AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Ames Brothers

Artist:The Ames Brothers

Song:The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane

Album:Hits Collection 1948-60

The vocal quartet The Ames Brothers had chart success in the early 50s with hits like the 1954 single The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane. Not surprisingly, their career was killed by the rise of Rock 'n' Roll. The Urick brothers were from Malden, MA. They were Joe Urick (born May 3,1921), Gene Urick (born Feb. 13, 1924), Vic Urick (born May 20, 1925) and Ed Urick (born July 9, 1927). At first they were called The Amory Brothers and changed it to The Ames Brothers. Their parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who taught all nine children to enjoy classical music. Three of the brothers formed a quartet with a cousin and they toured military bases. They were offered a job at the popular Boston nightclub The Fox and the Hounds. It was supposed to be a one week engagement. But positive reviews turned it into several months. Then Joe returned to the group and they started calling themselves The Amory Brothers. Amory was Vic's middle name. They moved to New York and took a job with bandleader Art Mooney. They were looking for a song that their mom asked them to sing called Should I. When record store owner and Decca Records house producer Milt Gabler heard them, he signed them to Coral Records. That's when the name was changed to The Ames Brothers. They topped the charts with the 1950 singles Rag Mop and Sentimental Me. Rag Mop was their biggest hit. They moved from Coral to RCA in 1953 because they wanted to be on a larger label. I don't know why they weren't moved to Decca. They had immediate success on RCA when they topped the charts with the 1953 single You, You, You followed by the 1954 single The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane which reached #3 on the charts. Most of The Ames Brothers RCA recordings were produced by Herman Diaz Jr. with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra. Diaz was an RCA house producer in the 50s. The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane was the biggest hit for the songwriting team of Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. The had previously written the 1948 Guy Lombardo hit Red Roses for a Blue Lady. The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane was their biggest hit. They went on to write songs for Elvis Presley movies in the 60s. The Ames Brothers had chart success for the next couple of years until Rock 'n' Roll took over. RCA and Decca have licensed The Ames Brothers recordings to reissue labels like Acrobat who have released this 2CD comp. The Ames Brothers continued to appear on TV until they disbanded in 1963. Ed Ames had a significant singing and acting career. The other three retired. Vic died in a 1978 car accident. Gene died in 1997. Joe died in 2007. Ed died in 2023. Here's The Ames Brothers performing a medley of their hits including The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane on a 1956 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show.