Billy Ward and the Dominoes were one of the most successful R&B groups of the early 1950s, but by the time this LP came out in '57 they were starting on their way down.
Many people assumed at the time that Ward was the lead singer, but that wasn't the case. Although Ward was the group's musical director (and by all accounts a strict disciplinarian) and played piano, the Dominoes' success was based largely on the styles of lead tenors Clyde McPhatter (1950-53) and Jackie Wilson (1953-57). When McPhatter departed to form The Drifters, Wilson was his replacement.
The group's success was largely confined to the R&B chart and the Dominoes had not had a pop hit since Sixty-Minute Man in 1951. That changed in 1956, a year after Ward signed the group with Decca, when St. Therese of the Roses was a surprise chart entry. It was included on the Billy Ward and the Dominoes album, which also included a version of To Each His Own, a 1946 composition by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Eddy Howard, Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, the Ink Spots and several others recorded hit versions at the time. On the Dominoes' recording Jackie Wilson is the lead singer.
The MP3 is from the original vinyl LP.
To Each His Own
Some of the Dominoes Decca recordings, including St. Therese of the Roses and To Each His Own, are available almost everywhere on various download compilations, many of them of dubious origin. The quality varies widely.
The best overview of the group's career on CD, although it only includes a couple of Decca cuts, is Sixty-Minute Men: The Best of Billy Ward & His Dominoes, a 1993 compilation from Rhino.
No need to pay the $35 demanded by Amazon for this out-of-print item. Used copies are available at a fraction of the price.
Here's the one and only Decca hit by Billy Ward and the Dominoes.
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