The Hi-Lo's were a vocal quartet formed in 1953, who achieved their greatest fame in the late 1950s and 1960s. The group's name is a reference to their extreme vocal and physical ranges (Bob Strasen and Bob Morse were tall, Gene Puerling and Clark Burroughs were short).

History

The group consisted of

Gene Puerling Eugene Thomas Puerling (March 31, 1929 – March 25, 2008) was a vocal performer and vocal arranger. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Puerling created and led the vocal groups The Hi-Lo's and The Singers Unlimited. He was awarded a Grammy Awa ...

(bass-baritone or fourth voice, arranger, leader, and occasional soloist), Bob Strasen (baritone or third voice), Bob Morse (baritone or second voice and frequent soloist) and Clark Burroughs (tenor or first voice/lead). In 1959, Bob Strasen left the group after he began losing his voice to unknown causes. After Strasen's departure, Bob Morse switched to the Baritone or third part, and tenor Don Shelton sang the second part. They were occasionally supported by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...

was their pianist for years and occasionally wrote arrangements for the group. The Hi-Lo's recorded the theme song to the 1956 television series ''

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...

''. They were also featured on the soundtrack of the motion picture ''Everything's Ducky'' (1961), contributing three songs: "Everything's Ducky," "Moonlight Music" and "The Scuttlebutt Walk." They also made numerous appearances on television and had many live performances. The first group that had the Hi-Lo's name was a Barbershop quartet out of Wisconsin. None of those original members were in Gene Puerling's group which started some years later,

The Singers Unlimited The Singers Unlimited was a four-part jazz vocal group formed by Gene Puerling in 1971. The group included Len Dresslar (better known as the Jolly Green Giant in General Mills commercials), Bonnie Herman, and Don Shelton. History Gene Puerlin ...

Individual group members

In 1966, Puerling and Shelton along with Bonnie Herman and Len Dressler, formed another vocal group,

. This group gave a wide range for Puerling's arrangements, for the four singers multi-tracked as many as 16 voices. For that reason The Singers Unlimited were exclusively a recording group. Bob Strasen died February 28, 1994, and Bob Morse on April 27, 2001. Afterward, Puerling, Shelton and Burroughs still appeared very occasionally as the Hi-Lo's in and around

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Shelton is an accomplished reed player and has played in Clare Fischer's bands. Clark Burroughs is semi-retired and can sometimes be heard on film soundtracks. On March 25, 2008, Gene Puerling died just before his 79th birthday.

Legacy

The Hi-Lo's and especially their innovative use of vocal harmony, were an influence on the groups and musicians

Take 6 Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel music, gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood University, Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received seve ...

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, Chanticleer,

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,West, Michael J
"Herbie Hancock Remembers Clare Fischer"
''Jazz Times'', 04-05-2013. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

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, and

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Discography

* ''Listen!'' (

Starlite Starlite is an intumescent material said to be able to withstand and insulate from extreme heat. It was invented by British hairdresser and amateur chemist Maurice Ward (1933–2011) during the 1970s and 1980s, and received significant publi ...

, 1954) * ''I Presume'' (Starlite, 1955) * ''On Hand'' (Starlite, 1956) * ''Under Glass'' (Starlite, 1956) * ''The Hi-Lo's and the Jerry Fielding Orchestra'' ( Kapp, 1956) * ''

Ring Around Rosie ''Ring Around Rosie'' is a 1957 studio album by Rosemary Clooney and the vocal group The Hi-Lo's. Track listing # " Don'cha Go 'Way Mad" (Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Mundy, Al Stillman) – 2:09 # " Moonlight Becomes You" ( Johnny Burke, Jimmy V ...

'' with Rosemary Clooney ( Columbia, 1957) * ''Suddenly It's the Hi-Lo's'' (Columbia, 1957) * '' Now Hear This'' (Columbia, 1957) * ''Love Nest'' (Columbia, 1958) * ''And All That Jazz'' (Columbia, 1958) with The

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

Dek-Tette. This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. * ''Reflections in Rhythm with the Hi-Lo's!'' (Tiara Spotlight, 1958) * ''The Hi-Lo's in Stereo'' (Omega Disk, 1959) * ''All Over the Place'' (Columbia, 1960) * ''

Broadway Playbill ''Broadway Playbill'' was a 1960 LP album by American vocal group The Hi-Lo's containing songs from three Broadway musicals: '' Gypsy'' ''The Sound of Music'', and ''Fiorello!''. The album was released by Columbia Records, as catalog number CL-1 ...

'' (Columbia, 1960) * '' This Time It's Love'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, 1961) * ''Happen to Folk Songs with Billy May'' (

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

, 1962) * ''The Hi-Lo's Happen to Bossa Nova'' (Reprise, 1963) * ''Back Again'' ( MPS, 1979) * ''Now'' (

Pausa In linguistics, pausa (Latin for 'break', from Greek παῦσις, ''pausis'' 'stopping, ceasing') is the hiatus between prosodic declination units. The concept is somewhat broad, as it is primarily used to refer to allophones that occur in cer ...

, 1981) * ''Cherries and Other Delights'' (

Hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...

, 1993) * ''Together Wherever We Go'' (Sony, 1994)

References

External links

The Hi-Lo's at Singers.comAll About Jazz
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hi-Lo's American jazz ensembles American vocal groups Columbia Records artists Musical groups established in 1953 Professional a cappella groups Reprise Records artists Vocal jazz ensembles

History

Individual group members

Legacy

Discography

References

Further reading

Articles

Books

External links