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Music performed a cappella, less commonly a capella, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
Doo-wop is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.
A chord is in close harmony if its notes are arranged within a narrow range, usually with no more than an octave between the top and bottom notes. In contrast, a chord is in open harmony if there is more than an octave between the top and bottom notes. The more general term spacing describes how far apart the notes in a chord are voiced. A triad in close harmony has compact spacing, while one in open harmony has wider spacing.
Vito & the Salutations is an Italian/Irish/Jewish-American New York City doo-wop group from the 1960s. They began performing their four-part harmonies while still in high school, getting practice by singing in subways and at railroad stations. But they never expected anything to come of it, until one of the band members was introduced to someone at a local record company, and the band was asked to make some recordings. Their first popular record, "Gloria," was a regional hit. But Vito & the Salutations became best known for a surprise million-selling hit a year later, in the summer of 1963: they took "Unchained Melody," a 1955 hit ballad by Al Hibbler that they heard on the car radio, as they drove to perform at a concert, and transformed it into an up-tempo, doo-wop song. "Unchained Melody" reached number 66 on the Cash Box hit parade, and it made the top ten in many cities: for example, in New York City, the song reached #3 on top-40 powerhouse WABC. The record was originally released on Herald (H-583). The original group consisted of: Barry Solomon, Bob DiPaolo, Bobby Mitchel and Vito Balsamo That group broke up after their success with their song Gloria. Another group was formed by their manager Dave Rick. That second group consisted of: Frankie Fox, Sheldon Buchansky, Raymond JP Russell and Vito Balsamo. Balsamo came from an immigrant family: his parents were from Palermo, Italy and he grew up in Brooklyn, listening to opera. But he fell in love with rock and roll, much to the dismay of his parents. Vito joined a group and recorded his first song when he was only fifteen. The B side of "Unchained Melody" was "Hey, Hey, Baby," a tune composed by Murray Kanner, Frankie Fox and Dave Rick. Vito & the Salutations also performed their version of "Unchained Melody" on American Bandstand.
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The Bobs were an a cappella vocal group founded in San Francisco, California, in the early 1980s. They moved to Seattle, Washington, and were active recording and touring throughout the United States, Canada and Europe until their farewell show at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA, on October 21, 2017.
Color Me Badd is an American contemporary R&B group that was formed in 1985 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma by lead singer Bryan Abrams, tenor Mark Calderon, second tenor Sam Watters and baritone Kevin Thornton. Color Me Badd broke up in 1998 before reuniting in 2010, with various lineups since.
The Persuasions were an American a cappella group that began singing together in Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1960s.
Rats & Star, formerly called Chanels, was a Japanese male pop group that specialized in doo-wop-influenced music. The group was led by Masayuki Suzuki.
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The Viscaynes were an American doo-wop group from Vallejo, California, United States, that released a few singles in the early 1960s. They also had a regional hit with the song "Yellow Moon". One of their members Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone would front the multi-racial group Sly & the Family Stone. They were unique in being one of the very few integrated doo-wop groups of their time.
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References
- ↑ Fezco, Mary Anna (June 1983). "Fourteen Karat Soul Ponders the Future Beyond Doo-Wop". Record. 2 (8): 8.
- ↑ American Theatre - Volume 1 1984 Sister Suzie Cinema followed, a 20-minute doo-wop opera performed by the a capella group 14 Karat Soul — fun, but a trifle.
- ↑ TV Guide - Volume 36 - Page 29 1988 "Sister Suzie Cinema," a John Sanborn video of a "doo-wop opera" by Lee Breuer and Bob Telson, features 14 Karat Soul, an all-male a cappella quintet.
- ↑ Colette - Page 212 1981 "Il s'agit de poèmes musicaux et la musique de Bob Telson inspirée du « Doo-Wop » des années 50, du gospel mâtiné de disco, était remarquablement interprétée par le groupe de Harlem 14 Karat Soul — cinq Noirs vêtus de blanc avec une ..."
- ↑ Billboard - 14 Sept. 1985 "Sister Suzie Cinema," scheduled for airing during the second season of PBS's weekly "Alive From 01! Center." The half-hour video is an a cappella doo-wop fantasy about the movies, starring 14 Karat Soul and Ben Halley Jr.
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