Doo Wop: The Dell-Vikings

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback and the Doo Wop Series!  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode we will flash back to the 1950's and look at one of the Doo Wop
vocal groups of that era, The Dell-Vikings!  Interestingly they were one of the
few racially mixed groups that existed at that time.

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback and the Doo Wop Series. In this
episode we will flash back to the 1950's and look at one of the Doo Wop
vocal groups of that era, The Dell-Vikings. Interestingly they were one of the
few racially mixed groups that existed at that time.

In 1955, US Air Force members Clarence Quick, Kripp Johnson, Don
Jackson, Samuel Paterson, Bernard Robertson and Joe Lopes formed the
Dell-Vikings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However the group was disrupted
since the members could be stationed in various locations. Soon after the
group’s formation, Paterson and Robertson were sent to Germany. They
were replaced by David Lerchey, becoming the group’s first non black
member and by Norman Wright. Soon Jackson left the group and was
replaced by Gus Backus making him the second non black member.
According to some sources, the group’s name came about when some
members had read about the Vikings. An other version noted that Vikings
was the name of a Brooklyn basketball social club that Quick belonged to
and he suggested the name. The prefix “Dell” was then added to the name.
Clarence Quick wrote “Come Go With Me” and was recorded by The Dell-Vikings in 1956. The single was released in January 1957, which became their first hit, released on Free Bee Records. On the B-side was “How Can I Find True Love”. Dot Records re released the single in late January where it peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top 100 Pop Charts. “Come Go With Me” sold over one million copies and received a gold disc award. Rolling Stone cited the song as number 449 on its list of the “Greatest Songs of all Time".

“Come Go With Me” also managed to influence other artists. On July 6,
1957 an obscure band that went by the name of The Quarry Men played
“Come Go With Me” at the fete held at St Peter’s Church located in
Woolton, Liverpool England. The vocalist John Lennon apparently did not
know all of the lyrics. In the audience was Paul McCartney who noticed
Lennon’s ad-libbing. After the performance McCartney impressed Lennon
with his guitar skills, resulting in Paul joining The Quarry Men. This chance
meeting resulted in the subsequent band known as The Beatles.

In 1962, “Come Go With Me” was included in Dion’s album titled “Lovers
Who Wander”. It was also released as a single in 1963, where it reached the
number 48 position on Billboard’s Hot 100. In 1978 The Beach Boys
recorded a version of the song, which was included in the album titled
M.I.U. A single was released in 1981 and rose to number 18 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in January 1982. “Come Go With Me” was also featured
in the 1973 film “American Graffiti”.

Here is The Dell-Vikings’ number 5 hit “Come Go With Me”. In May 1957, The Dell-Vikings released another song by Quick titled “Whispering Bells” with “Don’t Be A Fool” on the B-side. It also climbed to #5 on the US R&B chart and #9 on the US Pop Chart. This particular record holds a special place for me, since it was the first 45-RPM record that I purchased in 1957 for 49 cents, and which I still possess. It most likely was the catalyst that began my interest in Rock and Roll. Here is The Dell-Vikings’ #9 hit from 1957 “Whispering Bells” On the B-side is “Don’t Be A Fool”. Although it did not chart, it is still a good song.

The last release in 1957 that made it on the US Pop Chart was “ Cool Shake”, peaking at #12. In 1959 the group was restructured by Quick and in 1960 they were signed to ABC Records. However, subsequent releases failed to duplicate the chart success of earlier hits and in 1965 the group disbanded. In 1970, The Dell-Vikings reunited with several original members and re recorded a newer version of “Come Go With Me” in 1973. In April 1973 the group appeared on The Midnight Special television program, performing “Come Go With Me”.

In 1985, one of the original members of the Dell-Vikings, Clearance Quick died, he was just 48 years old. Then Kripp Johnson died on June 22nd, 1990 at the age of 57, followed by David Lerchy who passed away on January 29th, 2005 at the age of 67. The last surviving member Norman Wright passed away on April 23rd, 2010 at the age of 72.

This has been a look back at one of the vocal groups from the mid 1950's,
The Dell-Vikings, on the Doo Wop series on Rock and Roll Flashback. Until
next time, I’m your host Bill Price.