The Lamplighters

The L.A.-based Lamplighters are best known as the group who later evolved into the Sharps, the backup group for Thurston Harris ("Little Bitty Pretty One," number two R&B and number six pop in 1957 for Aladdin). Former Hollywood Flame second tenor Willie Ray Rockwell, Matt Nelson, Al Frazier, and Harris formed the Lamplighters in the spring of 1952 and began appearing in a number of neighborhood nightspots, including Club Alabam on Central Ave., and the Barrelhouse Club in Watts, a nightclub owned by musician Johnny Otis and his partner Bardu Ali. Otis introduced the group t...