Pied Pipers @ Hep Records, jazz in depth from the 1930's to the present day.

Pied Pipers
(Vocal Group)

The Pied Pipers are without doubt the most popular singing group in the history of the bigband era. The middle thirties saw the rise of The Merry Macs and the Andrews Sisters as exponents of close harmony singing which was more or less a development of the classic vaudeville "barbershop" tradition.

In 1939 a group consisting of eight men and a girl lead singer made two records accompanied by a studio swing group. They also performed on radio with Tommy Dorsey, and while nine voices created intriguing harmonies it precluded a realistic chance of commercial success. The following year the group had cut down to three men and a girl and Dorsey was quick to appreciate the possibilities of the new Pied Pipers especially as his main competitor Glenn Miller was about to promote the Modernaires.

Jo Stafford's unique voice together with John Huddleston, Chuck Lowry and the band's guitarist Clark Yocum comprised the remodelled Pipers and when they joined the band's new singer Frank Sinatra the results were pure box office magic as on "I'll Never Smile Again". Sinatra left the Dorsey band in mid-1942 and the Pipers also decided to try their luck as a separate act. The war dented the ranks with Huddleston being drafted and Hal Hopper replaced him. Huddleston returned after the war and a brief acrimonious court action left Huddleston with some compensation but no reinstatement within the group.

In 1944 Jo Stafford also went solo and was replaced by June Hutton who had formerly sung the lead with Charlie Spivak's Stardusters quartet. This was now the personnel that for the rest of the decade topped all the vocal group polls.

Their success was due in part to being engaged by their former TD colleague Frank Sinatra to be part of his fabulously successful "Lucky Strike" radio series during the years 1944-47. Another big radio show which helped promote their music was Johnny Mercer's "Music Shop" in 1944. The group also enjoyed the publicity machine and support of Capitol Records and the arrangements of yet another Dorsey alumnus, Paul Weston. Their big Capitol hit was "Dream".

In the fifties and succeeding decades groups such as the Four Freshman, The Hi Los, Singers Unlimited, Swingle Singers and currently L.A. Voices developed the tradition. As for the Pipers the personnel changed but the style has remained and even today the current group makes special concert appearances to remind their many fans of just what quality harmony singing is about.

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