Joseph Harold Van Load possessed one of the most remarkable high tenor voices in the history of R&B. When Joe was discharged from the United States Navy in 1946, he formed a group called the Canaanites. They recorded both gospel and secular sides for the Gotham label. In mid-1949, the Canaanites changed their name to the Bachelors and recorded secular music in self-produced sessions. Demos in hand, Joe went around to record companies to try and interest them in the product. The only company that purchased any of the masters was Mercury, although some of their output was later released as by the "Joe Van Loan Quartet" on the tiny Carver label of Newark (part of World-Wide Records).
Joe then joined a group called the Songmasters, who were managed by Jimmy Gorham of the Selah Jubilee Singers. A sometime member of the group was Mary Hayes, who was also managed by Gorham. Once again, the sides were independently recorded, but this time, Joe couldn't get any of them released. In 1950, he turned up on "Joog, Joog" by Duke Ellington. Most of the vocal is done by Lu Elliott, with an unidentified group in the background. However, on the second bridge, the vocal is taken by Van Loan. Also that same year, he recorded one known song, as the vocalist with the Elmer Snowden Quartet. This was an instrumental unit fronted by jazz banjoist Snowden. As with so many of Van Loan's other tracks, this one was also unreleased.
In 1952 he joined the influential rhythm and blues group, The Ravens who were formed in the Harlem District of New York City in 1946. One of the pioneering post-World War II Rhythm and Blues groups, and the earliest named for birds, they had such hits as, "Darktown Strutters' Ball", "Green Eyes", and "Rock Me All Night." In 1952, while still a member of the Ravens, Joe joined Warren Suttles' Dreamers for a single session backing Wini Brown. As "Her Boyfriends", they recorded "Be Anything - Be Mine" and "Heaven Knows Why" (see Warren Suttles and the Dreamers). Joe later backed her again with an unknown group of "Boyfriends". On June 9, 1952, the Dreamers backed up bandleader Arnett Cobb on a pair of sides. Once again, Joe Van Loan is present on these.
In mid-1954, Joe got together with some friends of his and cut a record. These "friends" just happened to be three-quarters of the Du. They cut a single record under the name "Dixieaires", a name used by J.C. Ginyard for many groups he was with over the years. Joe's lead on "Traveling All Alone" makes it one of his finest numbers. Since this Dixieaires group was more or less the Du Droppers, Joe decided to make it more or less official, appearing with that group, starting in late August 1954, as a fifth member. However, since Harvey Ray left a few weeks later, they were down to a quartet again. There are photos of the Du Droppers with Joe, but no recordings. ![]()
Since Joe was still with the Ravens, and since the Ravens had recently signed with Jubilee, nobody wanted to get into a contract dispute. In fact, when the Du Droppers recorded again (in April 1955), there were witnesses present to swear that the new "secret lead" was not Joe Van Loan. (In fact it wasn't; it was "Carnation Charlie" Hughes, right before he joined the Drifters.) Around September 1956, to keep the Ravens going, Joe brought in his two brothers, Paul Van Loan (tenor) and James Van Loan (former baritone/second tenor of the Dominoes for three years). Joe Van Loan would remain with the Ravens until they disbanded at the end of 1958.
There's an ad from July 1958 advertising Joe Van Loan, "formerly of the Ravens" making an appearance at the "T" Bar in Milmont Park, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1958, Joe recorded "Forever" and "Give Me Your Heart" for Philadelphia's new V-Tone label, backed by the Parliaments.
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| David McNeil, Curtis McNair, Joe Van Load Charlie Fuqua |
In 1959, Joe Van Loan, Willie Ray, Orville Brooks, and Dave Bowers formed the Buccaneers, who toured extensively, but made no recordings. They changed their name to the Valiants and recorded "Let Me Go Lover"/"Let Me Ride", released in September 1959, on the Joy label. Joe released a few singles up to the mid 60’s on the Parkway, Ford and Sudaja labels. He spent his last years singing with Charlie Fuqua’s & Ray Richardson's Ink Spots. He died in December 1976 at the age of only 54 and was buried in Beverly National Cemetery.
(Edited from Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks)
