A Sunday Kind of Love

Harptones lead singer Willie Winfield turns 81 today. His birthday is an event calling for celebration. As lead vocalist for the doo-wop group, Winfield laid down the moving lead vocal on “A Sunday Kind of Love” (video below, dating from 1994). There’s nothing quite like Winfield’s glorious declaration: “I want a Sunday kind of love…” What kind of love is that? “A love to last past Saturday night…” And you know what he’s talking about.
The Harptones came together in 1953 and promptly engineered an appearance at the Apollo Theater’s famous amateur night show. They sang their inventive arrangement of the 1947 Jo Stafford hit “Sunday Kind of Love” to great effect. Their recording of the song came out that December; you can hear it on the Harptones site and pick up the group’s full history on the Vocal Group Hall of Fame page devoted to them.