Mel Carter Biography
22 April 1943, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Although an African-American who began his career in an R&B milieu, Carter possessed a warm and smooth tenor that lent itself best to middle-of-the-road pop music. His mid-60s hits were essentially in that style, and although they possessed enough rock 'n' roll edge to make the Top 40 radio play, there was not quite enough for them to be heard on R&B stations. He first sang on local radio at the age of four, and performed with Lionel Hampton at the age of nine. His first hit, for Sam Cooke's Derby Records, was "When A Boy Falls In Love" (1963), which made both the R&B and pop charts. After joining Imperial in 1964, all his records were on the pop charts, recording hits such as "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" (number 8 pop) in 1965, "(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings" (number 38 pop) in 1965, and "Band Of Gold" (number 32 pop) in 1966. "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" was an earlier hit by the Orioles in 1953 and "Band Of Gold" for Don Cherry in 1955. Chart success eluded Carter after 1966, but in later decades he had built a career on American television, parlaying his handsome looks on shows such as Quincy, Sanford And Son, Marcus Welby, MD, and Magnum P.I.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
|
