563 Gene Chandler (1937- ) “Duke of Earl” 1962

“Chandler vividly recalls how that period-piece song came into existence by accident, when he was singing with a vocal group called the Dukays. ‘We were clowning around,’ he said, ‘going up the scales to open up our throats before rehearsal.’ He and his fellow Dukays would sing ‘do, do, do, do,’ elevating their voices each time. In a moment of frivolity, Chandler added an ‘Earl’ for group member Earl Edwards. One thing led to another, and soon they were singing ‘Duke, duke, duke, duke of Earl,’ prompting a quickly penned song pitched to their record label, which chose to release another Dukays song, ‘Nite Owl,’ instead. ‘I didn’t know what a million-seller was,’ recalled Chandler, who was 20 at the time. But he had a good feeling about ‘Duke of Earl,’ so he released it as a solo artist instead, and the rest was (a prosperous) history, for which he was generous with his earnings” (Scott Tady, The Beaver County Times (PA), 12/12/2014). 

Gene Chandler “Duke of Earl”