Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Look, I wasn’t there (or even alive), but I heard about the performance. Who am I kidding — we all heard about the performance. The news traveled the back channels of Black America like wildfire, igniting curiosity and excitement and turning a group of boys from Harlem into legends, seemingly overnight. When we finally saw it, I think we all agreed that The Five Heartbeats were (and still are) one of the greatest singing groups of all time whose only real competition were The Jackson 5 and The Temptations. The lineup of Donald “Duck” Matthews, J.T. Matthews, Anthony “Choirboy/Rock” Stone, Terrence “Dresser” Williams and Eddie King, Jr. rival any lineup of any group ever and they proved it, one night in New York City.
Any singing group worth their salt can sing a cappella. That’s what it’s all about really, the voices. But being able to sing and being able to control a room with your voice and then turning misfortune into gold is a whole different talent, but that’s exactly what happened. In one night, The Five Heartbeats almost lost it all because of haters but, in the end, gained the world.
So, boom. The Five Heartbeats were doing a showcase in New York City. It was one of those talent showcases in the early 1960s where record label heads and people looking to break the next big group were in the building. I don’t know if Berry Gordy was there, but I don’t know for certain that he wasn’t there. Rumor has it that he wanted to sign The Five Heartbeats to Motown, but Smokey wasn’t feeling the competition with Duck as a songwriter and told Berry that the group was going to hang at a different restaurant after the showcase. Berry (allegedly) went to the wrong place and ended up in New Jersey, and The Five Heartbeats ended up on a rival label, Big Red Records, owned by Big Red Davis. But,…
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