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;">The Ames Brothers were a singing quartet from Malden, Massachusetts,
who were particularly famous in
the 1950s for their traditional
pop musichits.
The Ames Brothers got their beginning in Malden, where all four were
born.
The act consisted of brothers Joe (3 May 1921 – 22 December 2007), Gene
(born 13
February 1923 – 4 April 1997), Vic (20 May 1925 – 23 January 1978) and Ed (born 9 July 1927).
Born into a non-professional but musically talented family, the boys
were
brought up on classical and operatic music.
Their parents, David and Sarah Urick, were Russian Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine who read Shakespeare and semi-classics to their nine
children from the time they
were old enough to listen.
The brothers formed a quartet with a cousin named Lennie, and had
been
touring United
States Army and Navy bases entertaining the troopsnightclub, one of the
fanciest clubs in Boston.
This one week engagement turned
into several months when the word got around of their appearance. At the
time,
they were going by the name of the Amory Brothers, a name taken from
Vic's
middle name and they were becoming quite popular in the area. It was at
this
time that Joe decided to rejoin the group. He said they were just having
too
much fun together for him to miss out.[citation
needed] Taking
their act to New York they got a job with bandleader Art
Mooney. One day while at
Leeds Publishing Company in search of a song called "Should I" that
their mother
had asked them to sing, Milt Gabler of Decca Records heard them singing it and had them
cut a few sides for Decca Records just before the AFM recording ban which James Petrillo imposed in
January, 1948. and were offered a
job at The Fox
and Hounds
A year later when the ban was lifted, the Ames Brothers were the
first artists to record for Coral Records. The
name
Amory was shortened to Ames. They were swept into national top billing
with
their first hit record, "Rag
Mop," in January, 1950. Doing radio shows for free at
times just for the
experience, they later became regulars on such shows as Arthur
Godfrey and His
Friends. One of the first acts to appear on the original The Ed Sullivan
Show when it was known as Toast of the Town, they made
their
debut with him when the show was telecast live from Wanamaker's Department Store.
Soon, they were the top paid group in nightclubs and supperclubs
everywhere
and their popularity on television was nationwide. In 1956 they starred
in their
own show, The Ames Brothers Show, which was seen on Friday
nights. It was
the first syndicated television show to be shown in foreign countries.
Over their fifteen year career, their prolific work notched up 49 U.S. chartRCA Victor.
The group disbanded in 1960, but Ed Ames went on with a
successful
singing and acting career, including
playing Daniel Boone's
sidekick, Mingo, on the popular Daniel
Boone television series
(1964-1970). entries, 21
of them on
the Coral label before signing with
They were inducted into the Vocal Group
Hall of Fame in 1998. As
of 2010, Ed
Ames, as the youngest
brother, is the only surviving member of the group. Vic died in a car
accident
in 1978 at age 52, Gene died of cancer in 1997 at age 74, and Joe died
of a
heart attack in 2007 at age 86.