The Revelaires*

The Revelaires were a Black American vocal group whose known recordings trace a path from mid-1960s doo wop and orchestrated soul through early-1970s funk and Toronto studio sessions. Although the group’s membership has not been identified, their surviving records document an association with veteran American bassist, bandleader and arranger Doles Dickens, followed by a later Canadian period in which they recorded for Art Snider’s Vintage Records.

The group recorded for Decca on April 1, 1965, producing ‘She Wears My Ring’, ‘You Must Be Blind’ and the apparently unreleased ‘Wrapped Up in a Dream’. Decca issued the first two songs as a single that August. The recordings featured vocals with chorus and orchestra directed by Dickens and were produced and arranged by Straight Ahead Rhythm.

‘She Wears My Ring’, written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, was presented as “A Movation Beat,” while ‘You Must Be Blind’, written by Lorenzo Pack and Milton Nelson, was described as “A Double Drive Beat.” The combination of close vocal harmony, orchestral accompaniment and rhythm-driven production placed The Revelaires between the fading doo wop era and the developing soul sound of the mid-1960s.

Around 1970, the group released ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ backed with ‘Born Free’ on the American Spontaneous Arts label. Accompanied by the S.L.D. Trio and Horns, The Revelaires transformed two familiar popular songs through heavier rhythm and horn arrangements. Dickens arranged both sides, continuing the association established during the Decca period.

The Revelaires later travelled to Toronto, where they recorded at Sound Canada for Vintage Records. Their Canadian releases included ‘Great Pretender’ backed with ‘Cab Driver’ and ‘You’re So Wrong’ backed with a new recording of ‘She Wears My Ring’. Both singles were produced by the group, while ‘You’re So Wrong’, written by Bill Duncan and Vern Baird, added an original composition to a repertoire otherwise built largely around well-known standards.

The Toronto recordings reveal a group comfortable moving between doo wop, soul, pop and funk. Their version of ‘She Wears My Ring’ also connected the Canadian sessions directly with their 1965 Decca debut, showing that the song remained part of their repertoire for much of the group’s career.

Accounts of The Diamonds’ early history refer to an earlier Black Detroit vocal group called The Revelaires who performed frequently in Toronto and helped teach the future Canadian stars about harmony, rhythm, dynamics and stage presentation. Whether that earlier group was directly connected to the Revelaires heard on these records remains unresolved, but the story demonstrates that the name already had a significant place in the cross-border vocal-group circuit.

The Revelaires left only a small body of known recordings, but those records document nearly a decade of musical development and a rare connection between American Black vocal-group traditions and Toronto’s early-1970s soul and studio scene.

-Robert Williston