The Tams

The original members were students at David T. Howard High School. The founding members were brothers Joseph and Charles Pope, Robert Lee Smith, Floyd Ashton and Willie J. Rutherford. Rutherford had problems on stage and was replaced by Horace Key early in the groups history. A story often told about the group was that they had sung in the 1950s as The Four Dots, but this rumour was debunked by Smith in 2015. They took the name the Tams from the Tam o'shanter hats they wore on stage.

In 1962, the group was discovered by Bill Lowery when they were singing in a hotel Smith managed. Their first recording was a hit single on Arlen Records. "Untie Me", a Joe South composition, became a top 20 on the Billboard R&B chart. In 1963, Ashton left and was replaced by Albert Cottle, who was from Washington, D.C..

The follow-up releases largely failed until 1964, when "What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)", reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song spent three weeks at number one on the Cash Box R&B chart. Many of their popular hits were written by Ray Whitley.

"Hey Girl Don't Bother Me" was also a modest US hit the same year. the Tams had only one further major US hit (in 1968) when "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy", peaked at No. 26 on the US R&B chart, and subsequently made the UK top 40 in 1970.

Their 1965 recording "I've Been Hurt" was their biggest regional hit (based on sales and airplay) prior to 1980.

The group reached the Number one slot in the UK Singles Chart in September 1971, with the re-issue of "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me", thanks to its initial support from the then thriving UK Northern soul scene. The song also topped the Irish Singles Chart, making them the first African-American group to have a number-one single in Ireland. A performance of the song on Top of the Pops has since become well known due to member Horcae Key seemingly disappearing off stage mid-song.

By 1973, Key and Cottle had left, and two new singers, John Marshall and Joseph Jones, had joined.

American singer-songwriter Tameka Harris, born in 1975, is the daughter of Dianne Cottle-Pope and Charles Pope.

The group did not chart again until 1987, when their song "There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin'" reached No. 21 in UK, propelled by a regionally-popular dance known as the Carolina shag, which featured heavily in the subsequent 1989 film, Shag. However, the track was banned by the BBC because the word "shag" means "to have sexual intercourse" in colloquial British English.

Still quite popular in the Southeastern United States, they continue to record new music and perform live. In 1999, they were featured performers with Jimmy Buffett on his CD, Beach House on the Moon, and also toured with him around the country.

Because of financial reasons, the group split in the 1980s, with Charles Pope, Robert Lee Smith, and Horace Key leaving to form a new Tams, while Joseph Pope remained in the original. Two versions of the Tams continue to tour to this day: one still led by Smith, who is now semi-retired, and another led by "Little Red" Cottle, son of Albert Cottle.

Although the group members split up, both sides of the group, both original members and later additions to both groups, remained friends with one another, only they weren't on good terms when it came to the music business.

In a 2026 interview, Smith spoke of high regard of the Tams group led by Little Red, saying "These are the original Tams. But now we got we got a new Tams coming, which is just as good as the old Tams. They is on the scene. They doing one heck of a job on the scene. So, you know, the Tams name going to stand, right now it's Little Red and his Tams, but they still the Tams because you know Little Red has been with us from when he was five or six years old."

Charles Pope died from Alzheimer's disease on July 11, 2013, at the age of 76.

Founding/original members

• Floyd Ashton (born August 15, 1933)
• Joseph Pope (born Joseph Lee Pope, November 6, 1933, Atlanta, Georgia; died March 16, 1996)
• Horace Key (born April 13, 1934, Atlanta, Georgia, died 1995)
• Robert Lee Smith (born March 18, 1936)
• Charles Pope (born Charles Walter Pope, August 7, 1936, Atlanta, Georgia; died July 11, 2013)
• Albert Cottle (July 3, 1941 – February 11, 1982)

Singles

Hey Girl Don't Bother Me!

This was the group's first album in 1964. It has the single of the same name.

Other albums

• 1964: Presenting the Tams
• 1967: Time for the Tams
• 1968: A Little More Soul
• 1969: A Portrait of the Tams
• 1970: Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy
• 1970: Best of the Tams
• 1982: Reminiscing
• 1982: Precious Moments
• 1983: Beach Music from the Tams
• 1999: Steppin' Out in the Light
• 2004: Comin' at Cha!