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The "5" Royales was an Americanrhythm and blues (R&B)vocal group fromWinston-Salem, North Carolina that combinedgospel,jump blues anddoo-wop, marking an early and influential step in the evolution ofrock and roll. Most of their big R&B hits were recorded in 1952 and 1953 and written by the guitarist Lowman "Pete" Pauling.^[1]

Cover versions of the band's songs hit the Top 40, including "Dedicated to the One I Love" (the Shirelles andthe Mamas & the Papas),^[2] "Tell the Truth" (Ray Charles andIke & Tina Turner), and "Think" (James Brown &The Famous Flames). Brown modeled his first vocal group after the "5" Royales, and bothEric Clapton andStax guitaristSteve Cropper cited Pauling as a key influence.The Rolling Stones singerMick Jagger covered "Think" on his 1993 solo albumWandering Spirit.

The "5" Royales were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.^[3]

Originally theRoyal Sons Quintet, the group began recording forApollo Records in the early 1950s, changing its name tothe Royals after abandoning gospel for secular music. The group initially included Lowman Pauling and his brotherClarence, as founding members. Clarence Pauling later shortened his name to "Clarence Paul". He left the group to become involved withMotown as a producer.^[4] Other members included the vocalists Jimmy Moore, Obadiah Carter, and Otto Jeffries, with Johnny Tanner singing lead. Tanner's younger brother, Eugene, later replaced Jeffries. The robust Johnny Tanner sang lead on most of the group's hits, including "Think," but the sweeter-voiced Eugene Tanner stepped to the microphone for the group's best-known song, "Dedicated to the One I Love." "Baby Don't Do It" and "Help Me Somebody" became hits in 1953, and the group soon signed withKing Records. In addition to heartfelt odes like "Dedicated to the One I Love," Pauling also wrote comic and risque tunes, including "Monkey Hips and Rice", later the title of a two-CD anthology of the group's music released byRhino Records in 1994. Pauling used an extra-long strap for his guitar, sometimes playing it down around his knees for comic effect. The group shared stages with all the major R&B artists of the 1950s, includingSam Cooke andRay Charles, once substituting for the latter'sRaelettes at a show inDurham, North Carolina.

According to the Acoustic Music organization, the "first clear evidence of soul music shows up with The '5' Royales, an ex-gospel group that turned to R&B".^[5]

Confusion arose when two groups of Royals began touring, the other led by the Detroit R&B starHank Ballard. According to members of the "5" Royales, the confusion peaked in 1953 when an unscrupulous promoter booked Ballard's group in Winston-Salem, trying to pass the Detroit band off as the hometown group with the same name, much to the chagrin of a local audience. Shortly thereafter, the air cleared when Winston-Salem's Royals became the "5" Royales and Detroit's Royals becameThe Midnighters. (The "5" was inscare quotes because there were actually six members at the time.^[6]) Both groups had hits at King working withRock and Roll Hall of Fame producer Ralph Bass, becoming good friends and routinely competing in battles of the bands at clubs like the Royal Peacock, in theSweet Auburn section ofAtlanta.

With King, "Think" and "Tears of Joy" became hits for the "5" Royales in 1957. Some of their lesser-known tracks from this period are now critically acclaimed as innovative. Rock criticDave Marsh chose the 1958 "5" Royales hit "The Slummer the Slum" as one of the top 1001 singles of all time in his bookThe Heart of Rock and Soul, crediting Pauling with capturing the first intentional use of guitar feedback on record, years before better-known squawks fromThe Beatles,The Yardbirds, andThe Velvet Underground. In the 1960s, R&B gradually gave way to more polished soul music and the Royales' career waned rapidly. The band still recorded, including forMemphis label Home Of The Blues - which results were later compiled on the posthumousCatch That Teardrop^[7] album - as well asVee-Jay,ABC-Paramount,Smash Records and the Todd label.^[8]

The "5" Royales broke up in 1965, though various combinations of musicians toured under the group's name into the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} For a time Pauling continued recording with the pianist and frequent Royales collaborator Royal Abbitt as El Pauling and the Royalton. Pauling's brother,Clarence Paul, a former member of the Royal Sons Quintet, found success as a producer and songwriter at Motown Records in the 1960s.

After years of struggle with alcohol dependency,^{[citation needed]} Lowman Pauling(né Lowman Pete Pauling, Jr.; 1927–1973) ended up working as a night watchman at aManhattan church and died of an apparent seizure on December 26, 1973.^{[citation needed]} He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Winston-Salem, as were his brother Clarence, who lies next to him, and his bandmates Otto Jeffries (1912–1975), who died on August 8, 1975,^[9] and Obadiah Carter(né Obadiah Hawthorne Carter; 1925–1994).^{[citation needed]} Health problems forced Eugene Tanner(né Eugene Elijah Tanner; 1936–1994) to take disability benefits in the years before his death on December 29, 1994.^[10] His brother Johnny Tanner(né John Louis Tanner; 1924–2005) died of cancer on November 8, 2005.^[11] Jimmy Moore(aka Johnny;né James Edward Moore; 1926–2008), the last surviving member of The "5" Royales, died on August 16, 2008, at the Cedar Manor Nursing Home inOssining, New York, after a long illness.^[12]

The "5" Royales were inducted into theNorth Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.^[13] They were nominated unsuccessfully for theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and 2004; they were inducted in 2015 in the category Early Influence.^[3]

The legacy and influence of the "5" Royales was profiled on National Public Radio'sWeekend Edition Sunday on August 14, 2011, in an interview with the guitaristSteve Cropper.^[14] Cropper released the albumDedicated: A Salute to the 5 Royales in 2011.^[15]

In May 2015, compilationSoul & Swagger: The Complete "5" Royales 1951-1967^[16] won aBlues Music Award in the Historical category.^[17] Other posthumous compilations includeMonkey Hips and Rice: The "5" Royales Anthology (1994),^[18]The Apollo Sessions (1995),^[19]It's Hard But It's Fair: King Hits and Rarities (2005)^[20] andThe Definitive "5" Royales: Home of the Blues & Beyond (2014).^[21]

• 45cat discography
• J. Taylor Doggett Collection, Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• "5" Royales singer John Tanner dies November 8, 2005
• "5" Royales Biography I
• "5" Royales Biography II
• NPR interview with Steve Cropper, Sunday, 08/14/11.

• Doo-wop groups
• American rhythm and blues musical groups
• King Records artists
• Vee-Jay Records artists
• Smash Records artists
• American musical quintets
• Musical groups from North Carolina
• Apollo Records artists
• North Carolina Heritage Award winners

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