Biography
The gospel-influenced vocal harmonies of the Oak Ridge Boys on such singles as "I'll Be True to You" and "Elvira" helped to propel the quartet to stardom on the country, pop and gospel charts for more than four decades. The roots of the Oak Ridge Boys can be found in a country vocal group called Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers, which gained a following through frequent performances for the staff of the nuclear research plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during World War II. The group switched their focus to gospel music in 1945 and made their first recordings two years later; a vast array of personnel and name changes took place between the late '40s and early '60s before the group settled on the "Oak Ridge Boys" as its permanent moniker. By this point, the group had embraced more country and folk elements in its sound, and recruited William Lee Golden and Duane Allen of the Southernaires for baritone and lead vocal duties, respectively. The addition of bass vocalist Richard Sterban in 1972 and tenor Joe Bonsall in 1973 cemented the most familiar and longest-running lineup of Oak Ridge Boys, and it was this iteration that scored its first country chart hit with a 1973 collaboration with Johnny Cash and the Carter Family called "Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup." By the midpoint of the decade, the Oak Ridge Boys had signed with Columbia and were enjoying national exposure thanks to tours with Roy Clark and backing vocals on Paul Simon's 1976 single "Slip Slidin' Away," but with gospel a low priority at their label, the group struggled to maintain its core audience. They departed Columbia for ABC in 1977 and fully embraced country music, which earned them a slew of Top 5 hits, including their first No. 1 hit, "I'll Be True to You," for their new label, MCA. In 1981, the Oak Ridge Boys became crossover hits with a cover of "Elvira," a doo-wop-tinged single by Dallas Frazier from 1966; the song became their fourth No. 1 country hit and a Top 5 track on the pop charts. The group would mint more than a dozen additional chart-topping country singles before reaching their commercial peak at the end of the 1980s; the lineup had also fractured with the acrimonious departure of Golden, whose "mountain man" appearance clashed with their bid for mainstream appeal. A move to RCA Nashville and the return of Golden in 1996 failed to improve their fortunes, and the Oak Ridge Boys would tread water commercially until the new millennium, when a series of records for Spring Hil Records boosted their profile. In 2007, they earned their first Top 20 country album in more than a decade with The Boys Are Back, which featured covers of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and songs by Neil Young and John Lee Hooker. A second Top 20 album, It's Only Natural, followed in 2011, and the Oak Ridge Boys would divide their time between country and gospel recordings, including a remake of "Elvira" with the country a capella group Home Free in 2015. Their long and storied career also received numerous tributes, including induction into the Grand Ole Opry in 2011 and Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
