The Ames Brothers - It Only Hurts For A Little While (1956?

US Pop Charts No. 11 (05.05.1956) 22 Weeks

The Ames Brothers were a singing quartet, consisting of four siblings from Malden, Massachusetts, who were particularly famous in the 1950s for their traditional pop music hits.
The Urick brothers were born in Malden, Massachusetts. Joe (born Joseph Urick; May 3, 1921 – December 22, 2007), Gene (February 13, 1924 – April 26, 1997), Vic (May 20, 1925 – January 23, 1978), and Ed Ames (born Edmund Dantes Urick on July 9, 1927) they formed the singing group the Amory Brothers, which would become the Ames Brothers.

Born into a non-professional but musically talented family, the boys were raised to enjoy classical music and operatic music. Their parents, David and Sarah Urick, were Russian Jewish immigrants from Ukraine who read Shakespeare and semi-classics to their nine children from the time they were old enough to listen.

Three of the brothers formed a quartet with a cousin named Lennie, and had been touring United States Army and Navy bases entertaining the troops when they were offered a job at The Fox and Hounds nightclub, one of the fanciest clubs in Boston. This one-week engagement turned into several months when positive word-of-mouth about their appearance got around. At the time, they were using Vic's middle name and calling themselves the Amory Brothers. They were becoming quite popular in the area and it was at this time that Joe decided to rejoin the group. He said they were just having too much fun together for him to miss out.[citation needed] Taking their act to New York City, they got a job with bandleader Art Mooney. One day while at Leeds Publishing Company in search of a song called "Should I" that their mother had asked them to sing, Milt Gabler of Decca Records overheard them singing it and asked them to cut a few sides for Decca Records, just before the AFM recording ban which James Petrillo imposed in January 1948.

The ban was lifted a year later. The brothers shortened Amory to Ames and became the first artists to record for the newly founded Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca. They were swept into national top billing with their first hit record, "Rag Mop", in January 1950. Doing radio shows for free at times, just for the experience, they later became regulars on such shows as Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. One of the first acts to appear on the original The Ed Sullivan Show when it was known as Toast of the Town, they made their debut with him when the show was telecast live from Wanamaker's Department Store.

Soon, they were the top paid group in nightclubs and supperclubs everywhere and their popularity on television was nationwide. In 1956 they starred in their own show, The Ames Brothers Show, which was seen on Friday nights. It was the first syndicated television show to be shown in foreign countries. The brothers also appeared on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.


The Ames Brothers waren ein US-amerikanisches Vokalquartett der 1950er Jahre.

Das Quartett mit dem Geburtsnamen Urick bestand aus Joe (* 3. Mai 1924 – 2007), Gene (* 13. Februar 1925 – 1997), Vic (20. Mai 1926 – 23. Januar 1978) und Ed Ames, die in Armut aufwuchsen und 1947 ins Showgeschäft einstiegen.
Nach dem Gewinn verschiedener lokaler Talentwettbewerbe kamen sie über Auftritte in Bostoner Nachtclubs nach New York und Los Angeles. 1948 erschien ihre erste Platte „A Tree In The Meadow", auf der sie als Begleitchor der Sängerin Monica Lewis zu hören waren, die Single erreichte Platz 22 der Bestseller-Charts. Im gleichen Jahr erschienen auf dem Decca-Sublabel Coral Records ihre ersten Solo-Platten, aber ihre ersten Singles waren erfolglos. Erst ihre fünfte Singleveröffentlichung „You, You, You Are The One“ konnte im Februar 1949 Platz 23 der Charts erreichen. Den Durchbruch ihres Harmonie-Gesangs hatten sie 1950 mit dem Doppelhit „Sentimental me“ / „Rag Mop“, die Titel erreichten Platz 3 bzw. Platz 1 der Charts. Die Ames Brothers hatten zwischen Juni 1950 und März 1953 weitere 15 Charthits. Ihre größten Erfolge bei Coral Records in dieser Zeit waren 1950 „Can Anyone Explain“ auf Platz 7 und „Undecided“ (1951) mit Les Brown – komponiert von Sid Robin – auf Platz 2. Anfang 1953 unterschrieben sie einen Plattenvertrag bei RCA Records, und bereits ihre erste Single bei RCA „You You You“[6] wurde im Sommer 1953 ein großer Erfolg und erreichte Platz 2 der Singles-Charts. Auch die Titel „The Man With The Banjo“ und „The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane“ waren Top-10-Hits. Die Ames Brothers erhielten daraufhin eine eigene Fernsehshow, die wiederum mehrere Songs zu Hits machte. Auf allen RCA-Aufnahmen wurden sie vom Orchester Hugo Winterhalter begleitet.

Mit dem Beginn der Rock-’n’-Roll-Ära ließ der Erfolg nach. 1957 landeten sie mit „Melodie D'Amour“ einen Top-20-Hit.

Gegen Ende ihrer Karriere hatten die Ames Brothers Anfang 1958 auch in der Bundesrepublik einen Hit mit „Melodie d'amour“, der Platz 16 der Singles-Charts erreichte.