Herb Reed, the last surviving member of the Platters, one of the first pop groups to break the color barrier in the 1950s with crossover hits like “Only You,” “The Great Pretender” and a soaring street-corner version of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” died on Monday in Boston. He was 83.

The cause was lung disease, said his manager, Fred Balboni.

Mr. Reed was credited with naming the group in 1953 (“platters” was disc jockey lingo for vinyl records) when he and a group of friends in Los Angeles began singing a cappella in amateur contests. The core of the original group — Mr. Reed, David Lynch and the lead singer, Tony Williams — later joined with Paul Robi and a 15-year-old girl named Zola Taylor to form the quintet that recorded “Only You” in 1955, the first in a string of hits.

Mr. Reed became the group’s most enduring presence. As original members were replaced, he remained, singing bass on all of the 400 recordings the group made during its peak years, including four that reached No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart: “The Great Pretender” (1955), “My Prayer” (1956), “Twilight Time” (1958) and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958). He continued performing until 2010, and a year later he won a court battle over the rights to the Platters name.

In the tradition of black singing groups like the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots, the Platters used highly polished harmonies and had a musical sophistication that helped their records gain acceptance on mainstream radio at a time when racial divisions, though loosening, were still being observed in the record business. The Platters’ early records, like those of many black artists, had color-coded labels — usually orange, sometimes purple — to alert D.J.’s that they were “race records,” something that effectively barred them from the air in parts of the South. (The term was later changed to “rhythm and blues.”)
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