The Fleetwoods - He's The Great Imposter

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Although the Fleetwoods' sound was smooth, without many of the rougher edges of doo wop groups, they were one of the few white vocal groups of the late '50s and early '60s to enjoy success not only on the pop charts, but also the R&B charts. The Fleetwoods' forte was ballads -- beginning with their 1959 debut single, "Come Softly to Me," the group racked up a number of hits over the next three years, and nearly all of them were ballads. The group broke up in 1963, but their songs -- particularly "Come Softly to Me" -- became pop-rock classics of the pre-British Invasion era.

Gretchen Christopher, Barbara Ellis, and Gary Troxell formed the Fleetwoods while attending high school in Olympia, WA. Originally, the group consisted only of Christopher and Ellis, but the duo soon asked Troxell to accompany them on trumpet. Shortly after his arrival in the group, Troxell abandoned the trumpet and concentrated on singing once the other two members heard a portion of a song he had written. Following some contributions from Christopher and Ellis, the group had written "Come Softly to Me." They began performing the song at various events around Olympia, eventually gaining the attention of Bob Reisdorff, who ran the Seattle-based label, Dolphin Records.

Dolphin released "Come Softly to Me" early in 1959 and the song became an instant hit, climbing to number one on the pop charts and number five on the R&B charts; it also reached the Top Ten in U.K. The Fleetwoods weren't able to immediately produce a follow-up single as successful as their debut, but their third single, "Mr. Blue," was a number one pop and Top Five R&B hit in the U.S. in late 1959. By the time of its release, Dolphin had changed its name to Dolton. For the next three years, the Fleetwoods had a string of minor pop hits. The group wasn't able to consistently place singles in the upper regions of the charts partially because Troxell was drafted into the navy at the height of the group's popularity at the end of 1959. Troxell was replaced by Vic Dana, who would later have a string of his own hit singles in the early '60s.

The Fleetwoods last Top Ten single arrived in the spring of 1961, when "Tragedy" climbed the U.S. charts. The group disbanded two years later, after releasing their final single, a cover of Jesse Belvin's "Goodnight My Love." Over the next three decades, the Fleetwoods reunited occasionally to perform concerts and oldies revues. In 1973, the group recorded an album with producer Jerry Dennon, but the resulting recordings were unsuccessful. In 1990, the Fleetwoods -- featuring Christopher, Troxell, and instead of Ellis a singer called Cheryl Huggins -- played a tour on the American oldies circuit after Rhino released the compact disc collection, The Best of the Fleetwoods. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Category:

Education

Tags:

• vocal
• doo
• wop
• pop

[fab4fan4ever64]

Okay, I'll bite... who's the other guy in the video, at 1:15 and 1:50 ? Handsome indeed, but it isn't Gary... Is it The Great Imposter? Is it you, John?

[John1948Five]

@fab4fan4ever64 Not Gary and not me. He was a friend of mine. And yes, he was the great imposter. Very successful with girls but really just after one thing. Love 'em and leave 'em. It's the one thing I really didn't like about him.

[iotbs7]

Welcome to YouTube, John1948Five. You've probably noticed a number of other 'Great Imposter' postings but, IMO, another one is always appreciated. It's definitely one of their best & is very 'infectious'. I listen to the tune continually and never seem to tire of it..

[John1948Five]

thank you for the welcome but I have been here for years. It's just that YT has closed my older accounts. I do know that other videos of this song are on YT but accounts come and go so if I like the song I will always try to archive it myself. Like you, I never get tired of this song.

[iotbs7]

Sounds like we're both 'on the same page' re this Fleetwoods performance. I'm also quite fond of 'Tragedy' and, of course, their 2 biggest hits; 'Come Softly....' and 'Mr. Blue'. My prime collecting years for pop music(45 rpms) were mainly 1956 -1961, so 'Imposter' was at the 'tail end' of that period, but I've picked up a number of other individual 'gems', from the 50's, 60's, even the '80's and 90's, since then. Keep up your good work.

[John1948Five]

Yes, I considered the Fleetwoods to be sort of a throw back group. They would have fit a bit better if they had come 5 or 10 years earlier. Loved them.

[edb081904]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[Jhensy2001]

What a song.

[pagliaccinodlemantra]

Fleetwoods are the greatest Doo-Wop band

[anitashelby]

Ahhh Love, Love This Beautiful Song!!!! Thankyou John....Anita..:)

[wes50smusic1]

John,great video work that you've added to these Fleetwoods songs!

Thanks much!

[KSCrosby]

i love this song-dated one of these but married a good guy

[kokolanza]

I agree with iotbs6. Thomas Wayne's Tragedy is the best, but the Fleetwoods did a very nice cover. Gretchen Christopher definitely deserves to be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. There are eight or ten excellent songs the Fleetwoods did. Runaround, Outside My Window. They did a great job on Goodnight My Love, and on Daddy's Home.

[overbrookXXX]

@Ripley44mag What's that got to do with this song? They didnt do Concrete and Clay. I dont get your comment.

[9erfandex]

Are you kidding me, Jackie De helped write this, no wonder I always loved it! As many times as I've listened to this, I had no idea until today, as to the origin of composition,so thank you You Tube John1948Five, God Bless and Long Live The one and only Jackie De Shannon!