Previous Vocal Group Record of the Week
(Week of 8/19/06 - 8/25/06)

SPOTLIGHT ON RUDDER RECORDS

"You're The One I Idolize"/
"You Do Things To Me"
by The Satisfiers
on Rudder Records 1003
released in 1952

"Baby What You're Doing To Me"/
"For You, For You, For You"
by The Southernaires
on Rudder Records 1005
released in 1953

Above: Label images for Rudder Records, a Hollywood, CA label operated by Leo Berger and Bruce Balcome. Mr. Balcome takes composer credits on all four of these sides. Notice the boards floating on the water... due to a shipwreck? Maybe depicting use of the rudder to direct the ship through dangerous waters? Or perhaps a premonition of Rudder's own sinking after about a year's existence?

From The Billboard dated 3/29/52: RUDDER GUIDED BY SEA CAPTAIN—A new pop diskery, Rudder Records, issued its initial waxings this week. The firm was set up by Captain Rawdings, veteran salt who has over 22 years of service in the Merchant Marine. First tunes recorded by the firm were penned by the captain, under the name of Bruce Balcome, with the Rufus Smith Quintet and the Satisfiers. Leo Jacobs is handling firm's exploitation.

From Pittsburgh Post Gazette dated 4/6/53: ....Pittsburgh singer DeLoris Randall has left the Alec Alstone band in the midwest to join The Satisfiers, a vocal group (three boys and a girl)....sang on the Perry Como radio show (in the 1940s) and also made several records with him. The Satisfiers....wax for the Rudder label.
(NOTE: Helen Carroll was the female singer with The Satisfiers until at least 1948.)

From Götz Alsmann, Germany (8/19/06):
The Satisfiers recorded with Perry Como in the forties and also released at least one album of their own on Coral during the fifties. They also went to the studio backing up Vaughn Monroe, Guy Mitchell and many others and even sang with Tommy Dorsey for a while. They must have recorded millions of commercial jingles and so forth. The liner notes of their Coral album gives their names: Del Loris Randall (alto/soprano), Bob Lange (tenor), Art Lambert (baritone) and Loren Welch (also baritone). Some of their own songs are quite jazzy and the whole group is just fantastic - if one likes that sort of style similar to The Honey Dreamers, Merry Macs or Modernaires.

From Andrew Bohan(12/2/06):
A Perry Como website (kokomo.ca) gives the member's names as Helen Carroll, Ted Hanson, Art Lambert, and Bob Lange. The website also lists songs on which the group backed Perry.

The Satisfiers had at least three releases on the Rudder label (1952-53).

The Billboard Review (1/24/53):

THE SATISFIERS - RUDDER 207....
Please Be Kind
(68) This ballad bears no relation to the oldie of a decade ago. The new effort is handed an effective reading by the Satisfiers, a good group, backed quietly by the Rufus Smith Quintet.
Choose Your Partner (67) The Satisfiers again come thru with some bright vocals on this fast-tempo item, with good help from the combo. Flip is the stronger side.

(NOTE: A ratings range of 60-69 was considered "satisfactory.")


Above: The Southernaires picture from The Evening Sun (Hanover, PA) dated 8/24/51.

The Southernaires had been a famous gospel group in the 1930's and 1940's.

The Pittsburgh Courier (Texas Edition) Nov. 8, 1943: TYLER, Texas—The Southernaires, universally recognized as "America's Beloved Institution Of The Air" and with 15 years of distinguished service over the National Broadcasting System, will appear in a concert at Texas College, at Tyler, Friday evening, November 12 at 8:15 o'clock.
 
Music lovers of the Southwest and concert-goers will be privileged to hear this noted group of artists, termed by many music critics as one of the greatest vocal ensembles of the day. With a complete repertoire of the songs and melodies of their native Southern soil, they deliver with an artistry, precision and interpretive effectiveness seldom equalled and never excelled. They have more than two thousand songs in their repertoire.
 
The Southernaires first won recognition and widespread popularity through the programs over the National Broadcasting company 15 years ago. The organization was formed in the basement of the William's Institutional CME church at 218-220 West 130th Street, New York City. They finally responded to urgent demands that they make personal appearances on the concert stage. On the stage, their incomparable success has more than matched that which they won over the air lanes of the radio world. Their personnel includes William Edmondson, basso; Ray Yeates, tenor; Jay Stone Toney, baritone; Lowell Peters, second tenor; and Spencer Odom, accompanist and arranger.


Listen to this week's selections: [Audio restoration by Dave Saviet.]
 
A) Click on an option below to listen using Streaming Windows Media Player.
 
Baby What You're Doing To Me - The Southernaires - Rudder 1005 - 1953
For You, For You, For You - The Southernaires - Rudder 1005 - 1953
You're The One I Idolize - The Satisfiers - Rudder 1003 - 1952
You Do Things To Me - The Satisfiers - Rudder 1003 - 1952
"ALL FOUR SONGS" NOT FUNCTIONAL!

B) Click on an option below to listen using Downloading Windows Media Player.
 
Baby What You're Doing To Me - The Southernaires - Rudder 1005 - 1953
(file size=417KB)
For You, For You, For You - The Southernaires - Rudder 1005 - 1953 (file=411KB)
You're The One I Idolize - The Satisfiers - Rudder 1003 - 1952 (file=427KB)
You Do Things To Me - The Satisfiers - Rudder 1003 - 1952 (file=411KB)


[The above photo of Spencer Odom provided by Paul Ressler.]


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