By Patrick Wilson
John L. Tanner Sr. felt that his R&B band, The "5" Royales, never
got its due.
It was especially noticeable to Tanner when popular groups
such as The Mamas & the Papas and The Shirelles
later reached the top 10 in pop charts by recording covers of the popular
"5" Royales song, "Dedicated to the
One I Love."
He was content with his place in music history, one of his
sons recalled yesterday. "He was never bitter about it," Willard
Tanner said.
Tanner, 78, of Winston-Salem
passed away Tuesday at Wake Forest
University Baptist
Medical Center.
He was the lead singer of The "5" Royales, a Winston-Salem
band that was one of the hottest groups on the R&B circuit in the 1950s.
The group was first known as the Royal Sons Quintet, but
changed its name in 1952. The "5" Royales
had seven top-10 R&B hits in the 1950s. James Brown, Aretha Franklin and
Ray Charles later covered the group's songs. Eric Clapton covered the song
"Tell the Truth" on the Derek and the Dominoes album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
The "5" Royales toured
nationally and in the Caribbean. Willard Tanner
remembers his father coming home from the road trips,
sharing stories of meetings with performers such as Brown and Franklin.
"He was excited to come back home and be with his
family," Willard Tanner said. "He felt a lot of times guilty to leave
us and go back out on the road and travel."
Most of The "5" Royales'
songs were recorded in 1952 and 1953 and were written by the band's guitarist,
the late Lowman Pauling. John Tanner left the group
in 1963.
The music is recognized as an important step in the
evolution of soul. The "5" Royales have
been nominated in recent years to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, but haven't made it.
"I think a lot of knowledgeable people think that they
ought to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because they essentially
invented the soul sound of music," said J. Taylor Doggett of Greensboro,
a fan who has written about the group.
"James Brown basically copies their style,
and The Temptations.... They just didn't get the credit they deserved,"
Doggett said.
John Tanner's younger brother, the late Eugene Tanner, was
also a member of the group. The soulful tone of John Tanner's voice, Doggett
said, was what other singers tried to copy.
"He had, in my opinion, the most recognizable voice in
the rhythm and blues of the 1950s," Doggett said. "I've heard a few
singers that sound a little like him or tried to sound like him, but he had a
very distinctive sound."
Tanner's father, Eugene Tanner Sr., was the first black to
sing gospel on a radio station in Winston-Salem,
Willard Tanner said.
In 1991, the city of Winston-Salem
named a road off North Trade Street
as Five Royales Drive
in honor of the group.
After leaving the group, Tanner treated show business as a
past life and was not always open to talk about it, Doggett said.
"I would have to pry a little, and he would let me know
and tell me some of the stories about being on the road and the places that
they sang," said Tamara Hughes, one of Tanner's grandchildren.
"Granddad was a very caring person, very straightforward."
Tanner was a spiritual person, his family said, and was the
director of the senior choir at St. John
CME Church
in Winston-Salem, where his funeral
service will be held today.
"His accomplishments out in the world were great, but
in the family, as the man of this great family, he was just sweet and
sensitive," said Lizzie Tanner, a daughter-in-law.
• Patrick Wilson can be reached at 727-7286 or at pwilson@wsjournal.comWinston man
Nov. 11, 2005
Source: Journeynow.com
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