Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care

The Mills Brothers had been around before the Ink Spots, with hits like "You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now", "Ole Rockin' Chair", "Lazy River", and "Lulu's Back in Town". In 1934 they gave a command performance for British Royalty.

 
The Ink Spots had a distinctive style, with the clear tenor voice of Bill Kenny singing lead, and the bass offering a signature spoken interlude, most notably imitated by Elvis Presley, in his cover of "Are You Lonesome Tonight." The Ink Spots had many reincarnations, including a time when Billy Bowen replace Kenny. (That's him in the video clip.)

Ella Fitzgerald had a troubled childhood, even escaping from reform school at one point. She found a new life after performing at Harlem's legendary Apollo, and eventually signed with Chick Webb's Orchestra, recording several hit songs with them, but it was her 1938 version of the nursery rhyme, " A-Tisket, A-Tasket", a song she co-wrote, that brought her wide public acclaim.

The influence of these three artists was immense, and was the first time that millions of Americans came to know and appreciate black performers as part of mainstream culture, and to welcome them into their living rooms, thus setting the stage for a wider acceptance during the civil rights struggle.