Ronald & Ruby, “Lovebirds” c/w “Make a Little Love” (RCA Victor 47-7252, 6/1958)

As I acquire and digitize records, certain items are hot—records I can’t wait to share with you here, often hours after I’ve acquired them. Others, of equal musical worth, get lost in the shuffle as I’ve stockpiled over 10,000 song files on a bevy of external hard drives.

This week’s posts are all culled from one such source and represent records I’ve had digitized for three year or more, but never posted on this daily feature. There are some surprises lurking on that hard drive and there’s yet more to mine from that single source.

Today we’ll hear the second and last release by ‘Ronald and Ruby,’ a controversial duo for 1958 (and, I fear, for 2026). Their first release has a song everyone knows: “Lollipop.” Best-known via the white-white-white cover version by femme group The Chordettes, it was a major chart smash in 1958. Cadence Records peddled a mountain of these singles. All well and good for the song’s composers, Julius Dixson and Beverly Ross. They were a songwriting odd couple. Post-war, he continued with the service as an Armed Forces radio deejay. He became a civilian again in 1949 and pursued songwriting in New York.

Dixson and Ross’ first hit together was 1954’s “Dim, Dim the Lights,” which Bill Haley and His Comets made a pop smash in ’55. It is important in pop music history as the first white rock ‘n’ roll record to get onto the black rhythm and blues charts—the start of a musical embrace that defied social norms and would blossom by the end of the decade. Ross’ name is on many pop and rock ‘n’ roll classics of the next 20 years. More on that later.

“Lollipop,” according to one account, was inspired by one of Dixson’s daughters getting chewing gum stuck in her hair. The problem caused him to be late for a writing session with Ross. Both agreed there was a good song idea in all of this. Chewing gum didn’t lend itself to a good lyric, but lollipop fit those syllables and once they hit on the oh-lolli-lolli hook they were off to the races. (In Dixson’s recollection, Ross brought the bulk of the song to him and he created the lolli-lolli bit, which is a strong contribution that warrants a co-composer credit.)

Dixson had Ross and a neighbor’s son, Ronald Gumm (or Gump), harmonize on a demo he produced to pitch the record. The demo got into the hands of RCA Victor as The Chordettes were recording their hit version of the song. In an era of music where the song was still considered more important than whomever sang it, they sensed a major hit. They wanted to cash in on this sure-fire ditty, and had Ronald and Ruby, as the two singers were dubbed, record a catchy B-side. Their record hit the market alongside The Chordettes’ version. But…

The all-white, all-female Chordettes were perfect for 1958 mass media. They could sing, smile, charm and amuse anyone anywhere. A black male singing with a white female could not. The record got up into the Top 20 before this “problem” was discovered. Booking agencies wouldn’t handle the inter-racial teen couple; television shied from showing them. As The Chordettes’ 100% approved version got into the top of the charts, Ronald and Ruby’s original died off. With no social outlet beyond radio, where voices had no color, there was no future for it. Down it went.

To their credit, RCA Victor had Ronald and Ruby record a follow-up single, “Lovebirds”/“Make a Little Love,” which tanked, but was commendable of the company. Belief in the performer, despite public biases, was an act of bravery in 1958, and may be the same next year, if the forced revival of racism holds sway. (I trust the universe that it shall not.)

Immediately forgotten, this summer 1958 single is a tad wilder than “Lollipop,” and any teenagers who might have heard it would have found its sound persuasive. A smaller, scrappier label might’ve pushed the record harder, exploited the inherent controversy of its performers, and gotten the public intrigued. RCA could afford to let new releases die unheard; their corporate force ruled the pop charts and they had Elvis.

“Lovebirds,” co-written by Dixson and Frank Palaez, is a bongo-boppin’ mid-tempo pop-rocker that’s catchy as the dickens and thus well-suited for the harmony blend of Gumm and Ross. Gumm’s voice is mighty appealing, and I wish he’d recorded more than these four songs. The earthy blend of the duo’s voices packs a punch, and I wish the world had been ready for this blend of musical and racial harmony in 1958.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

“Make a Little Love,” co-written by Ross and Lee Morris, is a slower-paced item which highlights Beverly’s voice amidst a solid if subdued rock combo including sax. Constant key changes and the keening pitch of the two voices, plus a slight off-center pressing that’s evident on all copies of this record, give this a woozy feeling, but the strength of the performance still comes through. (One wonders if the off-center thing wasn’t self-sabotage to discourage disc jockeys from playing the flip!)

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

Post Ronald and Ruby, Beverly Ross’ credits include “Candy Man,” co-written with folk singer Fred Neil (Roy Orbison hit), “The Girl of My Best Friend” (hit for Ral Donner, covered by Elvis), “Judy’s Turn to Cry” (hit for Leslie Gore) and a brief friendship and collaboration with Phil Spector. Ross claimed that a little riff she’d composed wound up being the signature of “Spanish Harlem,” the classic song Spector co-wrote with lyricist Jerry Leiber. Before her passing in 2022, Ross released I Was the First Woman Phil Spector Killed, a scathing tell-all book.

Julius Dixson went on to found the Alton Records label and had a major hit with the instrumental “The Clouds” by The Spacemen, a studio group including cult guitarist Vinnie Bell. It is considered the first record produced by a black label to top the r&b charts. It did so for three weeks in 1959, well in advance of Motown’s first chart-topper, Mary Wells’ “My Guy” in 1964.

Dixson passed on in 2004 at age 90. His death in a New York hospital made the front page of the Big Apple tabloid The New York Post, with a typically tasteful headline: HOSP STARVE DEATH!

Tomorrow: Cornell Gunter and The Flairs deliver a solid LA r&b bopper coupled with a take-off on the sound of The Platters, via a 1956 ABC-Paramount platter.