American R&B and doo-wop group popular in the late 1950's. In 1949, brothers Rudy and Bernard West joined another set of singing brothers - Ripley and Raphael Ingram - to form The Sentimental Four, a gospel quartet. Inspired by the harmonies of The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots, they soon began to shift toward R&B. The young foursome toured briefly with Miller's Brown-Skinned Models, an all-black revue that played fairs and carnivals. And they started winning local talent contests. Those victories led to a chance to perform at the Apollo Theatre in New York City. The singers won a contest there, too. And soon after, Los Angeles-based Aladdin Records signed the group. After a few lineup changes that included adding a fifth member, the combo renamed itself The Five Keys. "Ling, Ting, Tong," was a No. 28 pop hit in 1954. That was followed by the ballad "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," which reached No. 23 in 1956, and "Wisdom of a Fool," which hit No. 35 in 1957. But the group's influence was greater than the best-sellers would indicate. Before black groups started crossing over onto pop charts, The Five Keys had a powerful effect on R&B music - especially among vocal harmony acts. "One of the most popular, influential and beautiful-sounding R&B singing groups of the 1950s, The Five Keys were not only a link between the gospel/pop units of the '40s and the later R&B and rock groups, they led by example, having hits in R&B, rock 'n' roll, and pop before the decade was through," wrote Jay Warner in the Billboard Book of American Singing Groups.
The original group members were Rudi West, Bernie West, Ripley Ingram, Edwin Hill.