Celebrity Graveland

August 7, 1928 – June 4, 2012

A “Platter” by any other name…

Herb Reed was the bass vocalist and a founding member of the American vocal group, The Platters. Claiming to have come up with the name, Reed joined the fledgling group in Los Angeles in 1953 and would become the last surviving original member and the only member to appear on every Platters’ recording from 1953 to 1969.

After 1969, well…it gets a little…litigious.

With hits like “Only You,” “The Great Pretender” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” the Platters enjoyed more than a decade and a half of success (and some prostitution-related tabloid scandals). Much like the Temptations, every member of the Platters felt they were entitled to tour with the name “The Platters” after they left the group. Everyone had a Platters splinter group. Former producers had a Platters splinter group. Widows of original members had a Platters splinter group. If you wanted a Platters splinter group, you got one.

Reed continued to perform and tour for the remainder of his life, but he was almost constantly embroiled in some legal battle over the naming rights to the group. Sometimes he won the copyrights to the name. Sometimes he lost them. In the end, he founded Herb Reed Enterprises, LLC and in 2011, the company was granted rights to the name, though it would take a few more years to finalize the proceedings.

Herb Reed died outside of Boston in 2012 just a few weeks after his final public performance. In 2014, Reed (through his LLC) was posthumously, but officially, granted naming rights to “The Platters.”

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group in 1990.

Burial

Puritan Lawn Memorial Park – Peabody, MA

Specific Location

Enter the memorial park and turn immediately left on Humphrey Drive. Follow that until it intersects with Mason Drive on your right. To your left, there is a clump of trees, Herb is buried just past and to the left of these trees, 9 rows from the road.

This entry was posted on July 1, 2024 at 8:58 am and is filed under Puritan Lawn Memorial Park with tags Puritan Lawn Memorial Park, Singers, The Platters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.