Cleve Duncan obit

Cleve Duncan, lead singer of the Penguins, dead at 77

 

He was not on the list.

Cleve Duncan, whose smooth lead voice made the Penguins's "Earth Angel" into one of the most memorable and romantic songs of early rock 'n' roll, died this week at the age of 77.

No further details were available.

Long after the original Penguins broke up, Duncan continued touring with a new version of the group, introducing several generations of fans to a song whose rich background harmonies were almost as indelible as Duncan's vocal.

"It's a timeless song," Duncan said in 1989, 35 years after it was first recorded. "The same way  Irving Berlin songs are timeless. People will always want to hear it."

Duncan admitted to some frustration that he never shared more of the rewards from a song that's been played millions of times on the radio, but he said being known for singing "Earth Angel" "makes you feel good."

The Penguins also were never able to follow up with more hits, though they made a string of first-class records like "My Troubles Are Not At An End," "Devil That I See," and "Love Will Make Your Mind Go Wild."

Their "Christmas Prayer" is one of the finest rhythm and blues holiday records, revived every Christmas season.

Duncan, like the rest of the group, felt their career had been undercut by music business machinations.

After "Earth Angel" became a hit, the major Mercury Records label wanted to buy their contract from the small Dootone label that had released it.

The group's manager, Buck Ram, told Mercury it could only get the Penguins if it took another one of Ram's groups, the Platters.

The Platters, of course, went on to become the top-selling black vocal group of the 1950s, with hits like "Twilight Time" and "Only You."

Duncan and the Penguins felt that because Rams owned the Platters, he gave them the best material and the most attention— while the Penguins were given material that kept sounding like "Earth Angel"revisited.

The group broke up in the late 1950s, before Duncan revived the name with his new group.

The original Penguins formed in late 1953 in Los Angeles when Duncan was singing in a talent show and was approached by Curtis Williams, who had sung with the Hollywood Flames.

They agreed to form a new group and each recruited a friend — Dexter Tisby from Duncan's Fremont  High and Bruce Tate from Williams's Jefferson.

They took their name from the cartoon penguin in Kool cigaret ads.

They were signed by Dootone in part because owner Dootsie Williams was a song publisher and the group brought along two original  songs, including "Earth Angel."

Written by Curtis Williams and Jesse Belvin, it did not at first impress Dootsie Williams. The first record he released by the Penguins was an uptempo novelty called "No, There Ain't No News Today."

"Earth Angel" was their next release and it became  one of the first R&B records to crack the pop charts, peaking at No. 8 despite cover versions by the Crew Cuts and Gloria Mann.

Duncan took pride in noting that when "Earth Angel" resurfaced later in movies like "Karate Kid II" and "Back to the Future," it was always the Penguins's version.

"Those \[cover versions\] is the way the business worked then," he said. "But people knew the real thing."

It is also the Penguins's version that has been played at countless weddings over the years and for decades always finished No. 2 when New York oldies radio station WCBS-FM polled listeners on their favorite songs of all time.

("In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins was No. 1.)

Duncan also returned to the charts in the early 1960s with "Memories of El Monte," a nostalgic song about the famous dances held inthat California community in the '50s.

Written by the late Frank Zappa, who attended the dances, its last verse had Duncan recalling how "I, Cleve Duncan and the Penguins sang…" and then he went into "Earth Angel."

"I never get tired of singing it," he said in 1989, "as long as folks never get tired of hearing it."