Take Care of Business / Constellation Masters 1963-1966

Dee Clark made his first recording in 1952 as a member of the Hambone Kids, who scored an R&B hit with the song "Hambone."[2] In 1953, he joined an R&B group called the Goldentones, who later became the Kool Gents and were discovered by Chicago radio DJ Herb Kent upon winning a talent competition. Kent got the Kool Gents signed to Vee-Jay record label, subsidiary Falcon/Abner. The group changed its name once again, to "The Delegates," and recorded for Falcon/Abner in 1956. Clark embarked on a solo career in 1957 and over the next four years landed several moderate hits, two of which ("Just Keep It Up" and "Hey Little Girl") reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100). His biggest single, "Raindrops," a power ballad augmented by heavy rain and thunder sound effects and Clark's swooping falsetto, hit in the spring of 1961 and became his biggest hit, soaring to number two on the pop chart and number three on the R&B charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. "Raindrops" remains a staple on oldies radio station playlists to this day, and has also been covered by several other artists in the years since. By the time "Crossfire Time" came out in 1963, Clark had moved from Vee-Jay to the Constellation label, for which all of the recordings in this collection were recorded.