The Radiants were an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

and R&B

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

popular in the 1960s. The group formed in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, in 1960, where its members met singing in the youth choir of Greater Harvest Baptist Church. They performed both

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and secular tunes, the latter of which were written by leader Maurice McAlister. While attempting to land a record deal, they found that labels were not interested in gospel groups anymore, and concentrated on secular tunes, eventually landing a deal with

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

. Billy Davis produced their early records, including the first, "Father Knows Best" b/w "One Day I'll Show You", which was a regional hit in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

in 1962. Several more singles for Chess followed, but did not sell well, and by 1964 the group had more or less broken up. McAlister and baritone Wallace Sampson continued on as a trio with new member

Leonard Caston Jr. Leonard Caston Jr. (born November 13, 1943) is an American rhythm and blues songwriter, record producer, pianist and singer. He recorded for both the Chess and Motown labels in the 1960s and 1970s, and co-wrote or co-produced several major hit ...

(son of

Leonard Caston Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (June 2, 1917 – August 22, 1987) was an American blues pianist and guitarist. He is best noted for the tracks "Blues at Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log". Life and career Leonard Caston Sr. was born in Sum ...

). With this line-up they had their biggest hit, 1964's "Voice Your Choice". The follow-up, "Ain't No Big Thing", was also a hit. Caston left the group in 1965, replaced by James Jameson. This line-up recorded only one single, "Baby You Got It", before McAlister departed. At this time, Chess had another group, The Confessions, led by Mitchell Bullock, on its roster, who had recorded the single "Don't It Make You Feel Kinda Bad" but broken up before the album's release. Billy Davis had Bullock join The Radiants with Sampson, Jameson, and Victor Caston, the younger brother of Leonard Jr. The recording of "Don't It Make You Feel Kinda Bad" made by The Confessions was then issued under The Radiants' name in 1967. This line-up produced one more hit single, "Hold On", and after several more failed singles the group was dropped by Chess in 1969. They continued to perform together through 1972. McAlister and tenor Green McLauren also recorded as Maurice & Mac.

Members

*Maurice McAlister (lead) (1960–65) *Wallace Sampson (baritone) *Jerome Brooks (second tenor) (1960–64) *Elize Butler (bass) (1960–64) *Charles Washington (first tenor) (1960–62) *Green McLauren (first tenor) (1962–63) *Frank McCollum (first tenor) (1963–64) *Leonard Caston, Jr. (tenor) (1964–65) *James Jameson (tenor) (1965-?) *Victor Caston *Mitchell Bullock (lead) (1967-1972)

Charting singles

References

External links

* The Radiantsat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radiants, The Musical groups from Chicago Doo-wop groups Chess Records artists