The Harptones

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American doo-wop group

title: "The Harptones" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1953-establishments-in-new-york-city", "2014-disestablishments-in-new-york-(state)", "apex-records-artists", "coed-records-artists", "cub-records-artists", "doo-wop-groups", "musical-groups-established-in-1953", "musical-groups-disestablished-in-2014"] description: "American doo-wop group" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harptones" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American doo-wop group ::

The Harptones are an American doo-wop group which formed in Manhattan, New York in 1953.

The group never had a top forty pop hit, or a record on the US Billboard R&B chart, yet they are known for both their lead singer Willie Winfield and their pianist/arranger, Raoul Cita. The Harptones recorded for Coed Records and other labels. The Harptones may have been the first doo-wop group to have a full-time arranger among their members, and Cita knew how to work to Winfield's strengths. Their best-known recordings include "A Sunday Kind of Love" (1953), "Why Should I Love You?" (1954), "Life is But a Dream" (1955), "The Shrine of St. Cecilia" (1956), and "What Will I Tell My Heart" (1961).

In 1956, they recorded some songs for the film Rockin' the Blues: "Mambo Boogie", "Ou Wee Baby", and "High Flying Baby".

The song "Life is But a Dream" was featured in the 1990 film GoodFellas; it appears on the film's soundtrack album.

Members

1951–1954

Willie Winfield (lead)
Billy Brown (bass)
Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor)
William Dempsey (second tenor)
William "Dicey" Galloway (baritone)
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1955

Willie Winfield (lead)
Billy Brown (bass)
Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor)
William Dempsey (second tenor)
Freddy Taylor (baritone)
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Dicey Galloway was drafted in November 1954.

Late 1955

Willie Winfield (tenor)
Billy Brown (bass)
Claudie "Nicky" Clark
William Dempsey (second tenor)
Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone)
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1956

Willie Winfield (tenor)
Bobby Spencer
William Dempsey (second tenor)
Bernard "Jimmy" Beckum (baritone)
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

1956 movie ''Rockin' The Blues''

Willie Winfield (tenor)
Freddy Taylor
Billy Brown
William Dempsey (second tenor)
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Early 1957

Willie Winfield (tenor)
Billy Brown
William Dempsey (second tenor)
William "Dicey" Galloway
Toni Williams
Raoul Cita (piano; baritone)

Billy Brown died of a drug overdose in spring 1957.

Late 1958

Willie Winfield (tenor)
William Dempsey (second tenor)
William "Dicey" Galloway
Toni Williams
Curtis Cherebin

Dicey Galloway left in October and was replaced by Milton Love of The Solitares for a short time, before splitting. Galloway died on July 18, 2017, in Houghs Neck in Quincy, Massachusetts at age 84 after suffering from multiple illnesses.

1959–1963

Willie Winfield
Nicky Clark
William Dempsey
Curtis Cherebin
Raoul Cita

Nicky Clark left after a few months, to be replaced by Wilbur "Yonkie" Paul, who was in turn replaced by Hank "Pompi" Jernigan.

Early 1964

Willie Winfield
Nicky Clark
William Dempsey
Jimmy Beckum
Raoul Cita

Late 1964

Nicky Clark
William Dempsey
Curtis Cherebin
Hank "Pompi" Jernigan
Raoul Cita Nicky Clark died In July 1978, at the age of 43.

1970–1972

Willie Winfield
Curtis Cherebin
Jimmy Beckum
William Dempsey
Raoul Cita

1972–mid-1990s

Willie Winfield
Marlowe Murray
Linda Champion
Raoul Cita

Mid 1990s–1999

Willie Winfield
Marlowe Murray
Linda Champion
William Dempsey
Raoul Cita

The line-up appeared on Doo Wop 50. Linda Champion left due to health problems around 2000.

2000–2008

Willie Winfield
Marlowe Murray
Vicki Burgess
William Dempsey
Raoul Cita

2008–2014

Willie Winfield
Don Cruz
Vicki Burgess
William Dempsey
Raoul Cita
Tommie Shider

Legacy

Billy Brown died of a drug overdose in 1957.

Marlowe Murray died on December 11, 2008, from cancer, at the age of 73.

Raoul J. Cita died on December 13, 2014, from liver and stomach cancer, at the age of 86.

Willie Winfield died from a heart attack on July 27, 2021, aged 91.

William Dempsey is the only original surviving member of The Harptones.

Awards and recognition

The Harptones were featured more times than any other group in the United in Group Harmony Association's official top 500 vocal group recordings list, compiled 1996–2000. They were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.

References

"Passings: Raoul Cita of the Harptones".
"TRB Enterprises Honoring our Pioneers".
"Harptones—OO Wee Baby".
"Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks – HARPTONES".
(October 29, 1990). "Goodfellas: Music from the Motion Picture".
Mary Whitfill. "William 'Dice' Galloway, doo-wop singer and Quincy resident, dies at 84". [[The Patriot Ledger]].
"News".
"Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks – FI-TONES".
"The Dead Rock Stars Club 2014 July To December". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com.
Sandomir, Richard. (August 3, 2021). "Willie Winfield, Angelic-Voiced Doo-Wop Singer, Is Dead at 91". [[The New York Times]].
(2014). "The Top 1000 Doo-Wop Songs: Collector's Edition". Ttgpress.
"The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame {{!}} The Harptones".

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