Herb Reed, the last surviving member of the Platters, in our opinion the greatest R&B vocal group ever, died Monday in a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, after suffering for years with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 82. Despite his illness, Reed continued touring and performing the group’s hits, like “The Great Pretender,” “Twilight Time,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Only You,” until just five months ago. He founded the Platters in Los Angeles when he was in his twenties, and his vocals are heard on every one of the group’s more than 400 recordings. Reed told a newspaper in 2008 that in the ’50s the music industry categorized talent. “If you were black,” he said, “you were rhythm and blues. If you were white, they considered you to be pop. We were going for beautiful tunes with beautiful melodies and a beautiful tenor voice and beautiful voices harmonizing in the background.” And they succeeded. (More here)