Ruby Nash Garnett (born June 15, 1934) is an American singer who led the

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

group

Ruby & the Romantics Ruby & the Romantics were an Akron, Ohio-based American R&B group in the 1960s, comprising Ruby Nash, George Lee, Ronald Mosely, Leroy Fann and Ed Roberts. The group had several pop and R&B hit records, topping the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 c ...

Career

Born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, Nash did not start singing until she was a senior in high school. She joined a group of male singers touring as "The Supremes" in 1961. After they got a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with Kapp Records, they changed their name to "Ruby & the Romantics". In 1963, they scored a No. 1 hit with " Our Day Will Come", and had a Top 20 Hit with, "My Summer Love" (#16) and still another hit with "

Hey There Lonely Boy "Hey There Lonely Girl" is a song recorded in 1963, titled "Hey There Lonely Boy" in its original version by Ruby and the Romantics. It was a hit both for them and for Eddie Holman. It has been recorded by many other artists. Ruby and the Roma ...

" (#27), along with several more charting songs over the next several years, but they never emulated that initial success. The group disbanded in 1971, after 10 years, still with all five original members: Nash, Leroy Fann, Ed Roberts, George Lee and Ron Mosely. Nash returned to Akron and worked for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. Ruby & The Romantics were given a Pioneer Award by the

Rhythm and Blues Foundation The Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent American nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music. The idea for the foundation came in 1987 during discussions about royalties with en ...

in 1997, and were inducted into the

Vocal Group Hall of Fame The Vocal Group Hall of Fame (VGHF) is an American-based hall of fame that honors vocal groups throughout the world in every genre of music. Headquartered in the Columbia Theatre in Sharon, Pennsylvania, it includes a theater and a museum. It was ...

in 2007. , Nash is the only surviving original member.

References

1934 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers American women singers Ruby Nash Garnett Singers from Ohio 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers Rhythm and blues singers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women {{Ohio-bio-stub