Bobby Prince (2)

US rhythm&blues vocalist/songwriter. Bobby Prince, whose real name was Charles Gonzales, started in show business around 1948, when he joined the Hot Lips Page band in Cincinnati as a singer. He stayed with Lips for about a year and then went solo. He launched his recording career in 1950, recording some sides for Philadelphia-based Gotham. His most notable recording for Gotham was a rousing jump, the self-penned "Hi-Yo Silver." Gotham 234 was released in June 1950 (it appeared on the list of records received by Billboard on June 24, p. 32). The session was produced in Chicago by J. Mayo Williams, who, for the time being, had wound up his Harlem/Chicago/Southern operations and was taking some time off before starting up a new Ebony operation. In November 1952, billed at Joe's Deluxe Club (6323 South Parkway) as "golden voice jump-blues vocalist," he was still performing as Charles Gonzales. He apparently entered the recording studio with the Al Smith band as Charles Gonzales and left it as Bobby Prince. Chance 1128, "Tell Me Why Why Why," seemed to garner the singer some acclaim when it was released in January 1953, and Chance pushed the single with some of the largest trade ads in the label's history (for instance, in Cash Box on February 7, 1953). Bobby's unannounced appearance on "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," which he scats in a spooky falsetto while Eddie Johnson decorates the melody, is also memorable. Chance would make considerable use of Prince's compositional talents, using four of his songs for Flamingos sessions.