The Velvets were an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 doo wop group from Odessa

Odessa, Texas

Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...

 in Ector County in west Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. The African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 quintet

Quintet

A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....

 was formed in 1959 by Virgil Johnson

Virgil Johnson (singer)

Virgil Lewis Johnson is a retired African American deejay, formerly at radio station KDAV in Lubbock. He was the lead singer of The Velvets, a 1950s and 1960s vocal quintet from Odessa, also in West Texas. They are best remembered for their 1961 hit "Tonight ", which peaked at No. 26 on the...

, a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 teacher, with four of his students. Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

 heard the group and signed them to Monument Records

Monument Records

Monument Records was an American record label, Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958, by Fred Foster and Buddy Deane . Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early 60's bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he retired to until his death...

 in 1960. Their first release was a tune called "That Lucky Old Sun

That Lucky Old Sun

"That Lucky Old Sun" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie. Like "Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.-1949 recordings:...

". Their biggest hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 was "Tonight (Could Be the Night)

Tonight (Could Be the Night)

"Tonight " is a 1961 rock and roll song by the quintet called The Velvets. Virgil Johnson, now a deejay at Radio KDAV in Lubbock, Texas, is the lead tenor singer, with backup from Mark Prince , Clarence Rigsby , Robert Thursby , and William Solomon...

", which hit #26 on the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 in 1961. The follow-up, "Laugh", peaked at #90, and after a half-dozen further singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 the group disbanded.

"That Lucky Old Sun" (#46) and "Tonight (Could Be the Night)" (#50) made brief appearances in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1961.

Their complete recorded output runs to just thirty songs, which were collected on one compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 and released on Ace Records

Ace Records (US)

Ace Records was a record label that was started in August 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi by Johnny Vincent, with Teem Records as its budget subsidiary. Ace also had the Vin label. Its records were distributed independently until 1962 when a distribution arrangement was set up with Vee-Jay Records....

 in 1996.

Johnson sometimes appears in nostalgia

Nostalgia

The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...

 concerts.

Members

• Virgil Johnson
  Virgil Johnson (singer)
  Virgil Lewis Johnson is a retired African American deejay, formerly at radio station KDAV in Lubbock. He was the lead singer of The Velvets, a 1950s and 1960s vocal quintet from Odessa, also in West Texas. They are best remembered for their 1961 hit "Tonight ", which peaked at No. 26 on the...
  
  
• Will Solomon
• Mark Prince
• Clarence Rigsby (1947–1978, died in a car accident)
• Bob Thursby