The Impressions Biography, Photos and Posters

The Impressions

Biography

Started: 1958
City and Country of Origin: Chicago, IL
Music Background: Butler and Mayfield sang in church choir
Awards: 1991 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; 2003 inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Top Recordings: "For Your Precious Love," "Come Back My Love," "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready," "I Loved and Lost," "We're a Winner"
The Impressions Biography: The Impressions are an American music group from Chicago, IL who have performed from 1958 until present, their repertoire includes doo-wop, gospel, soul, and R&B.

The group was formed as The Roosters by Chattanooga, Tennessee natives Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks, and Arthur Brooks, who moved to Chicago and added Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield to their lineup to become Jerry Butler & the Impressions. Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield had met while singing in the same Chicago church choir. By 1962, Butler and the Brookses had departed, and after switching to ABC-Paramount Records, Mayfield, Gooden, and new Impression Fred Cash collectively became a top-selling soul act. Mayfield left the group for a solo career in 1970; Leroy Hutson, Ralph Johnson, Reggie Torian, and Nate Evans were among the replacements who joined Gooden and Cash. Inductees into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, The Impressions are best known for their 1960s string of hits, many of which were heavily influenced by gospel music and served as inspirational anthems for the Civil Rights Movement.

The group's first hit single 1958's "For Your Precious Love," hit number 11 on the US pop charts and number 3 on the r&b charts. However, soon after the release of the r&b Top 30 hit "Come Back My Love," Butler left the group to start a successful solo career. Curtis Mayfield became the group's new lead singer and songwriter, and Fred Cash, a returning original Roosters member, was appointed as the new fifth member. The group they got a new deal with ABC-Paramount Records in 1961, and released their first post-Butler single. That single, "Gypsy Woman," was their biggest single to date, hitting number 2 on the r&b charts and number 20 on the pop chart. Successive singles failed to match "Gypsy Woman's" success, and Richard and Arthur Brooks ended up leaving the group in 1962.

The Impressions returned to Chicago as a trio, and soon aligned themselves with producer Johnny Pate, who helped to update their sound and create a more lush soul sound for the group. The result was "It's All Right," a 1963 gold single that topped the r&b charts and made it to number 4 on the pop charts. "It's All Right" and "Gypsy Woman" were the signature songs of The Impressions' first LP, 1963's The Impressions.

1964 brought the first of Mayfield's Black pride anthem compositions, "Keep on Pushing." Future Mayfield compositions would feature more and more of a social and political awareness, including the following year's major hit and the group's best-known song, the gospel-influenced "People Get Ready," which hit number 3 on the r&b charts and number 14 on the pop charts.

After the release of the Check Out Your Mind LP in 1970, Mayfield left the group and began a successful solo career, the highlight of which was writing and producing the Superfly soundtrack. He continued to write and produce for The Impressions, who remained on Curtom. Leroy Hutson was the first new lead singer for the group following Mayfield's departure, but success eluded The Impressions, and Hutson left the group in 1973. New members Ralph Johnson and Reggie Torian replaced Hutson, and The Impressions had three r&b Top 5 singles in 1974 - 1975: the number 1 "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm a Changed Man)", and the number 3 singles "Same Thing it Took" and "Sooner or Later". In 1976, The Impressions left Curtom and Mayfield behind for Cotillion Records, and had their final major hit with "Loving Power". The same year, Ralph Johnson was replaced with Nate Evans, who remained in the group for three years, during which time The Impressions switched to 20th Century Records. Singles and albums sales continued to slip, and Evans left in 1979, reducing the group to a trio. Their final album, Fan the Flames, was released in 1981, and Reggie Torian, Fred Cash, and Sam Gooden (who remained in the group throughout its entire existence) disbanded two years later.

Since the early-1980s, The Impressions periodically rebanded in various formats, usually recreating the classic lineup of Mayfield, Gooden, and Cash, and sometimes including Jerry Butler in the lineup. On August 14, 1990, Mayfield was severely injured when lighting equipment fell on him during an on-stage performance. Paralyzed from the neck down, he could no longer play and could barely sing. He eventually was able to make a brief, well-received, comeback in 1997 with his New World Order album, and he died in Roswell, Georgia, on December 26, 1999 at the age of 57.

The Impressions continue to perform with Fred Cash, Sam Gooden, and Reggie Torian.

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