The Jarmels

Career

They met while attending Armstrong High School and while some sang at nearby Mount Olivet Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia) services. In 1957 they initially named themselves The Cherokees, "because we liked the name," said Smith — the last surviving member, through and including January 8, 2011.

The start of their big break came in 1960 when, attending a local (Richmond) venue where Ben E. King was appearing, and they met him. King invited them to travel to New York and meet with various record companies, including Laurie Records. Marking the first African American group that Laurie had signed, the Cherokees impressed Laurie after auditioning with King's signature song, "Stand By Me". The group, now called The Jarmels, was renamed after a street in Harlem, New York.

Jim Gribble, who had previously worked with The Mystics and The Passions, was assigned manager of The Jarmels. In early 1961 they released the single "Little Lonely One", which did not find much success outside New York. However, their second single, "A Little Bit of Soap", reached number 12 in America on the Billboard chart in June of the same year. The flip side of the recording was "The Way You Look Tonight" a song featured in the film Swing Time and originally performed by Fred Astaire. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936.

"Soap" proved to be the only hit single for The Jarmels; the next four singles, including "Just The Way You Look Tonight" and a remake of the 1935 Bing Crosby hit "Red Sails in the Sunset" did not chart at all.

The group continued throughout the 1960s, after recording a remake of "Come On, Girl" in 1963. Several personnel changes, notably the addition of Major Harris, who would later go on to join the Delfonics.

Smith, the last surviving original member, continues to tour as of January 2011 with four new members as the Jarmels. Included is his longtime Richmond friend, Tyrone Thomas, who in 1975 founded the funkadelic band Tyrone Thomas and the Whole Darn Family, which in 1976 charted with "7 Minutes of Funk".

In December 2010, as part of the group's plan to tour extensively the following year, Thomas successfully recorded, with The Jarmels, 10 original songs that he wrote and composed on a CD titled Fifty Years, commemorating the golden anniversary of "A Little Bit of Soap". The CD's release was on January 16, 2011, Smith's 70th birthday.