Charles Barksdale, the bass singer for The Dells, a 1950s doo-wop group that was able to transition to the smooth, stirring soul stylings of later musical eras, died Wednesday morning, according to Marshall Thompson of the Chi-Lites.
Mr. Barksdale, who’d been in failing health, died in a south suburb, Thompson said. He was 84.
“All the 1970s bass singers learned a lot from Charles Barksdale,” Thompson said. “We learned how to sing under them.”
“No matter what they [the Dells] sang, they had their own sound,” said George Daniels, owner of the iconic George’s Music Room record stores.
That sound was called “hypnotic” by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which praised their astonishing track record when it inducted the group in 2004: 46 R&B hits between 1956 and 1992.
“The Dells were based on their harmony and the way the songs were constructed,” said Richard Steele, who spun platters as a deejay before becoming a host on WBEZ. “You couldn’t really copy them.”
When Steele interviewed Mr. Barksdale, he recalled him saying “I’m a ‘needs’ singer”–as in, “whatever they need.”
“He could sing lead, to baritone, to bass,” said Carter Russell, who served as road manager and M.C. for the group.
Mr. Barksdale also had strong executive skills that enabled him to do strategic planning and business management for the group, Russell said. As a result, the Dells were able to focus on and enjoy performing, rather than taking day jobs to make ends meet. “They worked all the time,” he said. “They toured Europe, Japan.”
At their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors, actor-director Robert Townsend, who’d grown up loving their music, said, “The Dells were my inspiration for the film ‘The Five Heartbeats.’ ”
“We lost a giant today,” Townsend said Wednesday on Facebook, calling Mr. Barksdale “the velvet bass voice of The Dells.”
“The Dells were my technical advisers on ‘The Five Heartbeats.’ The real stuff in the film about the music industry came from them and Chuck shared with me so honestly, the good, the bad and the ugly of the music business,” Townsend said. “He will be missed but. . . .I will celebrate his memory by listening to nothing but their hits today!”
The five-man group formed as the El-Rays in 1952, when its members were students at Harvey’s Thornton Township High School.
After the release of their 1956 song “Oh What a Night,” it went to No. 3 on the charts, “behind Elvis’ ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ at No. 2 and Fats Domino’s ‘Blueberry Hill’ on top,” according to The Dells’ website.
Other top songs included “The Love We Had Stays on My Mind,” “I Touched a Dream,” “Stay in My Corner,” and “Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation.” They also recorded “A House is a Heart for Love,” featured in Townsend’s 1991 film.
Sometimes known as The Mighty Dells, the members were also inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, which called them “The Grandfathers of R&B Harmony.”
“They paved the road for such groups as the Temptations, the Miracles, the Stylistics, and more recently, Boyz II Men, Jagged Edge and 112,” according to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
When their popularity began growing, The Dells toured with Dinah Washington. “She taught them modern harmonies,” Thompson said.
The group performed at the Regal in Chicago, the Apollo in New York, the Royal in Baltimore and many other storied theaters that booked legendary African-American entertainers, Thompson said.
Once, at a concert in Japan, they thought the somewhat reserved audience was cool to them. But after the show, “the fans came back to the dressing room and they had every [Dells] record and they wanted them to sign them,” Steele said. Mr. Barksdale “said that was an amazing experience.”
Arrangements are pending.
