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 Flamingos are an American doo-wop group formed in Chicago in 1953. The band became popular in mid-to-late 1950s and are known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You". They have since been hailed as one of the finest and most influential vocal groups in pop and doo wop music history. In 2001, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Teenagers were an American music group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead singer, is also noted for being rock's first all-teenaged act. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
The Cadillacs were an American rock and roll and doo-wop group from Harlem, New York, active from 1953 to 1962. The group was noted for their 1955 hit "Speedoo", written by Esther Navarro, which was instrumental in attracting white audiences to black rock and roll performers.
Doo Wop 50 is a television and dvd special created and produced by TJ Lubinsky, grandson of Herman Lubinsky. The special was inspired by a 1994 CD box-set of doo wop music which was also a development and production partner WQED in the program an dvd. It aired in December 1999.
The Jive Five were an American doo-wop group. They are best known for their debut hit single, "My True Story" (1961), the Nickelodeon bumper jingles in the 1980s and 1990s, and the fact that they outlasted most of their musical peers by re-modeling themselves as a soul group in the 1970s and beyond.
The Edsels were an American doo-wop group from Campbell Ohio who were active during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name of the group was originally The Essos, after the oil company, but was changed to match the new Ford automobile, the Edsel. They recorded over 25 songs and had multiple performances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The Edsels were one of the few doo-wop groups to sign with a major record label, as most groups of that era found success with small independent labels; before their national hit "Rama Lama Ding Dong", songs like "What Brought Us Together", "Bone Shaker Joe" and "Do You Love Me" helped the group land a major recording contract with Capitol Records in 1961.
Lee Andrews & the Hearts were an American doo-wop quintet from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formed in 1953. They recorded on the Gotham, Rainbow, Mainline, Chess, United Artists, Grand and Gowen labels. Managed by Kae Williams, in 1957 and 1958 they had their three biggest hits, "Tear Drops", "Long Lonely Nights" and "Try the Impossible".
"I'm So Young" is a song written by William H. "Prez" Tyus, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio. First recorded by the Students, the song has received cover versions by Rosie and the Originals, the Del-Vikings, Benjy Ferree, the Beach Boys, Naomi Wilson, and, as "So Young," by the Ronettes, Antony and the Johnsons, and the Devil Dogs.
Flip Records was an American record label that flourished in the 1950s, releasing rhythm and blues and doo-wop music by such artists as Richard Berry, The Six Teens, Donald Wood, the Elgins, and many others. Max and Lilian Feirtag operated the label in Los Angeles, California, and published music under the Limax Music trademark.
"Since I Fell for You" is a blues ballad composed by Buddy Johnson in 1945 that was first popularized by his sister, Ella Johnson, with Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra.
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 Solitaires were an American doo-wop group, best known for their 1957 hit single "Walking Along". Although they never had a national chart hit, they were one of the most popular vocal groups in New York in the late 1950s.
The Dreamlovers were an American doo wop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lost Nite Records was an American reissue independent record label, that was founded by Al Trommers, Jerry Greene, Jared Weinstein and Johnny Esposito in 1959 when they acquired the masters of "There's a Moon Out Tonight" by the Capris from Planet Records and rereleased it on Lost Nite in 1960.
"Bad Girl" is a 1959 doo-wop single by The Miracles. Issued locally on the Motown Records label, it was licensed to and issued nationally by Chess Records because the fledgling Motown Record Corporation did not, at that time, have national distribution. It was the first single released on the Motown label – all previous singles from the company were released on Motown's Tamla label. Although The Miracles had charted regionally and on the R&B charts with several earlier songs, including "Got a Job", "I Cry", "I Need a Change", and "(You Can) Depend on Me", "Bad Girl" was their first national chart hit, reaching #93 on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson and Motown Records' President and Founder Berry Gordy, "Bad Girl" is a sad, remorseful ballad about a young woman, whom Robinson, as the narrator, says "was so good at the start", but who later in the song "is breaking my heart". It is in the popular doo-wop style, as several of The Miracles' songs were during the late 1950s. The record's success, coupled with the distributor's failure to pay Gordy and The Miracles properly for its sales, prompted Robinson to urge Gordy to "go national" with it, meaning that Motown should do its own national distribution of its songs, and eliminate the middleman, to ensure that all money from sales of its records would go directly to the label.
"Zoom-Zoom-Zoom" is the title of a capoeira song, made popular by the 1993 movie, Only The Strong, for whose soundtrack it was recorded by Jibril Serapis Bey. It is one of three Serapis Bey recordings which appear on the soundtrack to the film. Another recording of "Zum Zum Zum" was made by Spank for the year 2000 Mazda car commercials in conjunction with the company's slogan "Zoom-Zoom."
The Rockin' Chairs were a doo-wop recording group based in Queens Village, New York active in 1958 and 1959.
The Colts: also known, is an American vocal group from Bakersfield, California, United States. The group's founding members consisted of a four-man line-up: lead singer Ruben Grundy, his brother Joe Grundy, Carl Moland. In 1955, while attending L.A. City College, in Los Angeles, New Jersey native Leroy Smith had joined the group. The following year later, the Colts had added singer: Mel Williams' wife, Mickey Lynn, to their lineup, and changed the group's name to Four Colts & a Filly. The Colts is best known for their version, the first recording of the popular doo-wop classic "Adorable". The Colts is also the first African American vocal group ever coming out of the San Joaquin Valley from Kern county.
Christian Waldemar "Wally" Roker was an American vocal group singer, best known as a member of The Heartbeats and sometimes called "The Godfather of Doo-Wop". He helped establish Scepter Records, worked in promotion and management for several other record labels, and helped set up the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame.
