Editing The Platters (section)

==Charting hits==
[[File:Winner Take All - The Magic Touch ad - Billboard 1956.jpg|thumb|upright|Advertisement featured in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine,  10 March 1956]] 
Convinced by Jean Bennett and Tony Williams that "[[Only You (And You Alone)|Only You]]" had potential, Ram had The Platters re-record the song during their first session for Mercury. Released in the summer of 1955, it became the group's first [[Record chart|Top Ten]] hit on the pop charts and topped the R&B charts for seven weeks. The follow-up, "[[The Great Pretender]]", with lyrics written in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas by Buck Ram,<ref name=pc5/> exceeded the success of their debut and became The Platters' first national #1 hit. "The Great Pretender" was also the act's biggest R&B hit, with an 11-week run atop that chart. In 1956, The Platters appeared in the first major motion picture based around rock and roll, ''[[Rock Around the Clock (film)|Rock Around the Clock]],'' and performed both "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".<ref>DVD release, 2007</ref>

The Platters' unique vocal style had touched a chord in the music-buying public. A string of hit singles followed, including three more national #1 hits and more modest chart successes such as "[[I'm Sorry (The Platters song)|I'm Sorry]]" (#11) and "[[He's Mine (The Platters songs)|He's Mine]]" (#23) in 1957, "[[Enchanted (The Platters song)|Enchanted]]" (#12) in 1959, and "[[(You've Got) The Magic Touch]]"<ref name=pc5/> (#4) in 1956. The Platters soon hit upon the successful formula of updating older standards, such as "[[My Prayer]]",<ref name=pc5/> "[[Twilight Time (1944 song)|Twilight Time]]", "[[Harbour Lights (song)|Harbor Lights]]", "[[To Each His Own (Jay Livingston and Ray Evans song)|To Each His Own]]", "[[If I Didn't Care]]", and [[Jerome Kern]]'s "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]".<ref name=pc14>{{Gilliland|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19763/m1/ |title=Show 14 - Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock 'n' roll in the late fifties. [Part 4&#93: UNT Digital Library |publisher=Digital.library.unt.edu }}</ref> This latter release caused a small controversy after Kern's widow expressed concern that her late husband's composition would be turned into a "rock and roll" record. It topped both the American and British charts in the Platters-style arrangement.

The Platters differed from most other groups of the era because Ram had the group incorporated in 1956 as Five Platters, Inc (FPI). Each member of the group received a 20% share in the stock, full royalties, and their Social Security was paid. As group members left one by one, Ram and his business partner, Jean Bennett, bought their stock, which they claimed gave them ownership of the "Platters" name. A court later ruled, however, that "FPI was a sham used by Mr. Ram to obtain ownership in the name the 'Platters', and FPI's issuance of stock to the group members was "illegal and void because it violated [[California]] corporate securities law."<ref>{{cite web |title=Herb Reed Enterprises, LLC v. Florida Entertainment Management, Inc., et al |postscript=. U.S. Dist. Nev. Case No. 2:12-cv-00560-MMD–GWF, Docket No. 43, July 24, 2012 |url=http://dockets.justia.com/docket/nevada/nvdce/2:2012cv00560/86827 |access-date=August 26, 2014}}</ref>

The group was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 1990 and into the [[Vocal Group Hall of Fame]] in its inaugural year of 1998. The Platters were the first rock and roll era group to have a Top Ten album in the United States. They were also the only act to have three songs included on the ''[[American Graffiti]]'' soundtrack that fueled an oldies revival already underway in the early to mid-1970s: "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]", "[[The Great Pretender]]", and "[[Only You (and You Alone)]]". The group had four top 100 compilation albums in the Australian top 100 between 1975 and 1986.<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=234}}</ref>