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, DC, 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.
Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was an American soul and rock and roll singer and performer. Wilson was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock and roll history, earning the nickname "Mr. Excitement".
Chicago soul is a style of soul music that arose during the 1960s in Chicago. Along with Detroit, the home of Motown, and Memphis, with its hard-edged, gritty performers, Chicago and the Chicago soul style helped spur the album-oriented soul revolution of the early 1970s.
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards, as both singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the Rock and Roll period. She is best known as the singer of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", and as the composer of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Bette Davis Eyes", which were covered by The Searchers and Kim Carnes, whose versions have been hits for both these acts.
Many musical styles flourished and combined in the 1940s and 1950s, most likely because of the influence the radio had in creating a mass market for music. World War II caused great social upheaval, and the music of this period shows the effects of that upheaval.
Mary Esther Wells was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Robert Thomas Freeman was an American rock, soul and R&B singer, songwriter and record producer from San Francisco, best known for his two Top Ten hits, the first in 1958 on Josie Records called "Do You Want to Dance" and the second in 1964 for Autumn Records, "C'mon and Swim".
Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites.
"Don't Be Cruel" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and written by Otis Blackwell in 1956. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, it was listed #197 in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is currently ranked as the 173rd greatest song of all time, as well as the sixth best song of 1956, by Acclaimed Music.
The Chantels are a pop music group and were the second African-American girl group to enjoy nationwide success in the United States, preceded by The Bobbettes. The group was established in the early 1950s by students attending St. Anthony of Padua School in The Bronx. The original five members consisted of Arlene Smith (lead), Sonia Goring Wilson (1940), Renée Minus White (1943), Jackie Landry Jackson and Lois Harris (1940). They derived their name from that of school St. Frances de Chantal.
"Do You Want to Dance" is a song written by American singer Bobby Freeman and recorded by him in 1958. It reached number No. 5 on the United States Billboard Top 100 Sides pop chart and No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart. Cliff Richard and the Shadows' version of the song reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom in 1962, despite being a B-side. The Beach Boys' version reached No. 12 as "Do You Wanna Dance?" in the United States in 1965, and a 1972 cover by Bette Midler reached No. 17.
"Ko Ko Mo " is a popular rock novelty song written in late 1954 by the rhythm and blues partnership of Forest Gene Wilson and Eunice Levy, and also credited to Jake Porter. One of the earliest rock and roll songs, it was probably "the most extensively recorded rock 'n' roll song of that time".
William Myles Nobles, known as Billy Myles, was an American R&B songwriter and singer active in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for writing "Tonight, Tonight" recorded by The Mello-Kings, "(You Were Made for) All My Love" recorded by Jackie Wilson (1960), and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" recorded by Freddie King (1960), then Eric Clapton (1970).
The Midnighters were an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan. They were an influential group in the 1950s and early 1960s, with many R&B hit records. They were also notable for launching the career of lead singer Hank Ballard and the worldwide dance craze the Twist. Between 1953 and 1962 the Midnighters had several hits on the U.S. pop and R&B charts. Their hits included the million-selling Billboard Top 10 pop hits "Finger Poppin' Time", and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go". The Midnighters also had 13 top 10 R&B hits, including three that reached number 1. Their top 10 R&B hits included "Work with Me, Annie", "It's Love Baby ", "Annie Had a Baby", "The Hoochi Coochi Coo", "Teardrops on Your Letter", "Get It", "The Float" and "Nothing but Good". They received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's prestigious Pioneer Award in 1992 and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. The Midnighters are also noted for achieving a music industry milestone in 1960, by becoming the first group in history to place 3 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. The group's lead singer, Hank Ballard, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. The Midnighters as a group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012.
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.
"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" is an R&B song written by Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner, and Carl Smith. It was recorded by Jackie Wilson for his album Higher and Higher (1967), produced by Carl Davis, and became a Top 10 pop and number one R&B hit.
"Gee", is a song by American R&B and Doo-wop group the Crows, released in June 1953. The song has been credited as the first rock and roll hit by a rock and roll group. It is a doo-wop song, written by William Davis and Viola Watkins, and recorded by the Crows on the independent label, Rama Records, at Beltone Studios in New York City in February 1953. It charted in April 1954, one year later. It took a year to get recognized on Your Hit Parade. It landed No.2 on the rhythm and blues chart and No. 14 on the pop chart. It was the first 1950s doo-wop record to sell over one million records. Recorded on an independent label, it was one of the first such R&B records to crossover to the wider pop market. In fact, some, including Jay Warner, consider it as the first of the "rock n' roll records".
Nat Tarnopol was an American record producer. He played a vital role in producing and shaping R&B music throughout the 1960s and 1970s as the president of Brunswick Records, a subsidiary label of Decca Records. Responsible for launching the careers of The Chi-Lites, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, Barbara Acklin and The Young-Holt Unlimited, Tarnopol scored 150 songs on the Billboard charted singles between 1957 and 1981.
"Lonely Teardrops" is a song written by Berry Gordy Jr., Gwen Gordy and Roquel "Billy" Davis, first recorded and released as a single in 1958 by R&B singer Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label. It is a 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee. The recording became an across-the-board national Top 10 Pop smash, a # 1 hit on the R&B charts, and is ranked #315 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is ranked as the 57th biggest U.S. hit of 1959. "Lonely Teardrops" is also listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
Sidney Jackson Wyche was an American songwriter and pianist. Wyche is best known for writing the jazz standard "Alright, Okay, You Win", Elvis Presley's Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper "A Big Hunk o' Love", and the Jackie Wilson hits "A Woman, a Lover, a Friend" and "Talk That Talk".
