Zola Taylor

Zola Taylor, singer: born Los Angeles 17 March 1934; died Los Angeles 30 April 2007.

Some of the most distinctive moments in the rock'n'roll films of the 1950s belong to the vocal group the Platters, with its line-up of four male singers and one woman, Zola Taylor, known as "The Dish". She looked very elegant in Rock Around the Clock (1956), The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Rock All Night (1957), surrounded by the male Platters in dinner jackets.

Their appearance hardly represented the rock'n'roll world that the films were promoting, and the same could be said of the Platters' records, which were usually superior middle-of-the-road ballads with an oh-so-gentle rock'n'roll beat. But, Taylor once reflected, "Not a group out there could touch us when we walked out on stage. We were a God-blessed winning team."

Taylor was born in Los Angeles in 1934, although many sources say 1938. She was a fine singer and she made her first record, "Make Love to Me", in 1953. Buck Ram, who had written the standards "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Twilight Time", wanted a vocal group that was more sophisticated than others of the day, singing quality material rather than novelties. After a few changes, he settled on Tony Williams (lead tenor), Herb Reed (bass), David Lynch (second tenor) and Paul Robi (baritone). In 1955, he played a masterstroke by adding glamour with the contralto Zola Taylor. This also gave the group a more romantic sound.

Ram had previously recorded the Platters on his song "Only You", but he knew that the arrangement sounded wrong. He recorded the song again, adding a contemporary beat. The single was released on the US Mercury label and was soon in the nation's Top 10.

This was followed by two more successes, "The Great Pretender" and their first US No 1, "My Prayer". Taylor took the lead vocal on the rhythmic B-side, her own composition, "Bark, Battle and Ball", which owed much to Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ram attributed the Platters' success to "simple melodies, simple lyrics and no over-production". To a degree, this is right, but the group's main strength was Williams's dynamic lead vocals. The records sounded far more lively than those of the Ink Spots or the Mills Brothers.

Because of a problem over distribution, "Only You" was a UK hit for the Hilltoppers and "The Great Pretender" for Jimmy Parkinson. When the Platters' records could finally be released in the UK in 1956, they had a double-sided Top Five single with "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".

The Platters recorded prolifically and the albums and the B-sides allowed the group members to shine. Taylor was featured on lead vocal on the B-sides "He's Mine" (1957), "Indiff'rent" (1957) and "My Old Flame" (1958). She and David Lynch sang a romantic duet, "Goodnight, Sweetheart, It's Time to Go", on the album The Platters (1957).

In March 1957, the Platters came to the UK. Although their music was aimed at rock'n'roll fans, they topped a variety bill with Vera Cody and her horse, Goldie, and the "acrobatical nonsense" of the Two Palmers. Taylor took centre stage for "He's Mine" and a novelty duet with Paul Robi, "Gum Drop". The group appeared on the television show Sunday Night at the London Palladium. When they returned in 1960, they shared the same programme with the UK's newest star, Cliff Richard, and the viewing figures were nearly 20 million.

The Platters continued to have hits, including very atmospheric revivals of "Twilight Time" (1958), "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (1958) and "Harbour Lights" (1959). Jerome Kern's widow was so incensed by their revival of his composition "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" that she tried to stop its distribution. She was unsuccessful and the record was a No 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Late in 1959, the four male members of the Platters were arrested in Cincinnati on the charge of holding an orgy with prostitutes and drugs. The case was dismissed, but the judge gave the Platters a strong rebuke, saying that they had a duty to keep their lives clean. Some US radio stations removed their records from playlists.

Shortly after that, Tony Williams left to work solo, and although his replacement, Sonny Turner, was excellent, the group had lost its momentum. Zola Taylor left in 1964 and went on to work with Paul Robi and David Lynch as the Original Platters. Buck Ram was furious as he contended that he owned the group's name and that his group was the original. He said, "The singers come and go, but the people don't mind so long as the songs are done the way they want to hear them - the way I wrote them."

The singer Frankie Lymon died of a heroin overdose in 1968 and over the years there was a battle for his royalties, notably from his composition "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". In court, Taylor claimed that she and Lymon had been sexually active since the tour The Biggest Rock'n'Roll Show of 1956 when Lymon was only 14. She claimed to have married him in 1965, but could not produce a marriage certificate and lost her claim. In the 1998 filmWhy Do Fools Fall in Love, she was played by Halle Berry.

Spencer Leigh

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