Harold Reid, who sang bass for the Grammy-winning country group the Statler Brothers, died April 24 in Staunton, Va. He was 80.
The cause was kidney failure, his nephew Debo Reid said.
The Statler Brothers frequently sang backup for country singer Johnny Cash. Some of their biggest hits included 1965’s “Flowers on the Wall” and 1970’s “Bed of Rose’s.”
Mr. Reid and three boyhood friends — Lew DeWitt, Phil Balsley and Joe McDorman — formed the Four-Star Quartet in 1948. The group, later known as the Kingsmen, sang mostly gospel music.
McDorman quit and was replaced by Don Reid, Harold’s younger brother.
Share this articleShareDeWitt once said the group changed its name again because several other acts — all better known — were billed as the Kingsmen. The new name came from a box of Statler tissue, he said.
The quartet switched to country music in 1964, after meeting Cash and joining his road show.
Over the next two decades, the Statlers won three Grammy Awards and were named top vocal group nine times by the Country Music Association. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Harold Wilson Reid was born in Augusta County, Va., on Aug. 21, 1939.
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