Marvin Junior (The Dells) - A Profile

Marvin Junior was the baritone lead vocalist of one of the longest serving groups in history, The Dells. He was born on this day in 1936 and died of heart and kidney problems on 29 May 2013 aged 77 so would have been 87 today. His voice is one of the greatest in soul music which has has inspired many such as Teddy Pendergrass.

He was born Marvin Curtis Junior on 31 Jan 1936 in Harrell, AK, moving to Chicago at a very young age. 

The Dells were formed in 1952 as The El-Rays consisting of Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale and brothers Michael and Lucius McGill. They met whilst at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, IL. Luscius McGill left soon afterwards leaving them a quintet and in 1955 renamed themselves as The Dells. They disbanded temporarily in 1958 after a near fatal car crash which left Michael (Mickey) McGill in hospital for six months, but reformed in 1960 with The Flamingos founding member Johnny Carter replacing Funches in 1961. As stated recently in the Remembering Billy Stewart feature, Barksdale joined Harvey Fuqua's Moonglows (along with a young Marvin Gaye) during this period, returning to The Dells when they reformed in 1960. The same line-up stayed together until Carter's death in 2009 but continued performing right up until 2012 when Junior and Barkdsdale retired owing to ill health. Barksdale died in May 2019.

Allison, McGill and Barksdale were the harmony backbone of the group with Junior and Carter taking lead.

Their first single was released as The El Rays on Checker in 1954 after which the changed their name to The Dells and signed with Vee-Jay in 1955 and hit with their third single for the label, "Oh What A Nite", (written by Junior and Funches) which reached #4 R&B in 1956. Despite around another fifteen singles on Vee-Jay they failed to capitalise on that hit and had to wait until the sublime deep soul ballad, "Stay In My Corner", in 1965, which had a cover of Tom Jones' hit, "It's Not Unusual", on the flip, for their next hit (#23 R&B). It was another two years before their next in 1967, after which they had a run of consecutive hits, including two R&B #1 with re-recordings of both "Stay In My Corner" and "Oh, What A Night" and another eight R&B Top 10 hits.

They re-joined the Chess fold in 1966 on the Cadet imprint and this was their golden age up to 1975 registering twenty six R&B hits in this period which was steered by producer/arranger Charles Stepney. They achieved sixteen R&B Top 20 hits, ten of those Top 10 with two number one hits. Eight of the singles crossed over to the Hot 100 Top 40. Stepney died of a heart attack in 1976 and the group switched to Mercury in 1975 and the big hits became fewer and farther between.

In 1978 the joined ABC, then 20th Century Fox in 1980 and Private I in 1984. An album appeared on their own label Veteran in 1988 followed by one on Philadelphia International in 1992.

The Dells were the inspiration, and consultants, for the Robert Townsend 1991 movie "The Five Heartbeats" which was about a fictitious singing group loosely based on The Dells. They recorded "A Heart Is a House for Love" for the soundtrack which was a #13 R&B hit for them in 1991.

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

I thoroughly enjoyed putting the playlist below together even though many of their albums are not available as it forced the exploration of some that may otherwise have been skipped. There are just so many gems, especially many of the ballads and deep cuts, as well as many well know songs. I did consider streamlining it but left it as is as there may well be some new to you. 

Album Discography

1959 - Oh, What a Nite [Vee-Jay]

1965 - It's Not Unusual [Vee-Jay]

1968 - There Is [Cadet]

1969 - The Dell Musical Menu / Always Together [Cadet]

1969 - Love Is Blue [Cadet]

1970 - Like It Is Like It Was [Cadet]

1971 - Freedom Means.... [Cadet]

1972 - The Dells Sing Dionne Warwicke's Greatest Hits [Cadet]

1972 - Sweet as Funk Can Be [Cadet]

1973 - Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation [Cadet]

1974 - The Dells [Cadet]

1974 - The Dells vs. The Dramatics [Cadet]

1974 - The Mighty Mighty Dell [Cadet]

1975 - We Got to Get Our Thing Together [Mercury]

1976 - No Way Back [Mercury]

1977 - They Said It Couldn't Be Done, But We Did It! [Mercury]

1978 - Love Connection [Mercury]

1978 - New Beginnings [ABC]

1979 - Face to Face [ABC]

1980 - I Touched a Dream [20th Century Fox]

1981 - Whatever Turns You On [20th Century Fox]

1984 - One Step Closer [Private I]

1988 - The Second Time [Veteran]

1992 - I Salute You [Philadelphia International]

2000 - Reminiscing [Volt]

2002 - Open Up My Heart: The 9/11 Album [Devine]

2003 - Hott [Devine]

2008 - Then & Now [Devine]

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