An early and important exemplar of soul music, Clyde McPhatter was among the first singers to cross over from the church to the pop and R&B charts. McPhatter was a minister's son, born in North Carolina and raised in New Jersey, who made that passage at the tender age of 18, when he was invited to join singer Billy Ward's vocal group, the Dominoes (where he was initially billed as "Clyde Ward" and claimed to be Billy's brother). McPhatter's radiant, gospel-trained tenor exploded onto the R&B scene in the early Fifties on "Do Something for Me," "Have Mercy Baby," "The Bells" and other R&B hits by the Dominoes. On "Have Mercy Baby," which remained #1 on the R&B charts for ten weeks in 1952, McPhatter worked himself to the brink of tears. Such vocal histrionics were the result of bringing gospel's emotionality to bear on the subject of secular love in a rhythm & blues setting, and they proved to be ingredients in a recipe for what would be called soul music in the Sixties.
Get full artist bio (courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

 
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