Today would have been Robert "Squirrel" Lester's 80th birthday. He was a
founding member of The Chi-Lites when they were formed out of two existing
Chicago groups The Chantours (of which he was a member) and The Desideros
in 1960.
Clockwise from 12 o'clock:
Robert Lester, Marshall Thompson, Eugene Record, Creadel Jones
Lester was born in McComb, MS, in 1942 and died from cancer in 2010 aged
67. He was a member of the group to end, despite the late 70s group split,
he rejoined when they reformed in the 80s and he became the lead singer
after Eugene Record's departure. Other members included Eugene Record,
Clarence Johnson (mentioned only yesterday on The Lovelites profile), Burt
Bowen and Eddie Reed. Bowen was replaced by Sollie McElroy from The
Flamingos who in turn was replaced by Marshall Thompson of The Desideros.
After Eddie Reed's death in 1960 he was replaced by Creadel 'Red' Jones
from The Desideros. They changed their name to The Hi-Lites in 1964, after
the departure of Johnson (leaving a quartet of Eugene Record, Robert
Lester, Marshall Thompson and Creadel Jones), releasing two singles under
the name before changing it again later that year (as another group had the
same name) renaming themselves to Marshall Thompson & The Chi-Lites and
then simply The Chi-Lites.
Clockwise from 12 o'clock:
Eugene Record, Marshall Thompson, Robert Lester, Creadel Jones
Up until 1971 they had some minor hits, the highest "Give More Power To
The People" reaching #26 on Hot 100. That changed when "Have You Seen Her"
topped the R&B chart and reached #3 on Hot 100 followed by "Oh Girl"
which topped both charts. However, they never again broke into the Hot 100
top 30 despite having another ten R&B Top 20 hits.
Thompson is the sole survivor of the original line-up and continues the
Chi-Lite's legacy. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame in Jun 2020 to add to their Vocal Hall of Fame (2005) and
R&B Music Hall of Fame (2013) honours.
Rather than regurgitate many of the songs most will already be well aware
of, I've decided to showcase half a dozen of their earlier, pre Brunswick, perhaps
lesser known material. None of which seem to be available on Spotify so have reverted to good old faithful YouTube.
The Hi-Lites [1964] - I'm So Jealous [Daran #222]
The Chi-Lites [1965] - Ain't You Glad (Winter's Over) [Blue Rock #B-4020]
Marshall & The Chi-Lites [1966] - Pretty Girl [Daran #012]
Marshall & The Chi-Lites [1967] - Price Of Love [Dakar #45-600]
The Chi-Lites [1967] - Love Me [Revue #R-11005]
The Chi-Lites [1967] - (Um, Um) My Baby Loves Me [Revue #R-11018]
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1 comment:
Still a member of this magnificent group which participated in the history of Soul. Thank you for paying him this tribute.
Yves
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