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The Silhouettes were an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 doo wop/R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 group whose single
Single (music)

In the record industry, a single is a song usually used from a current or upcoming album to promote the album. Singles are distributed through a number of ways; originally, they were packaged as "single" records with one or two other songs and sold before the release of the album....
 "Get A Job
Get a Job (song)

"Get a Job" is one of the best known doo-wop songs of the 1950s. Recorded by The Silhouettes in October 1957, the song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard pop and R&B singles charts in February 1958....
" was a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 singles chart
Record chart

Record chart are a method of ranking music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
 in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is a rock and roll revival act. Announcing themselves as "from the streets of New York", and outfitted in gold lame, leather jackets and Pompadour hairdos, Sha Na Na performed a song and dance repertoire of classic fifties rock'n'roll, simultaneously reviving and sending up the music and 1950s New York street culture....
 derived their name from the song's lyrics
Lyrics

Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song, either by speaking or singing. The word 'lyric' comes from the Greek word ,lyricos, meaning "singing to the lyre"....
. "Get A Job"' is included in the soundtrack
Soundtrack

The term soundtrack refers to three related concepts: recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; and the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded so...
s of the movies
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 period piece coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack and features Harrison Ford....
, Trading Places
Trading Places

Trading Places is an Academy Award-nominated 1983 in film comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod....
 and Stand By Me
Stand by Me (film)

Stand by Me is a 1986 in film adventure film-drama film directed by Rob Reiner. The title comes from a Stand by Me by Ben E. King and is based on the novella The Body by Stephen King....
.


Silhouettes were formed in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
 Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
 in 1956, at first using the name The Thunderbirds.






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The Silhouettes were an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 doo wop/R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 group whose single
Single (music)

In the record industry, a single is a song usually used from a current or upcoming album to promote the album. Singles are distributed through a number of ways; originally, they were packaged as "single" records with one or two other songs and sold before the release of the album....
 "Get A Job
Get a Job (song)

"Get a Job" is one of the best known doo-wop songs of the 1950s. Recorded by The Silhouettes in October 1957, the song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard pop and R&B singles charts in February 1958....
" was a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 singles chart
Record chart

Record chart are a method of ranking music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
 in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is a rock and roll revival act. Announcing themselves as "from the streets of New York", and outfitted in gold lame, leather jackets and Pompadour hairdos, Sha Na Na performed a song and dance repertoire of classic fifties rock'n'roll, simultaneously reviving and sending up the music and 1950s New York street culture....
 derived their name from the song's lyrics
Lyrics

Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song, either by speaking or singing. The word 'lyric' comes from the Greek word ,lyricos, meaning "singing to the lyre"....
. "Get A Job"' is included in the soundtrack
Soundtrack

The term soundtrack refers to three related concepts: recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; and the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded so...
s of the movies
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 period piece coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack and features Harrison Ford....
, Trading Places
Trading Places

Trading Places is an Academy Award-nominated 1983 in film comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod....
 and Stand By Me
Stand by Me (film)

Stand by Me is a 1986 in film adventure film-drama film directed by Rob Reiner. The title comes from a Stand by Me by Ben E. King and is based on the novella The Body by Stephen King....
.

Group Members

  • Richard Lewis (tenor
    Tenor

    The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
    , 1933 - 2005)
  • Bill Horton (lead, 1929 - 1995)
  • Earl Beal (baritone
    Baritone

    Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
    , 1924 - 2001)
  • Raymond Edwards (bass, 1922 - 1997)


Career

The Silhouettes were formed in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
 Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
 in 1956, at first using the name The Thunderbirds. Their classic hit "Get A Job" - originally the B-side
A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which single s were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or flipside, is a secondary song that ofte...
 to "I Am Lonely" - was issued by their manager on the local Junior Records label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
 before being sold to the nationally distributed Ember label in late 1957. It reached #1 on both the R&B and pop charts in U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and the group performed it on television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
's American Bandstand
American Bandstand

American Bandstand is a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted from 1957 until its final season by Dick Clark , who also served as producer....
.

The lyrics of "Get a Job" are notable for the depiction of a household in tension because of unemployment, despite the man's desperate attempts to find work, all delivered in a relentlessly upbeat style. A second release, "We're Heading for the Poorhouse" continued the economic theme. It was one of the few songs to allude to inflation
Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. The term "inflation" once referred to increases in the money supply ; however, economic debates about the relationship between money supply and price levels have led to its primary use today in describing price inflatio...
, the trip to the poorhouse being because "all our money turned brown". It was less successful, though also rollicking.

The Silhouettes toured with Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke

Samuel Cook, better known as Sam Cooke, was an United States gospel music, R&B, soul music, and popular music singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur....
, Jackie Wilson
Jackie Wilson

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an United States singer. Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul music. Gaining fame in his early years as a member of the R&B vocal group, The Dominoes, after going solo in 1957 he went on to record over fifty hit singles over a repertoire that included R&B, pop music, soul mu...
, Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter

Clyde McPhatter was an influential United States R&B singer....
 and others but the group never reached the top of the charts again. They disbanded in 1968, but the four original members reformed the group in the 1980s and continued to work until 1993.

External links

  • (Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebook)