Larry Probability, whose Bronx vocal group the Earls was one of the vital enduring acts of the doo-wop period, serving to to maintain alive the vocal harmonies, rhythmic syllables and onomatopoeic lyrics that had as soon as been improvised on metropolis road corners and in subway stations, died on Sept. 6 in a hospital in Orlando, Fla. He was 82.

His daughter, Nicole Probability, stated the trigger was problems of lung most cancers.

Larry Probability and the Earls have been distinguished as a lot for his or her longevity — the group started in 1957 because the Excessive Hatters, and Mr. Probability was nonetheless performing in its newest incarnation this yr — as for his or her hits, a few of which grew to become doo-wop anthems.

The primary doo-wop teams have been Black, however there have been white artists within the combine nearly from the start. The Earls have been among the many first.

“The Earls unknowingly grew to become the forerunners of white doo-wop teams who took requirements finished by rhythm and blues balladeers and introduced them to the eye of a brand new era,” the music historian Jay Warner wrote in “American Singing Teams: A Historical past From 1940 to At this time” (1992).

Among the many group’s hottest information have been “Life Is However A Dream,” (1961), a track first recorded by the Harptones, a Black doo-wop group, in 1955; “By no means” (1963), an up-tempo torch track; and, most notably, “Keep in mind Then” (1962), which, with its distinctive chant of “Re-mem-mem, re-mem-ma-mem-ber,” reached No. 24 on the Billboard Scorching 100 singles chart and have become a staple of oldies radio.

“Life Is However a Dream” was a success on New York radio and prompted invites for the group to look with the disc jockey Murray the Okay on the Fox Theater in Brooklyn and on Dick Clark’s common tv present “American Bandstand.”

The Earls’ signature track later grew to become the ballad “I Consider,” whose inspiriting lyrics start, “I consider for each drop of rain that falls, a flower grows/I consider that someplace within the darkest evening, a candle glows.”

The Earls’ 1965 recording of “I Consider” was removed from the primary; it had earlier been recorded by, amongst others, Mahalia Jackson, Elvis Presley and Frankie Laine, who had a success with it in 1952. However it grew to become a daily crowd-pleasing finale on the Earls’ stay reveals. The group devoted its recording to Larry Palumbo, an early member who died in 1959 in an accident when he was within the Military.

“I Consider” was an illustration of the music government Hy Weiss’s religion within the group: Their demo model was launched as the finished grasp.

Mr. Weiss, who had supplied the group a contract along with his imprint Previous City Information shortly after listening to “Keep in mind Then,” additionally figured within the transformation of Lawrence Figueiredo into Larry Probability. It occurred simply earlier than “I Consider” was launched.

“Hy Weiss wished him to step out entrance,” Mr. Warner wrote, “and although Figueiredo was reluctant, Weiss and his tremendous salesmanship satisfied him to take an opportunity when he stated, ‘I’m gonna name you Larry Probability.’”

The drummer Bobby Tribuzio, in a telephone interview, characterised Mr. Probability, with whom he carried out for six a long time, as “a singer’s singer.” He was additionally a flexible entertainer (his solo reveals integrated comedy) and wrote songs, together with “Get On Up and Dance (The Continental),” which he wrote with Jimmy Fracassi and the Earls recorded in 1976.

When doo-wop’s recognition declined within the early Seventies, the group tailored by briefly changing into a nine-piece rhythm-and-blues ensemble known as Smokestack. They resumed performing because the Earls throughout the subsequent doo-wop revival.

Within the Eighties, Mr. Probability additionally voiced the provocative radio characters Geraldo Santana Banana and Rainbow Johnson on Don Imus’s WNBC radio present.

His final public efficiency was in June at Archbishop Stepinac Excessive Faculty in White Plains, N.Y., the place he sang “Stand by Me” as a duet with the singer, songwriter and music historian Billy Vera. Mr. Probability’s final recording was a duet of the identical track with Mr. Vera in 2022.

Lawrence Figueiredo was born on Oct. 19, 1940, within the Bronx and raised in South Philadelphia — a neighborhood that additionally spawned the opera singer Mario Lanza, in addition to Larry’s pop-music contemporaries Fabian, Frankie Avalon and Chubby Checker.

His father, John, owned a development firm. His mom, Mary (Pedra) Figueiredo, was a homemaker.

On the age of 6, Larry was forged in an elementary faculty manufacturing of “The Baker and the Pie Man.”

“I used to be the baker,” Mr. Probability instructed Gene DiNapoli, an entertainer and podcast host, in 2020. “I obtained applause. I made a decision then that’s what I wished to do with my life.”

The household moved again to the Bronx in 1955. Mr. Probability later took some jobs with masonry firms to get by, however he pursued a singing profession regardless of opposition at house.

When he instructed his father he wished a profession in music, Mr. Probability recalled, “he instructed me, ‘Get a person’s job.’”

In 1957, at across the time he graduated from Evander Childs Excessive Faculty within the Bronx, he and 4 pals — Bob Del Din, Eddie More durable, John Wray and Mr. Palumbo — shaped the Excessive Hatters.

They carried out at native venues and have been singing exterior the doorway to a subway station after they have been found by Johnny Powers, who recorded their model of “Life Is However a Dream” for his small Rome Information label.

Mr. Probability lived for many years in Sullivan County, N.Y., near the Catskills, the place he carried out in accommodations. He later relocated to Florida to be close to his daughter.

Along with her, he’s survived by his spouse, Sandra; a son, Christopher; and three grandchildren.

Because the lead singer of one of the vital sturdy doo-wop teams, Mr. Probability understood from the start that expertise and luck weren’t sufficient. “Keep in mind Then” was performed on the radio for the primary time in 1962 on a program whose listeners have been invited to telephone in and vote for the very best of 5 songs.

“We had each child within the North Bronx with a pocket filled with dimes, and we simply flooded that station with calls and received the competition,” he instructed Anthony P. Musso, the creator of “Setting the File Straight: The Music and Careers of Recording Artists from the Nineteen Fifties and Early Nineteen Sixties … in Their Personal Phrases” (2007).

He acknowledged, although, that luck might need performed a task when the group was deciding on a brand new title. They couldn’t afford to buy the tuxedos, canes, spats, toppers and different formal apparel they fancied to redeem their unique billing because the Excessive Hatters, and so they couldn’t agree on what to name themselves.

“To make it honest, we caught our finger in a dictionary and stated no matter it falls on, that’s what we’ll be,” Mr. Probability instructed Mr. Musso. “I at all times stated I used to be joyful that I didn’t put my fingers a couple of quarter of an inch up, or we’d have been known as the Ears.”

Jeff Roth contributed analysis.