The Ames Brothers were an American singing quartet, consisting of four siblings from Malden, Massachusetts, who were particularly famous in the 1950s for their traditional pop hits.[1]
The Urick brothers were born in Malden, Massachusetts. Joe (May 3, 1921 – December 22, 2007),[1] Gene (February 13, 1924 – April 26, 1997), Vic (May 20, 1925 – January 23, 1978), and Ed (July 9, 1927 – May 21, 2023)[2] formed the singing group the Amory Brothers, which would become the Ames Brothers.
Born into a non-professional but musically talented family, the boys were raised to enjoy classical music and operatic music. Their parents, David and Sarah Urick, were Russian Jewish immigrants from Ukraine who read Shakespeare and semi-classics to their nine children from the time they were old enough to listen.
Three of the brothers formed a quartet with a cousin named Lennie, and had been touring United States Army and Navy bases entertaining the troops when they were offered a job at The Fox and Hounds nightclub, one of the fanciest clubs in Boston. This one-week engagement turned into several months when positive word-of-mouth about their appearance got around. At the time, they were using Vic's middle name and calling themselves the Amory Brothers. They were becoming quite popular in the area and it was at this time that Joe decided to rejoin the group. Taking their act to New York City, they got a job with bandleader Art Mooney. One day while at Leeds Publishing Company in search of a song called "Should I" that their mother had asked them to sing, Milt Gabler of Decca Records overheard them singing it and asked them to cut a few sides for Decca Records, just before the AFM recording ban which James Petrillo imposed in January 1948. The ban was lifted a year later. The brothers shortened Amory to Ames and became the first artists to record for the newly founded Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca.[citation needed]
The group sang on Robert Q. Lewis's radio program until it was cut from one hour to 15 minutes. In late February 1949 they began performing on Sing It Again, a musical quiz program on CBS radio.[3]
The brothers were swept into national top billing with their first hit record, "Rag Mop", in January 1950.[4] Doing radio shows for free at times, just for the experience, they later became regulars on such shows as Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. One of the first acts to appear on the original The Ed Sullivan Show when it was known as Toast of the Town, the foursome made their debut with him when the show was telecast live from Wanamaker's Department Store.
Soon, the Ames Brothers were the top paid group in nightclubs and supper clubs everywhere and their popularity on television was nationwide. In 1956, they starred in their own syndicated TV program, The Ames Brothers Show, sponsored by RC Cola and broadcast on Friday nights. It was the first syndicated TV show to be broadcast in foreign countries. The brothers also appeared on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.
Over their fifteen-year career, the Ames Brothers prolific work notched up 49 US chart entries, 21 of them on the Coral label before signing with RCA Victor in 1953. The quartet disbanded in 1963, but Ed Ames continued with a successful singing and acting career, including playing Daniel Boone's sidekick, Mingo, on the popular Daniel Boone television series.
They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
Vic died in a car accident in 1978 at age 52,[5] Gene died of cancer in 1997 at age 73,[6] and Joe died of a heart attack in 2007 at age 86.[7] Ed, the last surviving member, died in 2023 at the age of 95.[8]
NOTE: Repeat titles of Coral tracks shown below are standard singles and not under Coral's "Silver Star Series" reissue line