The Mellomen

The Mellomen, sometimes referred to as The Mellowmen or The Mellow Men ( The German mature men) referred to, were a male singing quartet, which worked with Bing Crosby, Doris Day and Elvis Presley. Occasionally, they also appeared under other names such as Big John & The Buzzards, Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft Quartet.

History

In the late 1940s the sportsmen, the best known and most sought after male singing quartet in the United States. They appeared in numerous radio programs and traveled for live performances around the country. This brought the former Sportsmen members Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith on the idea to create a quartet that was reached in Hollywood any time. This idea resulted in 1948 in cooperation with Bob Hamlin and Bill Lee establishing the quartet The Mellomen, which covered the entire musical range and soon got numerous orders due to its versatility.

In addition to her collaboration with well-known artists also took up the Mellomen own records and acted in several films such as Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp and El Dorado.

With Elvis Presley they worked blond in the production of the film whether whether brown ( It Happened at the World's Fair) in which they are to be seen in the performance of the song One Broken Heart for Sale. Then they looked at the title song for the film Roustabout Roustabout and with most songs of the film South Sea paradise. Again, to see they were in the Elvis Presley film The Trouble with Girls ( The Trouble With Girls) at the performance of the song Swing Down Sweet Chariot.

Occupation

While Thurl Ravenscroft (bass) and Bill Lee ( baritone) accompanied all the workings of the group until the early 1970s, Bob Hamlin got out in 1955 and was replaced by Bob Stevens. After his death in 1961, Bill Cole got in as the leading tenor. The second tenor Max Smith left the group in 1966 and was replaced by Gene Merlino.

Bill Lee died in 1980 at the age of 64 of a brain tumor, Max Smith in 1999 at the age of 86 years and Thurl Ravenscroft 2005 at the age of 91 years.