The Four Tunes
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The Four Tunes (also referred to as The 4 Tunes) were a leading black pop vocal quartet during the 1950s. The members at the peak of their fame were Pat Best, Jimmy Gordon, Jimmie Nabbie, and Danny Owens.


Career

The group originated from
The Brown Dots The Brown Dots were an American vocal group initially formed in late 1944, when second tenor Ivory "Deek" Watson (b. 18 July 1909, Mounds, Illinois - d. 4 November 1969, Washington, DC) left the Ink Spots. He immediately put together a competing ...
, a quartet started in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
by Ivory "Deek" Watson (born July 18, 1909,
Mounds, Illinois Mounds is a city in Pulaski County, Illinois, United States. The population was 810 in the 2010 census, a decline from 1,117 in 2000. Geography Mounds is located at (37.114838, -89.199030). According to the 2010 census, Mounds has a total area ...
– died November 4, 1969,
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
) after he split from the
Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ac ...
in late 1944. The other original members were William Henry "Pat" Best (baritone and guitar) (born June 6, 1923,
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
– died October 14, 2004,
Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500. Interstate 80 runs through Roseville and State Rout ...
), Joe King (tenor), and Jimmy Gordon (bass). Best and Watson were co-credited with the song " For Sentimental Reasons", which became The Brown Dots' first single. Later it became a 1946 hit for
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
and was recorded by many other artists. Soon afterwards, King was replaced by Jimmie Nabbie (tenor) and, in late 1946, Nabbie, Best, and Gordon recruited Danny Owens to replace Watson. They called themselves The Sentimentalists (after "For Sentimental Reasons") and started recording for Manor, backing
Savannah Churchill Savannah Churchill (born Savannah Valentine Roberts, August 21, 1920 – April 19, 1974) was an American rhythm and blues singer in the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her number-one R&B single "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)." Life ...
on her 1947 No. 1 US '' Billboard'' R&B chart hit, " I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You)", and also on her 1948 releases "Time Out for Tears" and "I Want to Cry". After bandleader
Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
asked them to stop calling themselves the Sentimentalists, also the name of his vocal group, they changed their name to The Four Tunes. Nabbie later stated that the name was derived from the fact that all they had left were four tunes that they had not yet recorded. Manor reissued all their Sentimentalists recordings as by the Four Tunes. They continued recording for Manor until early in 1949, when they switched over to RCA Victor, where they had 18 records released between May 1949 and November 1953. They then switched to Jerry Blaine's
Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
label, where they achieved their greatest popularity. Their first Jubilee recording, "
Marie Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...
" was released in September, and reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart (No. 13 Pop). It sold one million copies. This
Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...
tune had been a No. 1 hit for
Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
(with Jack Leonard on vocal) in 1937, and was later a hit for Irish group
The Bachelors The Bachelors were a popular music group, originating from Dublin, Ireland, but primarily based in the United Kingdom. They had several international hits during the 1960s, including eight top-ten singles in the UK between 1963 and 1966. Car ...
. The Four Tunes' next Jubilee release, " I Understand (Just How You Feel)" was a bigger hit, climbing to No. 7 R&B, and No. 6 on the pop chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
. By this time, the group had leaned closer to rhythm & blues and now had swung back to pop. The group played the black theater circuit and also many white clubs. When they were on a tour with pop singer
Joni James Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop music. Biography Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illino ...
, she asked Jimmie Nabbie to write a song for her. The result, " You Are My Love", was her big hit of 1955 (which the Four Tunes covered). In late 1959, there were two releases on Crosby (a Las Vegas label that Jimmie Nabbie partly owned). Then, there was a single release on Robin's Nest (as the "Four Tunes And One") in 1962. After 18 years with the group, Nabbie left in 1963, to become a soloist (in 1965, he joined an Ink Spots group to come full circle; he would remain with them until his death); Danny Owens left about the same time. Billy Wells was tapped to fill Nabbie's place and tenor Gaines Steele was brought in to replace Owens. In the mid 1960s, Frank Dawes (tenor and piano) was also brought on board, as a utility singer. The recording career of the 4 Tunes wound down with an LP on the ARA label in 1969 (which contained versions of "I Love You For Sentimental Reasons," but also "Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On"). The personnel were: Pat Best, Jimmy Gordon, Billy Wells, Frank Dawes, and Chuck Hampton (drums and vocals). The group kept going throughout subsequent decades, although Wells left in the 1980s for medical reasons and was replaced by Andre Williams, who in turn made way for Rufus McKay. Pat Best and Jimmy Gordon finally wound the group up in the late 1990s. Jimmie Nabbie died after double bypass surgery on September 15, 1992, and Pat Best died on October 14, 2004, at the age of 81.


Awards and recognition

The Four Tunes 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 2004.


References


External links


Bio on MSN Entertainment site'The Four Tunes' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Four Tunes American vocal groups African-American musical groups Jubilee Records artists RCA Victor artists Manor Records artists