While many hit doo-wop records featured full instrumental accompaniment, the groups themselves had usually started out singing a cappella. It was, in short, a music that required collaborative effort but no instrumental outlay or expertise, to be performed on street corners as a means of escape, public entertainment, personal fulfilment and professional ambition. Deriving its ...
(Comedy group, 1962–69) Though they scored their only big hit, ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’, two years later, this London band, led by Vivian Stanshall (vocals, euphonium) and Neil Innes (vocals, guitar), had run in the same pack as The New Vaudeville Band, Whistling Jack Smith and other leading lights of a 1966 craze for ...
the popular music that erupted in America during the mid-1950s and, by the second half of the decade, was exerting its grip over much of the world. Attaching doo-wop songs and soulful ballads to the main catalyst of rock’n’roll, this new youth-oriented pop, with its sometimes earthy lyrics and often grating beat, was the first to ...
innovative blend of musical styles: the Baptist hymn and the juke joint dance exhortation, the plantation field holler and the sophisticated jazz standard, the romantic vocal flights of doo-wop and the driving rhythms of small-band R&B, the gospel plea for deliverance and the altogether earthier blues lament. It rose to prominence through the innovations of two further black ...
(Vocal group, 1955–present) Originally known as The Juvenaires, this doo-wop group was formed in 1955 while members Danny Rapp, Frank Maffei, Joe Terranova and Dave White were still at high school in Philadelphia. They signed to Singular Records, owned by Artie Singer, and made the 1957 million-seller ‘At The Hop’, which topped the US singles ...
(Vocal group, 1958–present) Formed in New York’s Bronx in 1958 by Dion DiMucci, Angelo D’Aleo, Carlo Mastangelo and Fred Milano, this doo-wop group had had several US hits by 1960, including 1959’s ‘A Teenager In Love’, also a UK hit. Dion went solo in 1960, scoring more US hits, the biggest 1961’s million-selling US ...
sang in church. At the age of 12, he met Billy ‘Bass’ Nelson, and the pair sang and played guitar together. In 1967 the Parliaments, a Plainfield-based doo-wop band headed by George Clinton, hit the charts with ‘I Wanna Testify’. Clinton recruited Nelson for the backup band, and Hazel joined after a stint playing with George ...
(Vocals, b. 1941) Born in North Carolina and raised in New Jersey, Clinton became a funk legend but his first musical venture was the five-man doo-wop group The Parliaments, formed in the late 1950s. After recording for various small labels, and following a spell in which Clinton worked for Motown, the first flowering of his later ...
(Vocal group, 1952–88) One of many 1950s doo-wop groups scraping a reputation on the R&B circuit, Gladys Knight and The Pips (brother Merald and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten) only came to mainstream attention on signing with Motown in 1966, where they had minor hits and the 1967 million-seller original of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. ...
to capacity in black venues throughout America. The Revue had its own backing band, the J.B.s, and with them Brown began to make the transition from doo-wop pop to a tougher R&B sound. It was with the Revue that he earned and adopted the title ‘hardest working man in show business’, reportedly losing 7lbs a night in ...
Born Steveland Judkins on 13 May 1950 and blind virtually from birth, the future Little Stevie Wonder was already singing in his local choir at the age of four. By the time he was seven he had mastered the piano, harmonica and drums. In 1961, Ronnie White of The Miracles introduced the child prodigy to the label’s founder ...
(Vocal group, 1965–80) Originally a doo-wop group, The Detroit Spinners signed to Motown in 1965 but were overshadowed by the label’s excess of talent. Their only big hit there was the Stevie Wonder composition ‘It’s A Shame’. Switching to Atlantic in 1971 and switching lead singer G.C. Cameron for newcomer Philippe Wynne, they teamed with Philly producer ...
(Vocal group, 1931–52) The Ink Spots were the inspiration for many black vocal groups who emerged in the doo-wop era. The group’s tight, mellow harmonies helped them achieve wide crossover appeal. Anchored by the romantic crooning of tenor Bill Kenny and supported by Charlie Fuqua, Deek Watson and bass Hoppy Jones, the Indianapolis natives caught fire in ...
(Vocal group, 1952–60, 1972–present) Formed in 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, this doo-wop outfit comprised Harvey Fuqua, Bobby Lester, Alexander ‘Pete’ Graves, Prentiss Barnes and guitarist Billy Johnson. Originally called The Crazy Sounds, they changed their name at Alan Freed’s suggestion. After several minor singles, they signed with Chess Records in 1954, ...
(Vocal group, 1954–59) The Penguins were an early West Coast doo-wop group formed in 1954, when the group’s members were all attending Fremont High School in Los Angeles. Tenor Curtis Williams created the song ‘Earth Angel’ with two other vocalists. The song, which was going to be a B-side, became a national hit, spending three weeks ...
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David Bowie
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