Ronnie Bright obit

 

R&B and doo-wop singer Ronnie Bright Has Died

He was not on the list.

American Singer. Born Ronald David Bright, he was a prominent R&B and doo-wop singer from the 1950s to the 1970s. He started his first group, the Dreamers, in 1952 and they would sing on street corners in their neighborhood in Harlem. The group released their first single "Summer Love" in 1954 and a year later changed their name to the Valentines. They recorded several singles before breaking up in 1958, but none of them reached the charts. Bright then joined the group The Cadillacs before going to bass backup singing. Among the songs that he sang backup was Barry Mann's "Who Put the Bomp" and Jackie Wilson's "Baby Workout", but the song that made him most famous was Johnny Cymbal's hit "Mr. Bass Man". In 1968 Bright joined the Coasters and would stay with them until 2009.

Bright was the bass vocalist for doo-wop groups the Valentines, the Cadillacs, the Deep River Boys, and the Coasters. He did session work for artists such as Barry Mann, Jackie Wilson, Peter Gabriel, and Johnny Cymbal. His most recognizable vocals are from Johnny Cymbal's 1963 hit song "Mr. Bass Man." He sang with the Valentines (the group was previously called the Dreamers) from 1954 to 1957, briefly with the Cadillacs in 1960, and the Deep River Boys in the late 1960s. In 1965, Bright released a record for Coed Records as Ronnie and the Schoolmates. He joined the Coasters in April 1968, replacing Dub Jones, and left the group in 2009. He died on November 26, 2015, at the age of 77.