Biography: The Ravens
The Ravens were among the pioneering post-World War II R&B groups, and also among the earliest R&B groups named for birds. In both their musicality and their nomenclature, they influenced two generations of performers that followed, as well as sold lots of records in the process. The Ravens originated with Jimmy Ricks (born 1924, Jackson, FL; died 1974, New York, NY), who started singing at an early age. In 1945, he was employed as a waiter at the Four Hundred Tavern and later at an establishment known as the L. Bar, both in New York's Harlem. One of his co-workers was a friend, Warren "Birdland" Suttles, and during moments when the work wasn't too frantic, the two began singing together, to tunes by the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, the Delta Rhythm Boys, and other harmony groups whose music appeared on the club's jukebox.
They decided to try and form an actual group, searching for two more members that would make up the requisite harmony quartet. The two hooked up with Leonard "Zeke" Puzey and Ollie Jones, and worked up their sound around songs such as "Darktown Strutters' Ball." Choosing the name the Ravens, and thus inaugurating the "bird" group trend in black vocal groups, they were booked into the Club Baton in Harlem, and proved themselves sufficiently talented to rate a national tour, also picking up Howard Biggs, who became their arranger and the composer of much of their original repertory. The Ravens' sound was unusual for its time, featuring bass singer Ricks as the lead voice -- this would become their trademark and one of their most often emulated attributes over the next decade.
The beginning of the end for the group came when Ricks began pursuing his goal of a solo career.
Their final singles were issued credited to "Jimmy Ricks and the Ravens" or "Jimmy Ricks and the Rickateers." Ricks exited the group in 1956, and the group name was taken over by Van Loan, who purchased the Ravens' name in partnership with their road manager, Nat Margo. Under Van Loan's leadership, the Ravens jumped to Chess Records' Argo imprint that same year. Ricks' influence remained profound into the late '50s, long after the Ravens ceased charting records -- the Temptations' Melvin Franklin, in particular, was heavily influenced by Ricks' singing. Ricks remained an active solo performer, moving between the Paris, Decca, and Signature labels before signing with Atlantic Records in 1961, where he recorded with LaVern Baker and Little Esther. By the 1967, when he rejoined Jubilee Records, he'd passed through the Mainstream and Festival Records rosters.
Ricks reunited with Warren Suttles in 1971 and reformed the the Ravens, with Gregory Carroll and Jimmy Breedlove filling out the lineup. As an indication of the flexibility of Ricks' singing voice and the respect he commanded even after more than 25 years as an R&B vocalist, he joined the Count Basie band as its vocalist in the early '70s, a capacity in which he was serving at the time of his death on July 2, 1974, at the age of 50. The Ravens never recorded as much as their main rival group, the Orioles, and have never received the kind of comprehensive retrospective accorded the latter group. Their recorded legacies for National, Columbia.