The Ink Spots

The Ink Spots were an American vocal group popular in the 1930s and 1940s that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop. They gained much acceptance in both the white community and black community largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll hall of fame in 1999. Since The Ink Spots disbanded in 1954, there have been well over 100 vocal groups calling themselves "The Ink Spots" without any rights to the name or any original members in the group. These groups often have claimed to be "2nd generation" or "3rd generation" Ink Spots. Many such groups are still touring today.

The Ink Spots songs often began with a four bar guitar riff, using the chords I - #idim - ii7 - V7, followed by the tenor Bill Kenny, who sang the whole song through. After Kenny finished singing, the bass would either recite the first half, or the bridge of the song, or would speak the words, almost in a free form, that were not part of the song, commonly using the words "Honey Child", or "Honey Babe", expressing his love for his darling in the song. This was followed by Kenny, who finished up singing the last refrain or the last half of the song. On some songs Deek Watson would sing the lead rather than Bill Kenny. This was mostly on the uptempo "Jive" songs.