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THE OAK RIDGE BOYS Gallery |
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The Oak Ridge Boys is a country and gospel band that is based in the United States. The group was founded in 1945 as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel-oriented group until the late 1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated more on country and pop music. The band's most well known lineup consists of lead singer Duane Allen, tenor Joe Bonsall, baritone William Lee Golden, and bass Richard Sterban.
The core group that would eventually lead to the Oak Ridge Boys first recorded together in 1943 as Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers. When Wally Fowler decided to focus on gospel music, he formed the Oak Ridge Quartet with himself, Lon "Deacon" Freeman, Curly Kinsey, and Johnny New. In 1949 the other three men split from Fowler to form a new group and Fowler hired an existing group, the Calvary Quartet, to re-form the Oak Ridge Quartet. In 1957, Fowler sold the rights to the "Oak Ridge Quartet" name to group member Smitty Gatlin in exchange for forgiveness of a debt. As a result of more personnel changes, the group lost its tenor, so they lowered their arrangements and had Gatlin sing tenor while the pianist, Tommy Fairchild, sang lead. They recorded an album for Cadence Records, then in 1958 Fairchild left and they hired Willie Wynn to sing the tenor part. At this point the group consisted of Wynn, Gatlin (singing lead), baritone Ron Page, and bass Herman Harper. They recorded an album on the Checker Records label, one on Starday, and three on Skylite. In 1961, Gatlin changed the group's name to "the Oak Ridge Boys" because their producer, Bud Praeger, thought "Oak Ridge Quartet" sounded too old-fashioned for their contemporary sound.
Members:
-Mark Gray.
-Joe Alfred.
-Bob Prather.
-Tommy Fairchild.
-Calvin Newton.
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| COUNTRY CHRISTMAS EVE [CAPITOL] (1995) |
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Common Misspellings of the artist's name
OAK RIDGE BOYS
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