SIMI VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Ross Barbour, the last surviving original member of the vocal harmony group the Four Freshmen, died in Simi Valley, Calif., the group's manager said. He was 82.
Dina Roth said Barbour, who suffered from lung cancer, died Saturday, three months after the death of his cousin Bob Flanigan, also a member of the group, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The original Four Freshmen came together as a barbershop quartet at Butler University in Indianapolis in 1948 -- made up of Barbour, his brother Don, Hal Kratzsch and Marvin Pruitt.
Pruitt dropped out, with Flanigan replacing him. Kratzsch dropped out of the group in 1953 to be replaced by Ken Errair.
The quartet was actually a band with all members singing and playing instruments.
"Ross always used to say they were trying to get the sound of five voices with only four, and since they were so inspired by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and especially the trombone section, they were trying to sound like the instruments," Vince Johnson, who joined the Four Freshmen in 1999, told the Times.
Kenton brought them to Capitol Records where they cut a few mid-level hits such as "It's A Blue World," "Mood Indigo," and "It Happened Once Before." They scored their biggest hit in 1956 with "Graduation Day."
Beach Boys founding member Brian Wilson told upi.com that song, (later captured live on the "Beach Boys Concert" album) and the entirety of the Four Freshmen sound provided the framework around which he crafted the tight Beach Boys harmonies.
Barbour and the other Four Freshmen won the DownBeat magazine Readers Poll as best vocal group of the year five times from 1953-1958, the Times said. Barbour retired from the group in 1977 but it continues with non-original members.
Barbour is survived by his wife, Nancy Sue; three children, Kent, Gary and Kathy Feese; and four grandchildren.
