1959 - The Altairs - George Benson(guitar), Marvin Benson, William Herndon, Ralph Turry, Dan Ponder & Richard Harris
The Altairs (Pittsburgh)
Personnel :
George Benson (Lead)
William Herndon (First Tenor)
Nathaniel Nelson (Second Tenor)
Richard Harris (Baritone)
Ralph Turry (Bass)
Marvin Benson
Discography :
Anne Keith (Anna Mae Jackson) & The Altairs 1958 - Lover's Prayer / Lonely Girl (Anne Keith & The El Venos) (Memo M3)
The Altairs Single : 1959 - If You Love Me / Groovy Time (Amy 803) Demos : 1959 - Return to Sender 1959 - Great Balls of Fire
Biography :
The
Altairs were a group of Pittsburgh high school students that put
together a vocal group in 1957. The original members were Tim Johnson,
William Herndon, Nathaniel Nelson, Ralph Terry, and Richard Harris. They
were heard by Porky Chedwick and another area dee-jay named Sir Walter
and were on their way to performing and recording. The father of Richard
Harris became the manager of the group and soon there was a replacement
of Tim Johnson by guitarist and vocalist George Benson. One of the
radio personalities that worked with Porky at WAMO was named Bill
Powell, and it was he who persuaded the group to come into the studio
and try some backup work for other performers. One of these was Anna Mae
Jackson and the song was called "Lover's Prayer".
1953 - Young George Benson holding guitar, seated next to his manager Harry Tepper.
This
song was coupled with an earlier tune by Jackson called "Just A Lonely
Girl" and released on the local Memo label. This first release by the
group went nowhere as far as sales and airplay were concerned, but the
group did gain valuable experience in the performing arts. The Altairs
made a good impression on the local music scene however, and they were
rewarded with many gigs in the area in support of many of the headliners
of the day. Billy Ford, a long time R & B performer who had gotten
national recognition as part of the "Billy & Lillie" duo (thanks to
Dick Clark) put the group in touch with Amy Records located in New York.
By this time in 1959 Benson was the lead singer for the group and
they recorded the songs "If You Love Me" and "Groovy Time" on Amy # 803.
By the following year Benson had left the group and soon the group was
put in touch with song writer Otis Blackwell. Blackwell had also been a
recording artist in earlier years with R & B tunes such as "Daddy
Rolling Stone" and "Let The Daddy Hold You". He was soon to gain world
wide fame as a chief writer for Elvis Presley, and one of the tunes he
had The Altairs sing as a song demo was "Return To Sender" and that
arrangement was later used on the Presley single of the song.
Anna Mae Jackson The Altairs
The group next moved to a professional partnership with Dinah
Washington. Dinah had observed the group performing in a night spot that
she was a managing partner in, and was impressed. She soon had them on
tour as accompanying performers and formed a vocal ensemble with some
former members of The Dells and were known as The D-Gents. With the
untimely death of Dinah Washington in 1963, the members of the Altairs
went their seperate ways. Two of the members joined a revamped version
of The Marcels and played the "oldies circuit" while George Benson
became a major performer in the early seventies winning Grammy awards
for "This Masquerade" for Record Of The Year, and a tremendous reworking
of The Drifters hit "On Broadway" among many others.
1959 - The Altairs - George Benson(guitar), Marvin Benson, William Herndon, Ralph Turry, Dan Ponder & Richard Harris 
1953 - Young George Benson holding guitar, seated next to his manager Harry Tepper.
