Steve Gibson (October 17, 1914 – 1996) was a well known guitarist and bass singer and was the main force behind The Five Red Caps, a top R&B combo for decades.
The Lynchburg, Virginia-born Gibson, who sang bass and played guitar, shifted in and out of various bands well into the '40s, was in the Four Toppers when they decided to change their name to the Five Red Caps in 1943. Producer Joe Davis recorded the band as much as was possible under the restrictions of the Second World War recording ban, even getting hit with violations for some of the sessions.
In 1944, Gibson and the then-five other band members jumped to the Savoy label. This enterprising outfit managed to release more sides by the group then it actually ever recorded simply by distributing the tunes under more than one title. Gibson's moment of song title immortality is involved in the process, as one of these recordings came out first as "Nat's Boogie Woogie," and then was released as "Steve's Boogie Woogie."
Gibson and his Red Caps had shifted from Mercury Records to RCA Victor in November of 1950 and would stay there for half a decade. Personnel was pretty fluid, though tenor David Patillo (who was there when the group formed in a decade earlier as The 4 Toppers) and baritone/pianist Romaine Brown, who came on board a little later, were still on hand. For the June 18, 1951 New York date that produced the driving Would I Mind (it was issued the following month) with the tall, lanky Gibson out front as well as a rip-roaring remake of their proto-rock and roll Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night, the ranks were rounded out by Emmett Mathews who doubled on soprano sax.
Though The Red Caps' sound grew commercially passé on record, it was a different story live. Gibson's crew tore up East Coast and Vegas lounges year after year, playing packed houses in Wildwood, New Jersey (a 1955 promo photo shows Gibson, original tenor Jimmy Springs, and Patillo surrounded by a sizable crew including Treniers sidemen Henry Tucker Green on drums and Jimmy Johnson on electric bass, saxist Gene Redd, and another drummer: the young, white Bobby Gregg)
The sound of the group evolved with the addition of vocalist Damita Jo. She married Gibson in 1954 and divorced him in 1958 but was committed to stay on with the group for performances through 1960. The Red Caps tried to stay current, moving to ABC-Paramount in 1956 and cutting Rock And Roll Stomp. Their cover of The Rays''57 smash Silhouettes cracked the low end of the pop hit parade.
Due to tax problems the group split into two factions in 1962. The one without Gibson dubbed themselves The Modern Red Caps and recorded for Smash, Swan, and several other labels. Gibson's Red Caps employed some intriguing female vocalists at '60s engagements featuring future Motown thrushes Tammi Terrell and Barbara Randolph and '50s Specialty label star Wynona Carr. By the end of the decade, both groups were defunct. Gibson’s Red Caps returned from the Far East (having also played in Thailand), they were supposed to open at Caesar's Palace, but there were some internal problems and the group never performed again.
Around 1980, Steve Gibson was part of the "New Ink Spots". A promotional album (The Wonderful World of the New Ink Spots on Spot Records) listed Gibson as baritone, Lucius "Dusty" Brooks (formerly of the 4 Tones) as bass, Johnny Taylor as lead tenor, and LaRue "Rufus" McKay as second tenor. Old friend Henry Tucker Green was the drummer.
Steve Gibson had a stroke and subsequently passed away, in Las Vegas, in March 1996.
(Edited from Discogs, Bear Family notes & Marv Goldberg’s notes)