The story reaches back to Jersey City, NJ and the graduating class that included Edward” Sonny” Bivins (Lincoln high, Richard” Ricky” Taylor (Snyder High), Winfred ”Blue” Lovett (Lincoln High), George “Smitty” Smith (Snyder High) & Kenneth” Wally” Kelley (Lincoln High). They all enlisted into different Branches of the Armed Forces. Sonny, Richard, & Blue were scattered at US Air Force Bases in West Germany. Smitty served at an Air Force base in California, and Kenny Joined the Navy. When the paths of the first three men crossed in Germany, they promised to get together after the service and pursue their music, likewise Smitty & Kenny were always part of the group.
Back home after their various service stints, they started singing together almost immediately. They took their name, not from the borough of New York as it is noted, but from the popular drink of whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. Nevertheless, the name stuck and the Manhattans would always be associated with the big city. Their big break came in 1964, when they won third prize at the Apollo Theater Amateur Night Contest. They were spotted by Joe Evans, a former alto sax player in the Motown touring Orchestra. He had just started Carnival Records. He signed the Manhattans on August 15, 1964 (Which they regard as their true anniversary date) and their first release was aptly titled, “For The Very First Time”, a local NYC hit that year, along with “There Goes A Fool”
."I wanna be (Your Everything)" written by Blue, broke out as a national Pop and R&B hit in the winter of 1965 on Carnival. The follow-up, “Searching For My Baby”, was later covered by The Persuasions as the lead track of their debut acappella album. Sonny wrote the next single entitled, ”Follow Your Heart“, which also broke on the Pop And R&B charts, selling over 500,000 copies. 1966’s "Baby I need You", “ When We Are Made As One” (re-done for the Too Hot To Stop It Album) and 1967’s "I Call It Love”, written by Sonny, also penetrated the Pop and R&B charts. These hits and the early touring earned The Manhattans NATRA’s “Most Promising Group” Award in 1968.
1969 found the Manhattans moving over to King Records' Deluxe Label. Starting with “The Picture Became Quite Clear” and "It’s Gonna take A Lot To Bring Me Back”, the Group enjoyed high R&B sales and regularly crossed-over to the pop charts with their smoothly produced sound. Those Deluxe sides were highlighted by a version of a country song called “From Atlanta To Goodbye“, a cover of Little Willie John’s “ Let Them Talk”. Kenny’s “If My Heart Could Speak“ and Blue’s “ One Life To Live”, were the two titles that actually caught the attention of Columbia Records, leading to their signing the Group. (Those two songs were re-done as a medley in 1980, on the "After Midnight", album that included the Grammy Award winning “Shining Star”

In 1970, The Manhattans were on a black college tour of the south. They were appearing at North Carolina’s Kittrell College with the New Imperials, a group that included student Gerald Alston. They were so impressed with Gerald that they asked him to join the group, but he declined. But as fate would have it, later that year, lead singer George Smith would become fatally ill, and Gerald would accept the groups offer this time. Within three weeks he would become the new Lead Vocalist of the Manhattans. Sadly to say, on December 16, 1970, founding member & Original Lead Vocalist George “Smitty“ Smith would pass away.
In late 1972, The Manhattans would sign a world wide recording contract with Columbia. For the first time, they were able to work on their own production in the studio, collaborating with Gamble & Huff and veteran producer-arranger-composer Bobby Martin at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studio. Their Columbia debut came in April 1973, as Gerald sang lead on a song written by Sonny titled “ There’s No Me Without You ” an RIAA gold record and the title of their first Columbia LP that was released in July. The album included the follow-up singles “You’d Better Believe It" and Blue’s “Wish That You Were Mine”.
In 1974, more hits followed with "Summer Time In The City" (June) released in advance of their next album with Bobby Martin, and "That’s How Much I love You" released in (September). The follow-up single from the LP, “ Don’t Take Your Love From Me” (October) was the first Manhattans single to reach the top 40 on the Pop charts.

In 1976: Blue’s “ Kiss And Say Goodbye “ (March) made history as the second single ever to be certified RIAA Platinum under the 2 million-unit sales standard (Johnnie Taylor’s Disco Lady also under the Columbia label was the first). The album split production between Bobby Martin and Bert DeCoteaux and became The Manhattans first RIAA gold LP. During the reign of “Kiss And Say Goodbye”, as the # 1 Pop and R&B single, The Manhattans were also honored with an American Music Award nomination. The album charted for months, and pushed the first Columbia album to RIAA gold and found the Manhattans breaking ground in Europe with a successful tour of England and several U.S. Armed Forces bases in Germany.
In January of 1977, the Manhattans were selected to perform for then, President Jimmy Carter, at the Presidential Inaugural Ball at the White House. Their next LP was released in February entitled “It Feels So Good”, named after the first single off of the album, “ It Feel So Good To Be Loved So Bad”. This was followed in July by a song that was co-written by Sonny and Gerald, “We Never Danced To A Love Song". Blue’s “I Kind of Miss You” was actually released in October ’76 as an advance single. That year, The Manhattans would become a quartet as original member and baritone singer Richard Taylor, would leave to join the Muslim faith. Nevertheless, their Broadway premiere went on just the same, as they opened at the Winter Garden with Natalie Cole. They also did a pair of original movie soundtracks "Moving" and "The Class of Mrs. McMichael". In addition, that year they received NATRA’s “ Outstanding Group of The Year “ along with the Commodores.
“Am I Losing You” was released in January 1978 as an advance single off of the next LP, "There’s No Good In Goodbye". This rather diverse LP included the follow-up single, Billy Joel’s “Everybody has A Dream” (June) as well as the Casinos classic, “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye”. They also did the big song from the hit musical Annie, ”Tomorrow”.

In 1979, “The Love Talk” LP and its first single, “Here Comes The Hurt Again”, were both released in March. With disco at full-tilt, Blue’s “New York City” turned up as an energetic dance tune (a departure from the ballad format) as the B-side of the next single, which was the Manhattans interpretation of a medley consisting of "The Way We Were" by Barbara Streisand and "Memories" by the Temptations. The year climaxed with a one-month tour of Europe, October-November.
With the Lee Williams as the lead singer, 1992 and 1993 saw The Manhattans touring and performing extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Under the direction and mentorship of original Manhattans member Edward "Sonny" Bivins, the group worked hard to re-establish the Manhattans sound, and the many performances and appearances gave them the perfect venue to perfect the sound that made The Manhattans so successful.

The "Manhattans Now" CD was released in 1994 under the Hektoen Label. It was a collaboration with producer Steve Washington (of The Ohio Players and Slave fame). The Group members wrote many of the songs for the CD. In 1996, The Manhattans contract with Hektoen Records would end and The Manhattans would go in a different direction. After their release from the contract they started their own company, Manhattans Entertainment Inc. In 1998, The Manhattans were requested to perform at the White House Christmas Party for The President of the United States and the First Lady, Bill and Hillary Clinton. During the mid-1990's The Manhattans would continue to tour extensively throughout the United States, Europe, The Caribbean and Japan.