The Silhouettes were formed in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1956, at first using the name
The Thunderbirds. It reached number 1 on both the R&B and pop charts in US and the group performed it on television's
American Bandstand. The lyrics of "Get a Job" are notable for the depiction of a household in tension because of unemployment, despite the man's desperate attempts to find work, all delivered in a relentlessly upbeat style. A second release, "Heading for the Poorhouse", continued the economic theme. It was one of the few songs to allude to inflation, the trip to the poorhouse being because "all our money turned brown." This single and all their subsequent singles sold poorly and the group never entered the national charts again, making them a classic example of "
one-hit wonders." The Silhouettes toured with
Sam Cooke,
Jackie Wilson,
Clyde McPhatter, and others. They disbanded in 1968, but the four original members reformed the group in the 1980s and continued to work until 1993. ==Group members==