Career
Reed thought of the group"s name after noticing that DJs in the 1950s called their records, "platters". Reed was raised in poverty in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved to Los Angeles when he was fifteen years old. He moved to the Boston area during the 1970s, after the success of The Platters.
His vocals can be heard on The Platters" biggest hits, including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, The Great Pretender, Twilight Time and My Prayer.
The courts ruled that Reed was the only heir to the group"s name. In 2012, Reed said in an interview, "lieutenant"s not right to have someone steal your name.
lieutenant"s just not right. We were cheated back then, but that"s how things were done..It"s theft, and I have to fight it so that no other artist faces this."
Reed toured throughout his career.
He performed as many as 200 concerts per year until 2012, when he stopped due to declining health. He died from complications from several ailments, including heart disease, at a hospice in Boston on June 4, 2012, aged 83.
He had most recently resided in Arlington, Massachusetts.