The Harptones are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

, which formed in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 1953. The group never had a top forty pop hit, or a record on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

, yet they are known for both their lead singer Willie Winfield and their pianist/arranger, Raoul Cita. The Harptones recorded for

Coed Records George Paxton and Marvin Cane formed Coed Records, Inc. in New York City in 1958, and had offices at 1619 Broadway in the Brill Building. George Paxton produced many of the songs on this label, most of which were of the East Coast Doo-wop group s ...

and other labels. The Harptones may have been the first doo-wop group to have a full-time arranger among their members, and Cita knew how to work to Winfield's strengths. Their best-known recordings include "

A Sunday Kind of Love "A Sunday Kind of Love" is a popular song composed by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima and was published in 1946. History The song has become a pop and jazz standard, recorded by many artists. The song was first recorde ...

" (1953), "Why Should I Love You?" (1954), "Life is But a Dream" (1955), "The Shrine of St. Cecilia" (1956), and "What Will I Tell My Heart" (1961). In 1956, they recorded some songs for the film ''Rockin' the Blues'': "Mambo Boogie", "Ou Wee Baby", and "High Flying Baby". The song "Life is But a Dream" was featured in the 1990 film ''

GoodFellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' Wis ...

'', and can be found on the film's

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

Members

1951–1954

*Willie Winfield (lead) *Billy Brown (bass) *Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor) *William Dempsey (second tenor) *William "Dicey" Galloway (baritone) *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1955

*Willie Winfield (lead) *Billy Brown (bass) *Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor) *William Dempsey (second tenor) *Freddy Taylor (baritone) *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone) Dicey Galloway was drafted in November 1954.

Late 1955

*Willie Winfield (tenor) *Billy Brown (bass) *Claudie "Nicky" Clark *William Dempsey (second tenor) *Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone) *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1956

*Willie Winfield (tenor) *Bobby Spencer *William Dempsey (second tenor) *Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone) *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

1956 movie ''Rockin' The Blues''

*Willie Winfield (tenor) *Freddy Taylor *Billy Brown *William Dempsey (second tenor) *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1957

*Willie Winfield (tenor) *Billy Brown *William Dempsey (second tenor) *William "Dicey" Galloway *Toni Williams *Raoul Cita (piano; baritone) Billy Brown died of a drug overdose in spring 1957.

Late 1958

*Willie Winfield (tenor) *William Dempsey (second tenor) *William "Dicey" Galloway *Toni Williams *Curtis Cherebin Dicey Galloway left in October and was replaced by Milton Love of The Solitares for a short time, before splitting. Galloway died on July 18, 2017 in Houghs Neck, Quincy, Massachusetts, at age 84 after suffering from multiple illnesses.

1959–1963

*Willie Winfield *Nicky Clark *William Dempsey *Curtis Cherebin *Raoul Cita Nicky Clark left after a few months, to be replaced by Wilbur "Yonkie" Paul, who was in turn replaced by Hank "Pompi" Jernigan.

Early 1964

*Willie Winfield *Nicky Clark *William Dempsey *Jimmy Beckum *Raoul Cita

Late 1964

*Nicky Clark *William Dempsey *Curtis Cherebin *Hank "Pompi" Jernigan *Raoul Cita Nicky Clark Died In July 1978, at the age of 43.

1970–1972

*Willie Winfield *Curtis Cherebin *Jimmy Beckum *William Dempsey *Raoul Cita

1972–mid-1990s

*Willie Winfield *Marlowe Murray *Linda Champion *Raoul Cita

Mid 1990s–1999

*Willie Winfield *Marlowe Murray *Linda Champion *William Dempsey *Raoul Cita This line-up appeared on '' Doo Wop 50''. Linda Champion left due to health problems around 2000.

2000–2008

*Willie Winfield *Marlowe Murray *Vicki Burgess *William Dempsey *Raoul Cita

2008–2014

*Willie Winfield *Don Cruz *Vicki Burgess *William Dempsey *Raoul Cita * Tommie Shider Marlowe Murray died on December 11th 2008, from cancer, at the age of 73. Raoul J. Cita died on December 13, 2014, from liver and stomach cancer, at the age of 86. Willie Winfield died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on July 27, 2021, aged 91. William Dempsey is the only original surviving member of The Harptones.

Awards and recognition

The Harptones were featured more times than any other group in the United in Group Harmony Association's official top 500 vocal group recordings list, compiled 1996–2000. They were inducted into The

Vocal Group Hall of Fame The Vocal Group Hall of Fame (VGHF) is an American-based hall of fame that honors vocal groups throughout the world in every genre of music. Headquartered in the Columbia Theatre in Sharon, Pennsylvania, it includes a theater and a museum. It was ...

in 2002.

References

External links

Harptones official web site

* *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harptones, The 1953 establishments in New York City 2014 disestablishments in New York (state) Apex Records artists Coed Records artists Cub Records artists Doo-wop groups Musical groups established in 1953 Musical groups disestablished in 2014