The Four Knights

about

Most black gospel groups that sang in the ‘40s or ‘50s and then changed their musical direction, changed it to rhythm and blues. The Four Knights, however, were a refined gospel group that became a refined pop blues group. Actually they started out in 1943 as the Southland Jubilee Singers in Charlotte, North Carolina. The membership included Gene Alford (lead), John Wallace (second tenor and guitar), and Oscar Broadway (bass). By 1944 Oscar had brought in a baritone he knew, Clarence Dixon, and the lineup was set. Their soft and breezy harmonies drew immediate attention and the group made its debut on NBC’s affiliate WSOC-Charlotte radio. In six months they moved up to CBS’s mega power station, the 50,000-watt WBT-Charlotte. The quartet replaced the Southern Sons on the station’s “Carolina Hay Ride” show, a popular program that attracted one listener in particular, Cy Langois of Long-Worth Transcriptions. He signed the group to management. His first move was for a name change to the Four Knights. He took them to New York and they started appearing on Arthur Godfrey’s radio show in 1945. Lang-Worth was a company that made what were called transcriptions, actually early albums containing four to six songs on each side of an eight inch disc that played at 33-1/3 rpm. These discs were not sold to the public; most all were sent to radio stations, allowing a local disc jockey to give the impression the group was right in the studio. The Knights did a number of these recor

top songs

albums

Oh Baby! Best Of Volume 1 1951-1954

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Oh Baby!: Best of, Vol. 1

I Get So Lonely

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Here Come... The Four Knights!

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The Four Knights Collection 1946-59

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Vintage Vocal Jazz / Swing Nº 31 - EPs Collectors "I Get So Lonely"

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Greatest Hits Collection 50s

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Jukebox-Hits (Vol. 6)

The Glory of Love

Essential Gospel Classics

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Timeless Groups

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The Hits Collection 1954

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