Fred Parris was in his late teens and on guard duty at a U.S. Army base in Philadelphia when he wrote the doo-wop standard "In the Still of the Night." He and his band, The Five Satins, recorded it in the basement of St. Bernadette Catholic Church in New Haven, Connecticut, when he and bandmate Al Denby were home on leave in February 1956. "That song changed my life," Parris told the New Haven Register in 2014. Parris died Jan. 13 after a brief illness, his music manager Pat Marafiote told The Associated Press. He was 85.
"In the Still of the Night" sold many millions of copies during periodic reissues and appearances on soundtracks and compilation records, and it charted three times on the Billboard Hot 100 — in 1956, 1960, and 1961. But the it made its first trip to No. 24 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on the R&B charts, Parris had already returned to active duty in Japan, Billboard reports. "Another singer, Bill Baker, had to take his place at performances until he returned."
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