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The Detergents were an American music group consisting of Ronnie (Ron) Dante, Danny Jordan, and Tommy Wynn. [1] The group's specialty was parody songs, as with their first and best-known single, "Leader of the Laundromat". A spoof of the then-current hit song "Leader of the Pack", "Leader of the Laundromat" became a hit in its own right, reaching the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1965.
In 1965, the group released "Leader of the Laundromat," a parody of the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack." [1] It was written and produced by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. The song became a top 20 hit in the US, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. [1]
The lead vocal on "Leader of the Laundromat" was by Danny Jordan, who was Paul Vance's nephew. Jordan had had a 1960 single release on Kapp Records' Leader label: "Just Couldn't Resist Her With Her Pocket Transistor" (writers: Jack Keller/ Larry Kolber), a disc highly reminiscent of the then-recent "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" by Leader artist Brian Hyland and like that number 1 hit produced by Vance. Vance also produced a 1962 collaboration between Jordan and Artie Wayne: "Find a Little Happiness", a Diamond Records release credited to Jordan and Wayne. [2]
By 1964, Dante, Jordan and Wynn were all staff writers and session singers for Aldon Music, the music publishing company that had been founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins: that year the three eighteen-year-olds had collaborated in writing the Ronnie Dante single "Little Lollypop" and as the Cabin Kids the trio were recording surf music style songs for planned release on the Screen Gems label, when Vance approached them to record "Leader of the Laundromat" as the Detergents. [3]
The success of "Leader of the Laudromat" predicated the abandonment of the Cabin Kids in favor of the Detergents and as such Dante, Jordan and Wynn appeared on several music-oriented television shows of the day, such as Shindig! and Hullabaloo also touring with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars. The group was active from 1964 until 1966.
After "Leader of the Laundromat" was released, the composers of "Leader of the Pack", Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and George "Shadow" Morton, filed a lawsuit against the group. The suit was ultimately settled out of court. Coincidentally just three years later, in 1968, Dante began working alongside songwriter-producer Jeff Barry as the lead vocalist for the briefly, hugely successful cartoon group, The Archies. [1] Thus in 1969, Dante was the lead (though publicly unacknowledged) vocalist of two Billboard Top 10 singles in the same week, as lead vocalist for two different but equally non-existent studio groups: the aforementioned Archies with the number 1 hit "Sugar, Sugar" and The Cuff Links, with the number 9 hit "Tracy," which was written and produced by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, who also penned and produced "Leader of the Laundromat" by The Detergents. [1]
The Detergents made a second and final appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Double-O-Seven"; a lament by a teenager whose girlfriend is neglecting him to see James Bond movies; the track reached number 89 in the spring of 1965. [1]
The Detergents again spoofed the Shangri-Las by recording "I Can Never Eat Home Any More," a parody of the Shangri-La's hit "I Can Never Go Home Any More."
Dante went on to produce many of Barry Manilow's hit recordings in the 1970s. [1]
The Archies is a fictional American rock band that features in media produced by, and related to, Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series The Archie Show. In the context of the series, the band was founded by vocalist/guitarist Archie Andrews, bassist Reggie Mantle, drummer Forsythe "Jughead" Jones, vocalist/keyboardist Veronica Lodge and vocalist/percussionist Betty Cooper. In the cartoons, Veronica is shown playing a large keyboard instrument styled after the X-66, a then-current top-of-the-line organ made by the Hammond Organ Company.
The Turtles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965, whose best-known lineup included Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman, Al Nichol, Chuck Portz, Jim Tucker and Don Murray. Originating from an earlier surf band called the Nightriders, and later the Crossfires, the Turtles first achieved success with a sound that fused folk music with rock and roll, but they would achieve greater success with pop music, scoring their biggest and best-known hit in 1967 with the song "Happy Together". They charted several other top 40 hits, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby" (1966), "She'd Rather Be With Me" (1967), "Elenore" (1968) and "You Showed Me" (1969).
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966, they charted with several hits documenting teen tragedies and melodramas. They remain known for their hits "Remember ", "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", and in particular, "Leader of the Pack", which went to #1 in the US in late 1964.
Mary Weiss is an American pop music vocalist, best known as the lead singer of The Shangri-Las in the 1960s. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norton Records.
Toni Wine is an American pop music songwriter, who wrote songs for such artists as The Mindbenders, Tony Orlando and Dawn ("Candida"), and Checkmates, Ltd. in the late 1960s and 1970s. Wine also sang the female vocals for the cartoon music group The Archies, most notably on their #1 hit song "Sugar, Sugar". She shared the lead vocals in the Archies' subsequent single, "Jingle Jangle" with Ron Dante using his falsetto voice. In addition, Wine was a backing vocalist on Gene Pitney's "It Hurts to Be in Love" and on Willie Nelson's "Always on My Mind."
George Francis "Shadow" Morton was an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s. In particular, he was noted for writing and producing "Remember ", "Leader of the Pack", and other hits for girl group The Shangri-Las.
Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Then He Kissed Me", "Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love", and "River Deep - Mountain High" ; "Leader of the Pack" ; "Sugar, Sugar" ; "Without Us".
"Sugar, Sugar" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. It was originally recorded by the cartoon band the Archies. This version reached No. 1 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969 and remained there for four weeks. It also reached No. 1 on the UK Singles chart in that same year for eight weeks. The song became a hit again in 1970 when rhythm and blues and soul singer Wilson Pickett's version was listed on music charts.
Terry Knight and the Pack was an American garage rock band formed in Flint, Michigan in 1965. The band was signed to the Lucky Eleven label through most of its brief recording career. They produced one national hit with their cover version of the song, "I ". Despite their inability to replicate their success, the band was a frequent attraction in the Michigan rock scene. The Pack was fronted by singer Terry Knight. In 1969 the group disbanded but two members, drummer/vocalist Don Brewer and guitarist Mark Farner, would go on to form another band, Grand Funk Railroad.
Ron Dante is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fictional cartoon band the Archies; he was also the voice of the Cuff Links and co-produced Barry Manilow's first nine albums.
Eleanor Louise Greenwich was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Be My Baby", "Maybe I Know", "Then He Kissed Me", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Christmas ", "Hanky Panky", "Chapel of Love", "Leader of the Pack", and "River Deep – Mountain High", among others.
"Leader of the Pack" is a song written by George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. It was a number one pop hit in 1964 for the American girl group the Shangri-Las. The single is one of the group's best known songs as well as a popular cultural example of a "teenage tragedy song". The song was covered in 1985 by the heavy metal band Twisted Sister, who had a more modest hit with their version.
"Remember ", also known as "Remember", is a song written by George "Shadow" Morton. It was originally recorded by the girl group the Shangri-Las, who had a top five hit with it in 1964. A remake by Aerosmith in 1979 was a minor hit. There have been many other versions of the song as well.
Joseph Paul Florio, known professionally as Paul Vance, was an American songwriter and record producer, primarily from the 1950s until the 1970s.
A teenage tragedy song is a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other colorful sobriquets coined by DJs that then passed into vernacular as the songs became popular. Often lamenting teenage death scenarios in melodramatic fashion, these songs were usually sung from the viewpoint of the dead person's sweetheart, as in "Last Kiss" (1961), or another witness to the tragedy, or the dead person. Other examples include "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning (1959), "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson (1960), "Ebony Eyes" by the Everly Brothers (1961), "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean (1964), and "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las (1964). The genre's popularity faded around 1965, but inspired a host of similar songs and parodies over the years.
The Cuff Links were an American rock/pop studio group from Staten Island, New York, United States. The band had a US No. 9 hit in 1969 with "Tracy", with rich harmonized vocals provided entirely by Ron Dante. The track was produced as part of a series of recording sessions – sometimes as many as six in a day – by Dante, with the songs released under a variety of band names.
Kelly-Lynn is a vocalist from the United States, who has recorded lead and backing vocals on 3 projects with Walt Disney Records, and also is the voice of Veronica Lodge on the Archies Christmas Album featuring Betty and Veronica released in 2008.
Leader of the Pack is the 1965 debut album by girl group the Shangri-Las. The album was produced to capitalize on the group's breakthrough hits "Remember " and "Leader of the Pack" which had been co-written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. After the album's focal track went to number one, The Shangri-Las' style and image had evolved into something tougher and earthier.
Everything's Archie is the second studio album released by The Archies, a fictional pop band from the Archie universe. The single "Sugar, Sugar" went to number one on the pop chart selling over six million copies and was awarded a golden disc. The single was ranked as the number one song of the year for 1969 according to Billboard. The album was later reissued on RCA Records, and in 2012 by Essential Media Group. Everything's Archie peaked at number 66 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The Archies is the debut studio album by The Archies, a fictional pop band from the Archie comics. The album was originally released on the Calendar Records label in 1968 and included 12 songs. It was produced by Jeff Barry and co-produced by Don Kirshner. The band's debut single was "Bang-Shang-A-Lang"; it peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. The album peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at number 88. The song "Seventeen Ain't Young" became a Top 40 hit in Australia for Frank Howson in 1969.