Ruby & the Romantics
Edward Roberts (first tenor), George Lee (second tenor), Ronald Mosley (baritone) and Leroy Fann (bass) had been working as the Supremes prior to the arrival of Ruby Nash Curtis (b. 12 November 1939, New York City, New York, USA) in 1962. Ruby had met the group in Akron, Ohio and took on the role as their lead singer. They subsequently secured a contract with the New York label Kapp and at the suggestion of the company, changed their name to Ruby And The Romantics. By the following year they had taken the evocative Our Day Will Come to the top of the US pop chart, earning them a gold disc. Over the next 12 months the group scored a further six hits including the original version of Hey There Lonely Boy which, with a change of gender, was later revived by Eddie Holman. After three years at Kapp, the group signed to the ABC label. In 1965 Does He Really Care For Me, the Romantics’ last chart entry, preceded a wholesale line-up change. Ruby brought in a new backing group; Richard Pryor, Vincent McLeod, Robert Lewis, Ronald Jackson and Bill Evans, but in 1968 the forthright Curtis replaced this version with Denise Lewis and Cheryl Thomas.