The Flamingos

In my opinion, The Flamingos were one of the two greatest doo-wop groups associated with the Chess record company, the other being the Moonglows. Fans of the Dells may disagree.

Their sound was truer to that of a group of young men bursting out of the ghetto with world-class harmonies and jumping rhythm & blues stylings.  The later End recordings would search for and emphasize the group's "crossover" appeal (Remember, the End album covers depict white teenagers at a party, pink flamingos in a garden, and the group, resplendent in supper-club wear) by broadening the group's repertoire to include songs like Oscar Hammerstein's "Everybody's Got A Home But Me" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" along with the Swallows' "I Only Have Eyes For You" and the Five Royales' "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy."

The earlier Chess recordings cast a different light on the young group, featuring then-typical jumps like "Chicka-Boom" and "Ko Ko Mo." But it was their early Chess ballads like "Dream Of A Lifetime", " Whispering Stars" and "A Kiss From Your Lips" that would foreshadow the coming of the professionalism epitomized by the Temptations, and foretell the Flamingos eventual recognition as a world-class, Hall of Fame supergroup.

Tuesday, December 12, 2000, New York, NY -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees for the Sixteenth Annual Induction Ceremony were announced today:

The Flamingos, Chicago's pioneering doo-wop aggregation -- Nathaniel Nelson, John Carter, Terry Johnson, Tommy Hunt, Ezekiel Carey, Paul Wilson, Jacob Carey and Sollie McElroy -- gave us the trend-setting classic hit "Golden Teardrops," and their soulful rendition of the pop standard, "I Only Have Eyes For You";

Visit Soul Patrol for more doo wop!