The career of The Ames Brothers fits nicely into Two separate compartments - the Years on the Coral label and those with RCA Victor. Little has been available of the early days of the group and this double CD is putting matters to rights. The Urick family were Russian Jews from the Ukraine who settled in Massachusetts where they brought up 4 girls and 5 boys. Although the family was poor they instilled in their children the love of classic literature and music. The Four youngest boys, Joe (born 3rd May 1924), Gene (13th February 1925), Vic (20th May 1926) and Ed (9th July 1927) - but I have also seen dates making the eldest Three a couple of Years older. They were all gifted vocally, singing at High School, and quite good sportsmen too who took their basketball skills on the road with them early in their singing career. Their love of baseball saw them perform sometimes at the Franklin Field and at various military camps in the Boston and State area. Through this they also managed to get appearances on local radio. Joe had ambitions as an opera singer in Montreal and for a while a cousin, Lenny Kaufmann, took his place in the quartet but when he took sick Ed returned to form the line up that wouldn"t change over the next 15 years. See also JASCD 434