Background
Pruter, Robert Douglas was born on July 1, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Hugo Rehling and Nancy Lee (Taylor) Pruter.
(Basses burbled low, tenors soared, leads wailed, and chor...)
Basses burbled low, tenors soared, leads wailed, and choruses chanted in harmony in the earliest doowop groups as this cutting-edge early rock 'n' roll music captured the atmosphere of the era, a long-ago sound that touches the emotions even today. Doowop rose out of teen culture on the streets of Chicago and other big cities in the 1950s, creating a new type of music that largely supplanted the old forms of rhythm and blues and pop music. The wailing, the soaring harmonies, and the wild vocal riffing - which many listeners scorned - represented the creativity of youth and their love of vocal harmony and rock 'n' roll. Robert Pruter has mined sources ranging from fanzines to the Chicago Defender and conducted extensive interviews in putting together Doowop, which provides fresh and welcome insights into this vibrant chapter in American music. Readers of Pruter's work will learn about not just major acts such as the Spaniels, the Dells, the Flamingos, and the Moonglows, but virtually every Chicago doowop group that contributed to that era.
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editor writer editor of Goldmine
Pruter, Robert Douglas was born on July 1, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Hugo Rehling and Nancy Lee (Taylor) Pruter.
Bachelor, Roosevelt University, 1967. Master of Arts, Roosevelt University, 1976. Master of Library Science, Dominican University, 2000.
He was the rhythm and blues editor of Goldmine magazine from 1985 to 2006. In 1969, he was hired as an assistant editor on the New Standard Encyclopedia, published by the Standard Educational Corporation. He became associate editor, social sciences, in 1974, and senior editor in 1979.
He started writing separately-published articles on soul music in 1976, in outlets including the Chicago Sun-Times and Record Exchanger.
He became rhythm and blues editor for Goldmine in 1985, and in all has contributed over 500 articles to journals including the Illinois Entertainer, The Reader, Juke Blues, and Living Blues. He has written liner notes on many soul and Rhythm & Blues musicians, including Jackie Wilson, Gene Chandler, Curtis Mayfield, and Dinah Washington, as well as biographies and overview chapters in reference works including The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated History of Popular Music, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Encyclopedia Britannica (2000 edition), and the American National Biography.
Since the early 1990s he has also written in journals (in particular Journal of Sport History) and in encyclopedias on the development of sport in the United States, especially on the history of high school sports. Professionally, he left Standard Educational Corporation in 1996, and worked for Planning/Communications and Charles Doctorate. Spencer & Associates before becoming reference librarian at Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois, in 2001.
His published books include:
Chicago Soul, University of Illinois Press, 1991
Blackwell Guide To Soul Recordings (editor), Basil Blackwell Limited., 1993
Doowop: The Chicago Scene, University of Illinois Press, 1996
The Rise of American High School Sports and the Search for Control, 1880-1930, Syracuse University Press, 2013
Pruter is the son of Bishop Karl Pruter and the brother-in-law of folk singer Steve Goodman and writer Daniel Abraham.
(Basses burbled low, tenors soared, leads wailed, and chor...)
(Basses burbled low, tenors soared, leads wailed, and chor...)
(Original publication and copyright date: 1991.)
Member advisory committee Chicago Blues Festival, since 1992. Served United States Army, 1967-1969, Vietnam. Member of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Society Midland Authors, Chicago History Society, North America Society for Sport History.
Married Margaret Franson. 1 child, Robin Franson.