Marv Goldberg | |
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 Goldberg as a disc jockey | |
| Born | 1944 (age 78–79) Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, music historian |
Marv Goldberg (born 1944) is an American writer and historian of music in the field of rhythm & blues.
Marv Goldberg | |
|---|---|
| Goldberg as a disc jockey | |
| Born | 1944 (age 78–79) Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, music historian |
Marv Goldberg (born 1944) is an American writer and historian of music in the field of rhythm & blues.
Goldberg grew up in the Bronx, New York and was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School (1960), City College of New York (Biology; 1964), and Pace College (now Pace University; Accounting; 1967). He wrote his first music article (on the Clovers vocal group) in 1964. This led to his spending over fifty years interviewing singers, researching their careers, and documenting their contributions to American music. In 1972, he teamed up with Mike Redmond to write a series of articles for Record Exchanger magazine. Based on their popularity, he became an editor and publisher (along with Mike Redmond and Marcia Vance) of Yesterday's Memories , a quarterly magazine devoted to R&B. The magazine first appeared in March 1975 and had 12 issues before ceasing publication in December 1977. Since then, he has written for many R&B publications (such as Goldmine , Whiskey, Women and ... , Record Collectors' Monthly , Discoveries , and Blues & Rhythm ). His specialization is R&B from the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1997, he created his Yesterday's Memories Rhythm & Blues Party website. [1] On it, he has posted all of the articles he has written, as well as new articles written expressly for the site. In 2009, realizing that his articles reflected many styles, having been written over so many years, he decided to re-write all of them for consistency. He constantly updates them with new information and photographs.
Goldberg is also a disk jockey, and over the years was a guest on many New York area shows. In March 1997, he got his own show, the Yesterday's Memories Rhythm & Blues Party, on WSHR, a 250-watt station (at the time) located at Sachem High School in Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York. This lasted for 75 weekly shows, until he moved to the Internet on October 25, 1998, with a weekly show having the same name.
Over the years, Goldberg has interviewed most of the biggest names in 1940s and 1950s R&B vocal-group music, in addition to hundreds of lesser-known singers. Marv especially had an appreciation for the well-known New York groups like the Crickets, the Paragons, the Jesters, and the Velours. [2] In 1998, his book More Than Words Can Say: The Ink Spots and Their Music, with an introduction by Peter Grendysa, was published by Scarecrow Press. [3]
More recently, Goldberg has begun to document R&B single artists, such as: Wini Brown, Annisteen Allen, Browley Guy, Chuck Willis, Mabel Scott, Little Esther, Mel Walker, Danny Overbea, and many others who have never been written about in depth.
Goldberg worked as an accountant, a systems analyst, and a technical writer, but his first love was always the music.
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.
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.
The Ink Spots were an American vocal pop group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style predated the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny.
Benjamin Franklin Peay, better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with hits such as "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.
The Ravens were an American R&B vocal group, formed in 1946 by Jimmy Ricks and Warren Suttles. They were one of the most successful and most influential vocal quartets of the period, and had several hits on the R&B chart in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Faye Adams, who also performed under the stage names Faye Scruggs and Fannie Jones, is an American former singer who recorded and performed gospel and rhythm and blues. She had several chart hits in the early 1950s, continued to record until the late 1970s, and was also a songwriter.
"Night Train" is a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1951.
Billy Ward and his Dominoes were an American R&B vocal group. One of the most successful R&B groups of the early 1950s, the Dominoes helped launch the singing careers of two notable members, Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson.
The Valentines were one of the most highly regarded American doo-wop groups from the mid-1950s.
The Danleers were an American doo-wop group formed in Brooklyn, New York in 1958. The group's original and most famous lineup consisted of Jimmy Weston, Johnny Lee, Willie Ephraim, Nat McCune, and Roosevelt Mays. One of many streetcorner vocal groups in Brooklyn, they rose to prominence in 1958 on the strength of the single "One Summer Night", written by their manager, Danny Webb, who also named the group. The single was one of the biggest hits of that year and sold over one million copies. Further releases were not so successful and the group mostly dissolved by the mid-1960s. It continued to tour for several decades with Weston as the main original member.
The Larks were an American vocal group, active in the early 1950s. They were not the same group as the Los Angeles-based Larks featuring Don Julian, nor the Philadelphia-based group The Four Larks.
Lillian Leach, also known by her married name, Lillian Leach Boyd, was an American singer who performed lead vocals with the Bronx-based doo-wop group the Mellows. She was noted for her mellifluous voice and wistful singing style. The Mellows recorded several hit songs in the 1950s, including "Smoke From Your Cigarette", "Yesterday's Memories", and "How Sentimental Can I Be?"
The Four Shades of Rhythm were an American R&B group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1938. Established in a hotbed for R&B musicians, the Four Shades of Rhythm are generally considered the first group to emerge from the scene. After singer and drummer Oscar Lindsay reshuffled the group's line-up in the 1940s, the Four Shades of Rhythm performed and recorded in Chicago. At least seven singles were released during their career.
The Hollywood Saxons were a Los Angeles R&B group who recorded under various other names. They were well known on the LA R&B circuit. Their recording history ran from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. Their discography is complex due to the various names they recorded under and labels they recorded on.
Ruben Wright is a musician and former bandleader from Philadelphia. He had an R&B Top 30 hit with "I'm Walking Out On You". He is also a songwriter. He also wrote the regional hit "God Only Knows" for The Capris in 1954.
"God Only Knows" was a regional hit for Philadelphia Doo wop group The Capris. It was their debut single for the group and was written by Ruben Wright. The song also had a dramatic effect on Motown singer Marvin Gaye. It has been covered by other artists as well.
The Four Larks were an R&B group that recorded from the 1960s through to the 1970s on various record labels. Their singles have been released on at least ten different record labels. They had a hit on the pop charts with "It's Unbelievable".
"It's Unbelievable" was a hit for Philadelphia doo wop group The Larks in 1961. It became very popular in Philly as well as become a hit in the pop charts.
Weldon McDougal was a singer, songwriter, record producer and a record label executive. He also founded the Philadelphia recording group The Larks. He produced "Yes I'm Ready" for Barbara Mason. As a song writer, along with Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner, he co-wrote "Doing It Right" for The Go! Team which appeared on their Proof of Youth album.
Sumter Joseph "Cha Cha" Hogan, sometimes credited as "Mr. Ink Spot" or "The Black Foxx", was an American comedian, musician, songwriter, and civil-rights activist.
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