Run For Cover was one of first minor hits for The Dells, one of the finest and longest-lasting vocal groups in R&B history – and it’s a Northern Soul classic.
Having formed in Chicago way back in 1952, they were one of the very few doo wop outfits to successfully update their sound. What’s most amazing is that their career lasted so long with nearly all the same members.
Their most successful period commercially came in the late ’60s and ’70 as a polished smooth soul harmony group, following the arrival of falsetto Johnny Carter to boost a line-up led by baritone Marvin Junior.
It’s Marvin’s rasping vocal to the fore on both sides of this 1966 single, Run For Cover, and the equally great Wear It On Our Face, which was the B-side for its updated re-release two years later.
They’re both Northern Soul classics and it’s hard to pick a favourite.
Initially called The El-Rays, the original group’s six members made their debut for Chess subsidiary Checker (geddit!) in 1954 with a song called Darling I Know. After it flopped one of their tenors quit, cutting the group down to a quintet.
Changing their name to The Dells, they signed to Vee-Jay in 1955 and enjoyed a minor R&B hit with a doo-wop ballad called Dreams Of Contentment but found greater success the following year with the doo-wop classic Oh What a Nite.
Tragedy nearly struck in 1958 when, on their way to a gig in Philadelphia, the group’s station wagon was in a serious accident that lacerated Junior’s larynx, slightly altering his voice thereafter, and nearly cost another member the use of his leg.
The group reconvened in 1960 and successfully auditioned to tour with Dinah Washington, spending the next two years honing their craft as both her opening act and backup group, and evolving towards a stronger jazz style.
A series of jazz-flavoured singles flopped so, while their nightclub act centred on jazz, they began recording R&B again after returning to Vee-Jay in 1964, though the label went bust two years later and The Dells returned to Chess for a third time.
Run For Cover and Thinking About You both became local hits before The Dells returned to the live stage nationally as Ray Charles’s touring vocal backing group, reaching their biggest audiences yet in the huge concert venues he could command.
Also in 1966, the Dells became Ray Charles’s touring vocal backup, giving them an opportunity to sing in some of their biggest concert venues yet.
Assisted by producer Bobby Miller and arranger Charles Stepney, they began to exploit the striking contrast between Junior’s earthy baritone and newest member Carter’s falsetto, adding lush orchestrations and horns.
This heralded their golden age, with a succession of hit singles , including an expanded version of Stay In My Corner that reached the Top Ten of the pop charts.