The Three Melodiers, backup vocalists on Esther Mae Porteur’s “I Heard You Say”

The Three Melodiers were Joe Little and James and Mary Clark. Little recalled that the Clarks had a band in Greenville at the time with Herman Walters. He attended Eppes High School with them and said, “They were down to earth people. They could sing without instruments. The whole family could sing.”

Beatrice Atkinson that with their parents, James and Mary Clark formed a popular quartet that “used to sing together at churches, civic centers, things like that–they were very poular and very good singers.”

Sources

Atkinson, Beatrice. Person interview. Greenville, NC. 10 July 1987.

Little, Joe. Telephone interview. 10 Sept. 1985. 

—. Personal interview. Greenville, NC 6 July 1987.

–21 April 2024

“Pitch” was part of the NC Museum of History’s Starring North Carolina exhibit in 2015.