Legendary groups bring doo-wop to Empress Theatre

VICKI ARNDT – THE MACLEOD GAZETTE
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Only You,” “I’ll Be Seeing You” and many more chart-topping hits from a treasured era gone by will be performed May 11 at the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod by two acts who know how to wow an audience and fill a theatre.
Doo-wop groups The Legendary Platters, opened by The Ink Spots, take the Empress stage May 11 at 8 p.m.
These two acts have performed together to popular review and sold out shows throughout Canada over the last couple of years.
While original members of The Ink Spots have come and gone, their music lives on.
Known for songs like “To Each His Own” and “The Best Things in Life Are Free” The Ink Spots formed in the 1930s in Indianapolis.
The group often referred to as “living legends of American music” is one of the most imitated groups to have ever performed.
Their hits starting topping the charts in 1939 with “If I Didn’t Care” reaching No. 2 in the U.S. charts.
The Ink Spots recorded songs until 1952 with “That’s Just My Way of Forgetting You” which landed at No. 23 on the U.S. charts.
With more than 80 chart topping hits, their music has spanned six generations.
The Platters, formed in Los Angeles in 1953, were one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era.
Their hit sound was a cross between Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new emerging rock and roll genre.
Between 1955 and 1957, the group had 40 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with four No. 1 hits.
“Only You” was released in the summer of 1955 and became the group’s first top ten hit on the pop charts as well as topping the R&B charts for seven weeks.
“The Great Pretender” followed and became The Platters first national No. 1 and ran 11 weeks on top of the R&B charts.
Many of their classic hits are still popular today.