Fred Parris and his band, the Five Satins, would gain notable fame in the mid 1950’s when they released one of doo-wop’s classic hits that would gain pop culture status for its inclusion in popular films.
“In the Still of the Nite” (also known as “In the Still of the Night”) was a moderate hit when it was released in February of 1956. It’s also one of the few songs to have ever charted on the Hot 100 on three separate occasions subg by the same artist. When the track was initially released in 1956, it landed at No. 24, and then No. 81 in 1960, and finally at No. 99 in 1961. It’s largely due to the backstory of the song’s creation and release.
Parris was inspired to write the song while he was reportedly on guard duty in the U.S. Army. According to SongFacts, he had written it about a former girlfriend and hoped she would return to him. The woman in question never actually did and moved from Connecticut to California.
While the group’s name suggests five members, “In the Still of the Nite” was only recorded by four: Al Denby (low tenor), Eddie Martin (baritone), Jim Freeman (bass), and Parris. It became famously known that the song was recorded in the basement of St. Bernadette Church in their hometown of New Haven.
The group was having trouble recording the track at another building due to the excessive street noise. It wasn’t until their manager, Marty Kugell, came up with a solution thanks to his friend, who happened to be an altar boy. He managed to convince the pastor to let the Five Satins use the basement after Sunday service, and even joined them playing the saxophone.
Interestingly enough, Parris wasn’t around when the track was released and started to gain some popularity among disk jockeys. He was stationed in Japan when some of his comrades heard the song on the radio, which resulted in him gaining some celebrity status.
“I had told a couple of the guys I was stationed with about ‘In the Still of the Night’ — that I was a recording artist and so forth,” Parris remembered, according to American Songwriter.
“But no one really believed me. And one Saturday morning on the radio, the disc jockey said, ‘We’ve had so many requests for this song. It’s called ‘In the Still of the Night.’ It’s by the Five Satins. But we don’t have a copy of that, so we’re going to play one by Ella Fitzgerald.’ Which, of course, was different from our song, ‘In the Still of the Night.’”
The song’s popularity led to a tour by the record label, but with Parris in Japan, they brought in Bill Baker as the singer. Only two members of the Five Satins were part of the original lineup until Parris returned from overseas.
“In the Still of the Nite” would gain notoriety decades later when Boyz II Men released their cover in 1992. It was used in the TV miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream and landed at No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Rolling Stones would rank it on their list of the “Greatest Songs of All Time,” and it became a pop culture staple that’s appeared in Dirty Dancing, The Irishmen, The Offer, and multiple series.
Related: 1974 Pilot Song, Revived For a Drug Commercial, Named One of Soft Rock’s Best One-Hit Wonders
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