In the '50s, when a doo-wop craze left the Los Angeles music scene saturated with aspiring performers, The Platters were elevated to the status of one of the greatest doo-wop bands of the decade. Buck Ram, their producer, vocal coach and manager, was the one that helped them reach their full potential. In a sense, the story of The Platters is also part of the story of Buck Ram.

The group started as a diamond in the rough on the Federal label. They had formed in 1953, and were comprised of Herb Reed, Nate Nelson, Zola Taylor, Sunny Turner, David Lynch and Tony Williams. Ram gave Williams a central role in the group. His voice contained a lot of emotional punch, so he became a focal point that the other members accentuated. Ram became the group's songwriter along with performing other jobs for them, and with him backing them, they produced some of the '50s greatest doo-wop hits, including "Only You," "Great Pretender," "My Prayer," "Twilight Time," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Harbor Lights," among many others.

This was all possible due to Ram, born Samuel Ram in Chicago in 1907. Ram had been a classical music prodigy with a preternatural gift for the violin. By his early teenage years, he was playing with professional orchestras. But while playing football one day, a bad accident damaged his hand enough to require him to give up on the violin (he took up the saxophone instead). Though his parents pressured him to become a lawyer, his passion was for music. He went to law school, passed the bar, but never practiced law--he moved to New York, instead, and became the famous creative genius responsible for groups like The Platters and The Penguins. The story of The Platters is undeniably one of success, but it couldn't have been done without Buck Ram at the helm.