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]
