Ken - I believe the Mills brothers, and perhaps the Ames Brothers, were
three, not four. As were, I believe, the Inkspots (three black guys - get
it? - those were the times!).
The Maguire Sisters, too, were three, as were the Andrews - weren't they
(Patty, Maxine, and LaVerne?) The Four Freshmen probably never graduated
(but they were four, and good!) and the Kingston Trio is still around, tho'
much older and not the originals.
And what of The Chordettes ("Mister Sandman")? The Lamplighters? The 2
Bell Sisters ("Bermuda")? The 3 Fontane sisters ("I Wanna Be Loved")?
And, the three Mary Fords providing vocal for the three Les Pauls.
But Ken, none of them ever sang off key!
But why four, when they were four? Basically, to get the blendning of
bass, baritone, second tenor, first tenor (men), and the alto soprano mix
for the ladies. For whatever reason, that is the harmony our auditory
senses prefer.
Doggone, this is fun! - but what has it to do with Parkinson's?
At 11:40 PM 11/22/98, KEn Becker wrote:
>I have often wondered how many songs the average person can recognize and
>remember lyrics to. I love to play "Name That Tune" I have always been
>fascinated how someone writes lyrics to fit a tune and sometimes it is such a
>perfect match, even when written by two different people! I also wonder how
>many times a tune has to be heard before we are able to memorize the lyrics.
>One more question: Whatever happened to all the groups of four guys who used
>to sing most of the popular songs, like The Four Lads" ,"The Four Aces" the
>"Four Freshmen"???? Even if one of them sang off key, it was still easy to
>listen to! I just remembered some who had four, but did not use the number in
>the name of the group, like "The Hilltoppers" The Ames Brothers" and "The
>Mills Brothers" Why FOUR?
>Were they originally five or six, and they downsized? What about the Ink
>Spots? We need to have an answer! LOL
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