Legends of Music: The Inkspots

The Inkspots are a musical group from the 1930's. They were my grandfather's favorite singers. He was born in the 1890's and died three years before I was born, but when I listen to The Inkspots, I always feel his spirit with me. I love him, yet in life I never knew him. The Ink Spots were a popular African American vocal group that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm & blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop. They and the Mills Brothers, another black vocal group of the 1930s and 1940s, gained much acceptance in the white community. The style of their songs, usually began with a guitar riff, followed by the tenor, who sang the whole song through. After the tenor finished singing, the bass would either recite the first half, or the bridge of the song, or would speak the words, almost in a free form, that were not part of the song, commonly using the words "Honey Child", or Honey Babe", expressing his love for the opposite sex in the song. This was followed by the tenor, who finished up singing the last refrain or the last half of the song.