RIP Arthur Crier

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

For do wop and motown fans

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Found this on Voyforum obituary site. No other
confirmation.

By Todd Baptista

Singer-songwriter-producer Arthur Crier, a bass-singing
veteran of the doo-wop era who sang on dozens of hit records
for artists including Gene Pitney, Curtis Lee, Barry Mann,
Ben E. King, and the Halos, died at his home in Warsaw,
North Carolina on Thursday, July 22 of an apparent heart
attack. He was 69.
Arthur Crier was born in Manhattan on April 1, 1935, and
grew up listening to the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers in
the early 1940s. A glee club singer by the first grade, he
was performing gospel with a local amateur quintet called
the Heavenly Five in the Morrisania section of the Bronx by
age 15.
In the winter of 1953, Arthur formed the Chimes with Gary
Morrison, Gene Redd, and John Murray. They recorded two
singles, including "Dearest Darling", for Royal Roost that
year. In early 1956, he recorded several songs for Old Town
Records with a group called the Hummers, although it would
be decades before these would be released.
That winter, he and Morrison joined original members Lillian
Leach, John Wilson, and Harold Johnson in the Mellows,
replacing Norman Brown. The Mellows had first recorded for
Jay-Dee in the summer of 1954, and had enjoyed an East
Coast hit "Smoke From Your Cigarette", but were without a
contract when the new lineup was formed.
The Mellows signed to Celeste Records in 1956 and recorded
"Lucky Guy" and the fine ballad "I'm Yours", but lack of
promotion doomed the sides to obscurity. In 1957, they
recorded the haunting ballad, "Moon Of Silver", Crier's own
personal favorite, for Candlelight Records. Following the
breakup of the Mellows, Crier dove headfirst into
songwriting, producing and managing. He also formed the
Halos and recorded the Coasters-styled novelty, "Nag", which
became a national hit in the summer of 1961. Crier's
prominent bass voice, singing "oh, baby you're a nag" became
the song's hook.
As accomplished background singers, Crier and the members of
the Halos were among the most recorded vocal groups of the
early 1960s, backing artists including Tommy Hunt, Bobby
Vinton, Johnny Nash, Little Eva, Johnny Mathis, Dion, the
Coasters, Connie Francis, Brian Hyland, and Ben E. King,
among others. Crier's resonant bass voice was featured on
Barry Mann's "Who Put The Bomp" and the Phil
Spector-produced "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" by Curtis Lee,
and Gene Pitney's "Every Breath I Take".
His songwriting, managing, and producing credits throughout
the 1960s included work with the Four Tops, the Temptations,
Thelma Houston, Savannah Smith, Baby Jane and the
Rock-A-Byes, the Rosettes, the Darlettes, and GQ, which
included Arthur's son, Keith. From 1968-1972, Arthur lived
in Detroit, and worked for Motown Records as a songwriter,
producer, and background vocalist.
In 1984, Crier reformed the Mellows and began performing
again for devotees of 1950s R&B vocal group harmony music.
Inspired by the "We Are The World" project, Arthur undertook
a similar effort featuring vocal group artists of the 1950s
and 1960s called "Don't Let Them Starve". After a National
Geographic Explorer cable television documentary on the
vocal groups of the Bronx's Morrisania neighborhood, Crier
and friends formed the Morrisania Revue, recording the
critically acclaimed "Voices of Doo Wop" CD in 1994.
A champion of the music and fervent believer in its
historical preservation, Crier participated in a number of
projects that broadened the horizons for vocal group
pioneers. With friend and singing partner Eugene Tompkins
and Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, he organized the 1999 Great Day
in Harlem photo shoot at Shriver's Row in Harlem with
several hundred vocal group pioneers. The official photo was
unveiled at the Smithsonian Institution in February, 2000.
Briefly a touring member of the Chords during the 1950s,
Crier joined forces with the group's lone surviving original
member, Buddy McRae, for a PBS television appearance in
2002. Crier's rich musical history was chronicled in the
2001 book, "Group Harmony: Echoes of the Rhythm and Blues
Era". "People love this music," Crier told author Todd
Baptista. "It's being ignored, but if you have the right
exposure, everybody will love it. Not only collectors,
everybody will love it, because
the songs are great. I think the music is going to make some
noise and find a niche, and be stronger than it is right
now."
Crier was instrumental in the production of "Doo Wop In DC",
a reunion tribute to the pioneers of rhythm and blues, rock
& roll, and doo-wop music held in Washington last month, and
gave his final performance that weekend. "He was so proud of
the event, and it really was a wonderful sendoff for him,"
Tompkins said Friday. "I had spoken to him in the morning
(on the day he died), and he was in very good spirits,
making plans for the all the things he wanted to do next."
Throughout his half-century career as an entertainer, Crier
never tired of singing, entertaining, and associating with
fans. "The fans are like a drug to me," Crier stated. "The
friendship, and the warmth that they show me wherever we
work, that's my drug. I don't care how hard my day was. When
I walk through the doors at any oldies show, it's like
walking into heaven. It makes you feel good. The songs are
standards now, and I'm glad, because I want us all to be
known and be in the history books where we should be. Let
them know that this music did exist."
Survivors include his wife, Dorothy, six children, 19
grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral
arrangements are pending.

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