The Five Thrills

The Five Thrills were quite visible on the early Chicago vocal group scene between 1953 and 1954. The original members were; Levi Jenkins (bass and piano), Gilbert Warren (lead/tenor), Oscar Robinson (baritone), and brothers Fred Washington (baritone) and Obie Washington (second tenor) (Disco-File shows James Bradley as another member of the group) The Five Thrills were basically an aggregation of young men who lived Thirty-first Street and began singing together in 1950, while they were still students at Douglas Elementary School at Thirty-second and Calumet. Fred and Obie were brothers. Jenkins also played piano for the group. Their first release; "My Baby's Gone" is an exact copy of The Four Buddies' song, "My Summer's Gone". Note that "My Baby's Gone" is never sung as part of the song. The flip-side, "Feel So Good", is a blatant steal of The Five Keys' "Serve Another Round", with The Five Thrills' Fred Washington given composer credit on the label. The Five Thrills had two records on Parrot. The second, "Gloria"/"Wee Wee Baby", on Parrot 800, was recorded in 1953 and released in May 1954. The above shown label credits a group member, Gilbert Warren, as composer. The flip-side label shows "Turner", which is blues singer Joe Turner. Joe's co-composer for this song, piano player Pete Johnson, is incorrectly not included on the label. CASH BOX, February 6, 1954: McKee Fitzhugh sponsored "The Flamingo Concert" last Friday. Held at the Corpus Christi Auditorium, the show starred The Five Flamingos and featured a total of eleven acts, including the Five Echoes and Five Thrills. This was one of the most lavish concerts ever staged on Chicago’s South Side.... The Five Thrills flashed onto the R&B scene in Chicago for a year during 1953-54 and then disappeared forever. During that year, they were the most frequently recorded group on Parrot. By early 1954, Robinson had left the group and was replaced with Leon Pace. Two sides from their last session (Parrot 800) were released under a new name; "The Earls"