The 5 Dreamers
By Marv Goldberg
Based on interviews with Ernest Mackey and Nimrod Patrick
© 2025 by Marv Goldberg
[AUTHOR'S ORIGINAL NOTE: This one won't be easy. I talked to two members of the group, neither of whom was there when it formed. Ernest Mackey, who was on them, didn't even remember the songs. Whenever I called the number for a third member, someone hung up on me. I'll do the best I can.]
[AUTHOR'S SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE: This is a bizarre story: I recently came across the document file for this article. It was dated July 27, 2012, but I never published it; I have no memory of why. I also have no memory of writing it, and I can't find the folder with my interview notes. Sometimes I miss my brain.]
The 5 Dreamers only made a single record in their short career. They were from Columbus, Ohio, forming around 1954. The members at that time were Albert "Stoney" Stoner (lead), Charles Smith (tenor), Corey Kindrix (tenor; not "Kendricks"), Jesse Williams (baritone), and Robert Williams (Jesse's brother, bass).
When they originally got together, it was to sing church music. To get a better sound, they decided they needed an accompanist, and turned to pianist Nimrod Patrick. ("They came to get me. They came over my house to practice.")
When Jesse Williams dropped out of the group, Nimrod brought in a singer he'd known from school: Ernest Mackey. At this time, the guys were all in their early 20s.
Turning to secular music, they practiced songs by the 5 Keys ("their backgrounds were always so pretty", said Ernest), the Midnighters, the Moonglows, and the Drifters. Favorites were "Annie Had A Baby", "My Saddest Hour", and "The Beating Of My Heart".
They had a manager named Raleigh Randolph, but "we mostly did it on our own," remembered Nimrod. While the name "Raleigh Randolph" may not be familiar to many, Harland T. "Raleigh" Randolph ("Ol' Boss") was a vocalist and bass player with his band, the Sultans Of Swing (which, for a while in the mid-50s, featured a young vocalist named Nancy Wilson). He'd once been Fats Waller's bassist.
On November 13, 1954, the 5 Dreamers appeared, with the Sultans Of Swing, at the Armory in London, Ohio. On January 1, 1955, it was at the Cabanas Club ("Located on old Valley Pike, off State Rt. 55, just 8 miles northwest of Springfield [Illinois] and five miles southwest of Urbana."). January 28 found them at the Lincoln Ballroom in Columbus, as part of a show put on by the Jack & Jill Club. Then, there was a Dawn Dance (midnight to 4 AM) on May 29, 1955, at the Hy-Way Rollarena in Marion, Ohio. On Christmas Eve, they performed at a dance at something called the Broadview Party Home. Their last newspaper mention was at an NAACP benefit fund-raising banquet, at Columbus' Veterans Memorial Auditorium, on April 14, 1956.
Although I can't find any ads, I was told that they also appeared at the Pythian Ballroom, the Cadillac Club, Valley Dale, the Club Copa, and the Neighborhood House. They also did a lot of dances with DJ Eddie Saunders, who was Central Ohio's first black DJ, on WVKO (the Voice of Kolumbus, Ohio, 1580 on your AM dial).
Possibly through Raleigh Randolph, the group got to make some recordings for New York's brand new Port Records, run by 17-year-old Steve Blaine, son of Jerry Blaine of Jubilee Records. Alas, the 5 Dreamers didn't get to go to New York. The recordings ("Beverly" and "You Don't Know"), both led by Stoney Stoner, were done locally, in May 1957. The songs were probably given to them by Randolph, since the writers' names weren't familiar to Nimrod. ("Beverly' was written by Tyrone Smith and Charles K. Gambel; "You Don't Know" was penned by Ricardo Wallace.)
Released in June 1957, the record wasn't sent out for review. Consequently, nothing much happened with the platter, not even locally. But they did have some fans; this was in the March 9, 1957 Cleveland Call And Post:
You've heard of the "Five Dreamers", well now we are introducing you to the teenage fan club "The Dreamers", who, of course, think that the quintette is tops.
Finally, with nothing happening and the group getting nowhere, the 5 Dreamers went their separate ways, another blip on the R&B radar. Nimrod Patrick died on April 12, 2018; Ernest Mackey on March 18, 2022.
[NOTE: In October 1956, Josie Records, another subsidiary of Jubilee released "Sugar Diabetes" and "Rock A Bye Blues" by Eddie Banks and the 5 Dreamers; an entirely different group.]
Special thanks to Victor Pearlin.
PORT (5 Dreamers; leads by Albert Stoner)
5001 Beverly / You Don't Know - 6/57