This singer-songwriter is credited as James on the song “Sh-boom (Life Could Be a Dream)” and on occasional write-ups on The Chords, but nine times out of ten he is referred to as William or “Ricky”.
He was born in New York City and was a member of a band called The Chords. He then joined The Keynotes with Floyd “Buddy McRae” and together the recruited Jimmy Keyes and Claude and Carl Feaster to make up their R&B group. They would change their name to The Chords, not the previous group that he had been with, and although they never were well known and had no other huge hits, they went down in history as being the first artists with an R&B song to enter the pop charts in the 1950s when they reached No. 5 on the pop chart with their timeless “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)” in 1954.
He left the group in 1956 and was replaced by Joe “Ditto” Dias, but re-united with the original members in 1960 to cut a further three tracks that would be released as singles. They called it a day after that though and he is said to have done very little except maybe a little singing and hanging out.
He died in 1964 while still at a very young age.
Big Wheelie & The Hubcaps recordings
Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)(James Keyes/Claude Feaster/Carl Feaster/Floyd F. McRae/James Edwards)
MCA-40951 (MC7914R) (US promo 45)
Sources: