The Four Pearls (Tacoma, Wa)
aka The Fabulous Pearls
Personnel :
Artis Johnson Jr
Elsie Hall
Lloyd Foster
William Watson
Discography :
The Fabulous Pearls
Single :
1959 - Jungle Bunny / My Heart's Desire (Dootone 448)
Unreleased :
1959 - She'll Understand (Dootone)
1959 - Baby Drop Top (Dootone)
1959 - I Laughed So Hard (Dootone)
The Four Pearls
1960 - Look At Me / It's Almost Tomorrow (Dolton 26)
Biography :
The
Pearls were an R&B vocal group that formed at Tacoma's McCord Air
Force Base in March, 1957. Artis Johnson Jr. -- an alumni of Oakland,
CA's Midnights -- recruited three other singers (Elsie Hall, Lloyd
Foster, & William Watson) & they competed in the military's
annual Tops-N-Blue talent contest. By the next year's show Johnson &
Hall had added new members: Rueben Martin & Ronald Small, they took
the prize, & ended up performing Hall's "My Love" on the Ed
Sullivan Show which aired from New York City on August 31st. Back home,
the Pearls began working weekends at Seattle's top R&B dancehall,
the Birdland (2203 E. Madison Street), where they were backed by
house-band, the Dave Lewis Combo. In February, 1959, the quartet left
Seattle by car & drove to Los Angeles with hopes of getting
discovered. Arriving at the offices of Walter "Dootsie" Williams'
Dootone Records, they lucked into an immediate audition – & as the
Los Angeles Sentinel noted on March 19th: "after hearing them sing just
once he immediately signed them to a long term contract." Ensconced in a
recording studio with Ernie "Raunchy" Freeman's ace band – Williams was
ecstatic about his Fabulous Pearls, declaring that "Both sides of this
record will explode."
Well, not quite: even though the newspaper figured that the single's
A-side ("Jungle Bunny") was an innocent "Easter-timed" (!) single, its
title was actually based on some racist graffiti that Hall had once seen
as a little girl. Williams thought it had "a slight edge due to its
unusual style," but its edginess caused it to flop – so he began
promoting the B-side, "My Heart's Desire," without much more luck. Three
additional tunes -- "She'll Understand," "Baby Drop Top" & "I
Laughed So Hard" -- were also cut, the latter finally surfacing on
compilation CDs in 1995. Back in Seattle -- & now recast as the
Four Pearls -- they were signed in July, 1960, by Bob Reisdorff to his
Dolton Records label which was scoring hits with Northwest acts like the
Fleetwoods, Ventures & FranticsThe beautiful "Look At Me" (with
Dave Lewis on piano) & "It's Almost Tomorrow" (with the Frantics)
were cut by audio engineer, Kearney Barton, at his Northwest Recorders
studio (622 Union Street). When issued by Dolton around August, KOL
& various other Northwest radio stations gave "Look At Me" some
support, but it failed to grow into a broader hit & the Four Pearls
headed to Canada where they played their final gigs.
Songs :
The Fabulous Pearls
Baby Drop Top Jungle Bunny
My Heart's Desire I Laughed So Hard
The Four Pearls
Look At Me It's Almost Tomorrow