Billy Ward and His Dominoes - Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter (1956)

"Learnin' the Blues" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

Ruth Brown employed The Drifters as a backing vocal group (known, for her, as The Rhythmakers) which then still included Clyde McPhatter with whom she also performed two beautiful duets.  Although McPhatter had left his first band, Billy Ward and His Dominoes, in 1953 to form his own, Ward's label continued to release albums featuring McPhatter-led singles and touting his name prominently.  It makes sense as The Dominoes were never as successful without him even if they found a great replacement in Jackie Wilson.  Federal Records released Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter in 1956.

Here is the discography surrounding Billy Ward and His Dominoes's second album:

Where Now, Little Heart (1953 single)

Christmas in Heaven (1953 single)

My Baby's 3-D (1953 single)

Rags to Riches (1953 single)

Above Jacob's Ladder (1954 single)

Gimme Gimme Gimme (1954 single)

Handwriting on the Wall (1954 single)

Little Things Mean a Lot (1954 single)

Tenderly (1954 single)

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 single)

Tootsie Roll (1954 single)

The Chronological Classics: Billy Ward & His Dominoes 1953-1954 (compilation album)

Can't Do Sixty No More (1955 single)

Cave Man (1955 single)

Learnin' the Blues (1955 single)

Over the Rainbow (1955 single)

Sweethearts on Parade (1955 single)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter

"Star Dust" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

"Little Things Mean a Lot" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

Pass the Headphones!!

Billy Ward and His Dominoes - Billy Ward and His Dominoes (1955)

"Sixty Minute Man" by The Dominoes


Federal Records, a subsidiary of King Records, was one of the breeding grounds for the birth of rock and roll, particularly from the blues-tinged doo-wop groups that populated its lineup such as Hank Ballard & The Midnighters and Billy Ward and His Dominoes.

The Dominoes start with Billy Ward, a Juilliard educated composer, pianist, and arranger.  He started on Broadway but set to form a vocal group after meeting talent agent and eventual songwriting partner Rose Marks.  Together, they put together an ensemble featuring Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), Bill Brown (bass), and Clyde McPhatter (lead tenor) whom Ward discovered at Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater.  (Note: That makes three blogged singers so far discovered through the Apollo's Amateur Night (McPhatter, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald in reverse order)).

Ward and His Dominoes (originally The Ques) got off to a hot start with the 1951 singles "Do Something for Me" with McPhatter singing lead and "Sixty Minute Man" lead by Bill Brown.  The latter is often in the discussion for the first rock and roll song.  The quintet were one of the hottest vocal groups of the early fifties but suffered from internal disputes brought on by Ward's military stricture and unfair compensation of his talent (often not even enough off which to live).  White and Brown left very early on and were replaced by James Van Loan and David McNeill.  The Dominoes continued with great success thanks to McPhatter of which all the singles on which he sang lead broke into the Top 10 of the R&B charts.  After all, Clyde never made a bad side and everyone knew it.

Here is the discography surrounding Billy Ward and His Dominoes's debut album:

Chicken Blues (1950 single as The Dominoes)
No! Says My Heart (1951 single as The Dominoes)
Sixty Minute Man (1951 single as The Dominoes)
Weeping Willow Blues (1951 single as The Dominoes)
That's What You're Doing to Me (1952 single as The Dominoes)
Deep Sea Blues (1952 single as The Dominoes)
That's What You're Doing to Me (1952 single)
No Room (1952 single)
I'm Lonely (1952 single)
The Bells (1952 single)
Don't Leave Me This Way (1953 single)

The Chronological Classics: Billy Ward & His Dominoes 1950-1953 (compilation album)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes (1954 EP)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes Vol. 2 (1954 EP)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes Vol. 3 (1954 EP)
Billy Ward and His Dominoes

"Don't Leave Me This Way" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes


Pass the Headphones!!