The Platters Gaumont Coventry 1957

 The Platters

Gaumont Coventry 1957

by Pete Clemons

It is well known that artists such as Bill Haley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent all appeared at the Gaumont Cinema, later the Odeon, on Jordan Well.

Not quite so well documented was that, The Platters and many others, played the venue too. The vocal harmony group toured Europe during 1957, appearing on the hit television show Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

Less than a year before The Platters appeared in Coventry, nobody had ever really heard of them. But they soon became one of the hottest attractions around.

The person responsible for a lot of The Platters success, at that time, was Samuel 'Buck' Ram a prominent songwriter and arranger for the likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

Buck Ram wrote the hits 'The Great Pretender', 'The Magic Touch', 'Only You' and 'Heaven on Earth'. He also put together the classic version of the 'jive' group after meeting the rich voiced tenor Tony Williams.

Despite The Platters forming some years earlier, it was Buck's idea to rebuild the group around Tony, instead of sending him out as a solo artist. This was during 1955. First to join the combo was another tenor David Lynch. Next came baritone Paul Robi who had called Buck Ram's 'Personality Productions Office' for an audition.

Then came Zola Taylor who Buck had seen competing in an amateur singing contest in Los Angeles. Finally the slightly built Herbert Reed completed the quintet. In addition to having a rich bass sound Herbert was also the comic and dancer of the band.

For a while the individuals who made up The Platters could not have been happier with their good fortune which seemed to come around overnight. With Buck Ram also managing the band, he saw to it that they had their own accountant and legal adviser because, as he mentioned, he wanted them all to develop a business sense and save and prosper from the money they would earn.

At the time of the Coventry concert The Platters had just released an album for Mercury Records which bore just their name for its title. And, because of it's sales Mercury Records was already putting together a follow up album which would be called The Platters Volume 2.

The harmony within the band wasn't to last though. The 'classic' line up lasted till around 1959/60 when Tony Williams left the group. And one by one, other members resigned. Various line-ups using The Platters name have toured concurrently ever since. In later years the Platters became notorious for the number of competing groups touring the US and Europe using the name.

In addition to the Buck Ram hits mentioned above The Platters also covered songs like 'My Prayer', 'You'll Never Never Know', 'It Isn't Right' and 'I'm Sorry' during the Coventry concert. At the concert, which happened slap bang in the middle of the classic line up's existence, The Platters were supported by Jack Parnell and his Orchestra who had performed their own set during the first half of the evening.

To warm the audience up Jack Parnell and his band performed tunes such as 'Lime House Blues' and 'Rock Around the Clock'. Guest vocalist Gene Williams contributed on songs like 'Singing the Blues' and 'Heartbreak Hotel'.

The Gaumont / Odeon closed during 1999. The building was bought by Coventry University and December 2000 saw it become the Ellen Terry building.