 1959, Charles "Sonny" Turner, former lead of Cleveland's Metrotones, found himself at the Music Box, opening for Redd Foxx. In the audience that night was Bill Crane, a DJ in Los Angeles, who had come home to Cleveland for a visit. The current talk of the industry was Tony Williams' announcement that he was leaving the Platters for a solo career. Crane, who knew Buck Ram, listened to Sonny and thought he'd be just right to take over the spot.
The very next day, at a local recording studio on Prospect Avenue, Sonny made an audition tape, containing "Only You" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," as well as a couple of tunes by Dinah Washington and Jackie Wilson. The tape was mailed off to Buck Ram, who called back with interest a couple of weeks later. Towards the end of the year, Sonny was invited up to Milwaukee, where the Platters were appearing at a club called Henry's. He auditioned in person for the Platters, Buck Ram, and arranger Rupert Branker. When he finished, Tony Williams congratulated him, but warned him to "be careful" in the group. And that was it. At the tender age of 19, Sonny Turner had just become the lead of possibly the most well-known vocal group in the world! Tony wasn't exactly gone, however. He either remained with the group through their February 1960 sessions, which produced the tracks for the Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries LP (that included the single "Trees") or rejoined them for those sessions.
Sonny Turner would remain the lead voice of the Platters throughout the 60s. He was capable of sounding very much like Tony, which kept audiences happy. However, for a long while, you only heard Sonny in person. Until "Song For The Lonely"/"You'll Never Know" (released in November 1961), most releases were old masters with Tony's lead voice (although there were a few with Paul, David, Herb, and Zola out front).
In April 1962, the Platters recorded eight tracks that would end up on their Encore Of Broadway Golden Hits LP. The masters were sent to California, where Tony Williams overdubbed the lead vocal tracks (one each of the other four tracks was led by Paul, David, Herb, and Zola; but not Sonny). This was repeated around November 1962 for five sides that were part of the Moonlight Memories LP.
The Platters continued on through the early 60s, but their Mercury chart hits were few. On the R&B charts, "Harbor Lights" made it to #15 in 1960 and "I'll never Smile Again" was #17 in the summer of 1961. They did a bit better on the Pop charts (at least in terms of quantity), but the glory days were gone: "Harbor Lights" (#8), "Sleepy Lagoon" (#65), "Ebb Tide" (#56), "Red Sails In The Sunset" (#36), "To Each His Own" (#21), "If I Didn't Care" (#30), "Trees" (#62), "I'll Never Smile Again" (#25), and "It's Magic" (#91). Note that every one of these charters, through early 1962, was an old master led by the departed Tony Williams, with the sole exception of the Sonny Turner-led "It's Magic."The recordings after Tony officially left were a hodge-podge of sounds. Tony Williams (when he was present) doesn't sound all that much like Tony Williams anymore. Sonny Turner doesn't sound much like Tony (probably a good thing). There are several duet leads between Paul Robi and Zola Taylor. More and more, the other Platters were brought out of the background to sing lead. But something was happening to the other voices. David Lynch, whose leads I really appreciated on the Federal tunes, now sounded like he'd forgotten how to sing. Paul Robi sounded bored. Zola Taylor didn't sound "cute" anymore. Only Herb sounded the same, but there wasn't much of a market for bass-led songs.
In the early 60s, the American music scene had changed radically. Gone were the heady, exciting days of the transition of R&B into R&R. Gone was the simple, yet elegant, singing style of the Platters. American music was dying stylistically. This is what cleared the way for Soul music and the British Invasion; the Platters would not be a part of that. Their sound wasn't one that was going to sell many singles.
Predictably, the Platters began to disintegrate. Zola Taylor left in 1964, to be replaced by Barbara Randolph (daughter of Lillian Randolph, who played "Madam Queen" on the Amos N Andy TV show). It was Barbara who, on December 9, 1964, led the last song that the Platters recorded for Mercury: "Hard Hearted Hannah." An era had ended.When Paul Robi left in 1965, he was replaced by Nate Nelson, the golden voice of the Flamingos. Nate had joined Terry Johnson in the "Modern Flamingos" that had recorded as the "Starglows" on Atco. Barbara Randolph also left (to turn up as a Motown soloist in the later 60s). She was replaced, briefly, by Betty Jackson, and then by Sandra Dawn. The Platters kept touring, but did no recording in all of 1965. Their days with Mercury were over.
1966 found the Platters with Musicor, where they scored their biggest hit of the 60s: the uptempo "With This Ring" (#14 Pop). The group now consisted of Sonny Turner, Nate Nelson, Sandra Dawn, David Lynch, and Herb Reed. When David Lynch finally left in 1967 (possibly replaced by Milton Bullock; there were several new names that year), he formed the Original Platters, along with Zola Taylor and Paul Robi. Herb Reed remained with the Buck Ram Platters until 1969, when he too left to form his own group.
Sonny Turner led the Buck Ram Platters for all of the 60s. When he left in 1970, Monroe Powell, formerly of Billy Ward's Dominoes, became lead singer. For twenty-five years he continued to front a group whose sound had long retained its power to evoke the memory of an age.
Over the years, Tony Williams, Sonny Turner, Herb Reed, Zola Taylor, Monroe Powell, and even Milton Bullock have had Platters groups (so did loads of singers that you'd never identify with the Platters at all). It's been quite a lucrative franchise.In 2008, almost all of the original Platters are gone. Samuel Anthony "Tony" Williams (4/5/28 - 8/14/92), Paul Robi (8/30/31 - 2/1/89), David Lynch (7/3/29 - 1/2/81), and Zola Taylor (3/17/38 - 4/30/07). Pianist Rupert Branker was murdered in 1961 during a mugging; he was still with the Platters at the time. Also deceased is Barbara Randolph (5/5/42-7/15/02). Samuel "Buck" Ram is gone too (11/21/1907 - 1/1/1991). This only leaves Herb Reed (born 8/7/31) of all the originals. Jean Bennett, who spent 40 years promoting and publicizing the Platters is still around and vigorous at 85. Charles "Sonny" Turner and Monroe Powell are still with us, too. Of all the "original" originals (that is, the Flamingos), Gaynel Hodge is still alive; Alex Hodge, Cornell Gunter, Curtis Williams, and Joe Jefferson are deceased.
Discography courtesy of Ferdie Gonzalez. Special thanks to Chris Beachley.