Jackie Wilson replaced Clyde McPhatter as the lead singer of The Dominoes today (June 27, 1953).
Jackie Wilson hit the studio for his first sessions as a Domino, producing the hit single “You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down.”
The Dominoes recorded their first sides in November of 1950, with Clyde McPhatter being an original group member.
Clyde McPhatter had been unhappy with his treatment in The Dominoes, which had racked up hits like the #1 single “Sixty Minute Man,” “I Am With You” and “The Bells.”
Jackie had been groomed by The Dominoes’ leader Billy Ward, to replace Clyde McPhatter.
In April of 1953, Clyde McPhatter left The Dominoes to form a new group that would record for Atlantic Records named The Drifters.
As for The Dominoes, Jackie Wilson helped the group continue to produce hits without Clyde McPhatter, who was immensely popular within the black community at the time.
With Jackie on lead, The Dominoes scored hits with songs like “St. Therese of the Roses,” “Until The Real Thing Comes Along” and others.
In early 1957, Jackie Wilson got into a fight with Billy Ward and that was the last straw for the singer as well and he left The Dominoes for a solo career.
Waxfact: Legendary disc jockey Alan Freed is said to have coined the term “Rock & Roll” after a line in “Sixty Minute Man,” that says ‘I rock ’em, roll ’em roll ‘rm all night long…”
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