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Artist
Otis Williams
12+ albums
soulUSAAllspotify
about
Otis Williams (born June 2, 1936, in Cincinnati, Ohio) and the Charms were an American doo-wop vocal group in the 1950s, who were originally billed as The Charms. Williams later relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he met Stop Records producer Pete Drake, who produced some records with his old backing group The Endeavors, then bet him that he couldn't make a country music album that sells, causing him to record Otis Williams and the Midnight Cowboys in 1971, claiming a fictitious all-black country band that was really some Nashville musicians including Elvis Presley's old guitarist Scotty Moore. Otis Williams (not related to Otis Williams of The Temptations) attended Withrow High School in Cincinnati, and in 1952 joined an existing singing group in the school when one of its members was sick. The other original members were Bob Smith (tenor) (later replaced by Donald Peak), Rolland Bradley (tenor), Joe Penn (baritone/tenor), and Richard Parker (bass). The group, which Williams named The Charms, performed "Rags to Riches" in Withrow's well-known and highly acclaimed show The Withrow Minstrels in May 1954, where they were seen in the Monday night opening show (May 3) by Syd Nathan of King Records. Nathan only wanted to sign Williams, but Williams insisted on taking the rest of the group along. They signed immediately to a subsidiary label, Rockin' Records, based in Florida and owned by Henry Stone (later of TK Records), with Williams giving up a sports career to pursue sin
