Herbert Reed (August 7, 1928 – June 4, 2012) was an American musician, vocalist, and founding/naming member of
The Platters
The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The a ...
, known for timeless hits such as Only You (and You Alone) and The Great Pretender. Reed was the last surviving original member of the group, which he co-founded with Joe Jefferson, Alex Hodge, and Cornell Gunter (who later founded The Coasters). Reed is credited with creating The Platters' name.
Reed thought of the group's name after noticing that
DJs
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
in the 1950s called their records "platters".
[ Reed was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 as a member of the Platters.
Reed was raised in poverty in Kansas City, Missouri and moved to Los Angeles when he was fifteen years old.][ He moved to the Boston area during the 1970s after the success of The Platters.][ He was the only member of The Platters who sang on all of the approximately 400 songs recorded by the group.]Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical '' Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Ge ...
", "The Great Pretender
"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single in November 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successfu ...
", " Twilight Time", and "My Prayer
"My Prayer" is a 1939 popular song with music by salon violinist Georges Boulanger and lyrics by Carlos Gomez Barrera and Jimmy Kennedy. It was originally written by Boulanger with the title ''Avant de mourir'' (Before dying) 1926. The lyrics f ...
".[ He is the lead vocalist on "]Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Travis first recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California, on August 8, 1946. Cliff ...
", " Singin' in the Rain", " In a Little Spanish Town", " Sleepy Time Gal", "Darktown Strutters' Ball
"Darktown Strutters' Ball" is a popular song by Shelton Brooks, published in 1917. The song has been recorded many times and is considered a popular and jazz standard. There are many variations of the title, including "At the Darktown Strutters' ...
", " Blues in the Night", and " On the Top of My Mind".
As the last surviving original member of The Platters, Reed waged a long but successful federal court battle over the rights to the name, The Platters.[ The courts ruled that Reed was the only heir to the group's name.][ In 2012, Reed said in an interview, "It's not right to have someone steal your name. It's just not right. We were cheated back then, but that's how things were done...It's theft, and I have to fight it so that no other artist faces this."][
Reed toured throughout his career. He performed as many as 200 concerts per year until 2012, when he stopped due to declining health.][ He died from complications from several ailments, including heart disease, at a hospice in ]Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
on June 4, 2012, aged 83.[ He had most recently resided in ]Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the wealthiest municipalities in Massachusetts. The population ...
.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Herb
1928 births
2012 deaths
American male singers
American basses
Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
The Platters members
Singers from Missouri