Gene Chandler

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Gene Chandler (born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937) nicknamed "The Duke of Earl" or simply "The Duke", is an African-American singer, songwriter, music producer and executive.

Chandler is known best for his most successful songs "Duke Of Earl" and "Groovy Situation" and his association with the Dukays, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield.

Gene is a Grammy Hall Of Fame inductee and a winner of both the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers' (NATRA) "Producer of the Year" Award and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award. Chandler is also one of a just a few singers to vend successful record singles and albums during the doo-wop, rhythm and blues, soul, and disco musical eras, with some 40 Pop and R&B chart successes between 1961 and 1986. On August 24, 2014, Chandler was inducted into the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.

Duke of Earl

"Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself 'The Duke of Earl'. The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwards. This song was a 2002 inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It has also been selected by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Original version by Gene Chandler

The song originated from warm-up exercises by the Dukays, a vocal group that included Chandler (under his original name, Eugene Dixon) and Earl Edwards and that had already had some success on the R&B chart. The group would regularly warm up by singing "Do do do do..." in different keys. On one occasion, Dixon changed the syllables he was singing to include Earl's name, and the chant gradually became the nonsense words "Du..du..du..Duke of Earl". The pair worked on the song with regular songwriter and mentor Bernice Williams, and then recorded it with the other members of the Dukays. However, the group's record company preferred to release another song, "Nite Owl", leaving Dixon with the offer of releasing it as a solo artist. Dixon changed his name to Gene Chandler (a surname taken from that of the actor Jeff Chandler), and the song was released at the end of 1961, quickly rising to become number 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. "Duke of Earl" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 13, 1962, and held the number-one spot for three weeks. It was on the Hot 100 for a total of 15 weeks. musicians on the record included Floyd Morris on piano, Lefty Bates, Phil Upchurch and Kermit Chandler on guitar, Al Duncan on drums, and Cliff Davis and John Board on sax.