The Olympics are an American doo-wop group, formed in 1957 by lead singer Walter Ward (August 28, 1940 – December 11, 2006). The group also included Eddie Lewis (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

, Ward's cousin), Charles Fizer (tenor), Walter Hammond (

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

), and Melvin King ( bass). With the exception of Lewis, all were friends in a Los Angeles, California, high school.

History and influence

Their first record was credited to Walter Ward and the Challengers ("I Can Tell" on Melatone Records). After the name change, they recorded "

Western Movies The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

" (Demon Records) in the summer of 1958.

Co-written Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story. Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally – many collaboratively written works have been ...

by Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith, "Western Movies" made it to No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song reflected the nation's preoccupation with

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

themed movies and television programs. It told the story of a man who lost his girl to TV westerns, and it included doo-wop

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

as well as background

gunshot A gunshot is a single discharge of a gun, typically a man-portable firearm, producing a visible flash, a powerful and loud shockwave and often chemical gunshot residue. The term can also refer to a ballistic wound caused by such a discharg ...

s and

ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s. In 1959, the group recorded "(Baby) Hully Gully" (Arvee Records), which initiated the

Hully Gully The Hully Gully is a type of unstructured line dance often considered to have originated in the 1960s, but is also mentioned some forty years earlier as a dance common in the black juke joints in the first part of the twentieth century. In its mo ...

dance craze. "Big Boy Pete," which the group released in 1960, served as inspiration for

The Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the '' Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ...

's "

The Jolly Green Giant "The Jolly Green Giant" is a song written by Lynn Easton, Don Harris, and Dewey Terry and performed by The Kingsmen. It reached #1 on the Canadian chart, #4 on the U.S. pop chart, and #25 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1965. It was featured on th ...

". Over the next ten years The Olympics recorded upbeat R&B songs, often about dances popular at the time. In 1965, The Olympics were one of the first to record "

Good Lovin' "Good Lovin is a song written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick that was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966. Original version The song was first recorded by Lemme B. Good (stage name of singer Limmie Snell) in March 1965 and written ...

", penned by

Rudy Clark Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

and Arthur Resnick. In 1966,

The Young Rascals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

version rose to No. 1 on the US Hot 100. Since then, many recorded versions have been made by prominent artists, including

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rap ...

and

The Bobs The Bobs were an a cappella vocal group founded in San Francisco, California in the early 1980s. They moved to Seattle, Washington and were active recording and touring throughout the United States, Canada and Europe until their farewell show a ...

. Fizer was shot and killed during the Watts riots in 1965. Shortly thereafter, King left the group after his sister died in an accidental shooting. A revamped group continued to record into the early 1970s but were unable to attain popular chart success after the mid 1960s. The Olympics continued to perform on the oldies circuit in the United States and other countries. In 1984,

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

issued an album titled ''The Official Record Album of The Olympics'', containing recordings from the group from the 1950s and 1960s. The

Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, or LAOOC, also known as the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, was an informal name for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXII ...

sued Rhino, claiming that Rhino's record could be confused with the album ''The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad—Los Angeles 1984''. Rhino won the lawsuit. Walter Ward's song "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (the B-side to "Western Movies") was recorded twice by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

in 1971: the February 1971 studio recording was not issued until the 1998 ''

John Lennon Anthology ''John Lennon Anthology'' is a four-CD box set of home demos, studio outtakes and other previously unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for ' ...

'', then again on ''

Wonsaponatime ''John Lennon Anthology'' is a four-CD box set of home demos, studio outtakes and other previously unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for ' ...

''. A June 1971 live recording with

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

and the Mothers of Invention was issued on 1972's ''

Some Time in New York City ''Some Time in New York City'' is a part-studio, part-live double album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono as Plastic Ono Band that included backing by the American rock band Elephant's Memory. Released in June 1972 in the US and in September 1972 in ...

'', and on Zappa's 1992's ''

Playground Psychotics ''Playground Psychotics'' is a two-CD live album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It was originally released in 1992 through his mail order label, Barking Pumpkin, and was re-released in 1995 through Rykodisc. The album features reco ...

''. Eddie Lewis, tenor singer and last original member of the Olympics, died on May 31, 2017. Current and remaining members of The Olympics are Vel Omarr, Alphonso Boyd, and Samuel E. Caesar.

Discography

Albums

*''Doin' the Hully Gully'' (1960) Arvee A-423 *''Dance by the Light of the Moon'' (1961) Arvee A-424 *''Party Time'' (1961) Arvee A-429 *''Do the Bounce'' (1963) Tri-Disc 1001 *''Something Old, Something New'' (1966) MirwoodGoldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948–1991 Martin Popoff – 2010 p871 The Olympics 1981 10.00 MIRWOOD MS-7003 Something Old, Something New 1966 50.00 MW-7003 Something Old, Something New 1966. *''The Official Record Album of The Olympics'' (1984) Rhino 207

Singles

References

External links

Olympics InterviewMusic WebWalter Ward's obituary in the Los Angeles Times
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olympics African-American musical groups American rhythm and blues musical groups American vocal groups Doo-wop groups Jay Boy artists Loma Records artists MGM Records artists Mirwood Records artists Musical groups established in 1957 Musical groups from Los Angeles