Even with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s fondness for ’50s vocal groups, it’s rather surprising the Dells made it in. Formed as a doo-wop group by high school classmates in 1952, the quintet placed dozens of singles on the R&B chart, including three chart-toppers, but they never had a song reach any higher than No. 10 on the Hot 100.
A big point in their favor: The Dells lasted for 60 years with just one change in personnel and were among the few doo-wop groups to successfully switch to R&B as doo-wop died away, leading to their sobriquet “the grandfathers of R&B harmony.” Their career was interrupted in 1958 by a serious auto accident that damaged the larynx of lead baritone Marvin Junior. When they returned to performing in 1960, it was with a new lead tenor, Johnny Carter, late of the Flamingoes.
They didn’t have a lot of success until they hooked up with producer Bobby Miller and arranger Charles Stepney at Chess Records subsidiary Cadet for their 1968 LP “There Is.” The title track, with Junior singing lead, became their first-ever top 20 hit on the Hot 100.
As musical tastes changed the Dells adapted, but they changed record companies as the disco age dawned and by 1980 they were working the oldies circuit. That wasn’t their last hurrah on the charts, though. In 1991 actor Robert Townsend directed “The Five Heartbeats,” a drama based on the vocal groups of the ’60s, with the Dells singing the film’s centerpiece song, “A Heart Is a House for Love,” which became a No. 13 R&B hit. They made the Hall of Fame in 2004, on their third nomination, before disbanding in 2012.
