The Mystics are an American rock and roll group that began in Brooklyn, New York, United States, in the late 1950s.[1] The group was known as The Overons, a quintet that, when signed to Laurie Records, consisted of Phil Cracolici (born 1937, lead), Albee Cracolici (born 1936, baritone), George Galfo (born 1939, second tenor), Bob Ferrante (born 1936, first tenor), and Al Contrera (born 1940, bass). Under the direction of their manager, Jim Gribble, The Overons became The Mystics when each group member wrote a name they liked on a slip of paper and placed the papers in a hat; Contrera's choice was drawn.
In March 2015, the five original Mystics—Al Contrera, Albee Cracolici, Phil Cracolici, Bob Ferrante, and George Galfo—were inducted into the Doo Wop Music Hall of Fame in Cerritos, California.[citation needed]
Biography
In late 1958, The Mystics recorded two songs for Laurie Records, "Adam and Eve", and the old Weavers tune "Wimoweh". Unhappy with the results, Laurie Records commissioned Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman to write an original tune for the group. Their first effort, the song "A Teenager in Love", however, was given to labelmates Dion and the Belmonts. Pomus and Shuman were instructed to come up with something else for The Mystics. The next day, the writers returned with "Hushabye".[1] In May 1959, Laurie Records released "Hushabye" b/w "Adam And Eve" and within a few weeks the record was a hit.[1] Soon Alan Freed started featuring "Hushabye" as the closing tune on his televised Saturday night Big Beat Show. At its peak, "Hushabye" was Top Ten in most of the tri-state area, spending nine weeks on the national chart that spring and summer, where it climbed to No. 20.[1]
Gene Schwartz, head of Laurie Records, was visited by Mark Harris regarding a song of his recorded by another artist on the Laurie label. Gene showed him a stack of demos of songs rejected by The Mystics and asked him to write a song for the group's next recording session. Mark, still in high school, wrote "Don't Take the Stars" over the weekend and presented a demo to the company the following week. The group liked the song and recorded it the very same week. "Don't Take The Stars" hit the chart and became The Mystics' second hit after "Hushabye".[1]
After Phil Cracolici left the group later part of 1959 their lead singers changed several times after that. Paul Simon (a.k.a. Jerry Landis), who frequently hung around Gribble's office, became The Mystics' new lead. In January 1960, "All Through the Night" (with five voices singing together with no distinct lead), "I Began to Think of You" and "Let Me Steal Your Heart Away" were recorded.
When Paul Simon left the group to pursue other projects, The Mystics chose John "Jay" Traynor, who later went on to form Jay and the Americans. On May 11, 1960, The Mystics with Jay Traynor on lead recorded "White Cliffs of Dover", "Blue Star" and "Over the Rainbow" at RCA Studios. Inspired by The Del-Vikings' version, they chose "White Cliffs Of Dover", a song they often sang at live shows long before recording it. Backed with "Blue Star", "White Cliffs of Dover" received only local play. "Over the Rainbow" remained unreleased until the late 1980s when Ace Records issued a Mystics album.
Eddie "Shots" Falcone became their next lead singer, and The Mystics recorded "Star Crossed Lovers" b/w "Goodbye Mister Blues", with Falcone singing lead. This record failed to chart and shortly thereafter, a young Ralph Lizano led the group with a song he had written called "Darling I Know Now". "Sunday Kind of Love" and "Again" also featured Ralph Lizano on lead. The first two songs, though released, received no airplay. "Again" was not released until the Crystal Ball LP.[2]
In mid-1961, The Mystics stopped recording and performing. The nostalgia boom that began in 1969 brought the original five members back together and they began performing again on the rock and roll revival circuit. George Galfo and Bob Ferrante left the group after a few years, making the group the Cracolicis, Al Contrera, and new members Joe Esposito, Bruce Sudano, and Eddie Hockinson. Contrera was invited to California for a special project shortly thereafter; he declined, but sent Esposito. Sudano and Hockinson followed, and the three formed the group Brooklyn Dreams.[3] Three new members came in: John Tarangelo (Johnny T), Joey Napoli, and Emil Stucchio. Stucchio is the original lead singer of The Classics, famous in their own right with their hit record "Till Then". The Classics and Mystics were acquainted, as they both came from Brooklyn.
By the early 1980s, the group was Phil Cracolici, Albee Cracolici, Al Contrera, and Johnny T.[4] In 1982, Bob Ferrante was in town when the group was set to record an album, so he joined them. The album was Crazy for You for the Ambient Sound label.[5] It featured re-recordings of three Overons original tunes: "Prayer to an Angel", "Why Do You Pretend" and "The Bells Are Ringing". That year, Ken Filmer joined the group.[6] This quintet made up the Mystics until 1990, when Johnny T left the group.[2]
In the late 1990s, the Mystics, the Classics and the Passions, who are all from the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn and have been friends since the 1950s, started performing together in the Brooklyn Reunion Show. This act emphasized their common roots and longtime friendships, and the fact that each group scored successive hit records. The Brooklyn Reunion Show proved to be a popular act, recording and releasing a CD and touring for almost ten years.
Phil Cracolici and Ken Filmer were featured with the Brooklyn Reunion in the pledge breaks of Doo Wop 50 when the special was broadcast in May 2000. Al Contrera and Emil Stucchio were also featured with their current group, The Classics. Albee Cracolici later joined with his brother and Filmer, and the trio comprised the group in the early 2000s.[7] This lineup with Al Contrera performed as The Mystics for another PBS special, Doo Wop Love Songs, filmed in 2007. Filmer and Albee Cracolici left the group in 2007,[6] and Phil Cracolici performs with a new group.
In 2021, original founding member Al Contrera wrote the book; The Mystics, The Music and the Mob. (thehushabyebook.com) which outlines, in detail the definitive history of the Mystics.
Doo-wop is a subgenre 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 and continued to influence performers in other genres.
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.
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group has had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" borrowed heavily from the 1939 song "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda. They are also known for having Neil Sedaka as an original member, before he pursued a solo career.
Mortimer Shuman was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as "Le Lac Majeur", "Papa-Tango-Charly", "Sha Mi Sha", "Un Été de Porcelaine", and "Brooklyn by the Sea" which became hits in France and several other European countries.
The Crests are an American doo-wop group, formed by bass vocalist J.T. Carter in the mid 1950s. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records. Their most popular song, "16 Candles", rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1959 selling over one million copies and earning a gold disc status. The group's other hits include "Step By Step," "The Angels Listened In," "Trouble In Paradise," "Six Nights A Week," and "A Year Ago Tonight." The Crests were one of the earliest racially mixed doo wop groups, consisting of three African American members, one Puerto Rican, named Harold Torres.and one Italian American.
"Hushabye" is a song that was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman in 1959 for the Brooklyn doo-wop quintet the Mystics. The group's recording of the song was a Top 20 hit.
"Save the Last Dance for Me" is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first recorded in 1960 by American musical group the Drifters with Ben E. King on lead vocals. It has since been covered by several artists, including Dalida, the DeFranco Family, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Michael Bublé.
The Jarmels was an American doo wop rhythm and blues group formed in 1959 in Richmond, Virginia best known for their only hit, 1961’s "A Little Bit of Soap".
Brooklyn Dreams were an American singing group of the late 1970s, mixing R&B harmonies with contemporary dance/disco music and best known for a number of collaborations with singer Donna Summer. The band consisted of Joe "Bean" Esposito, Eddie Hokenson and Bruce Sudano. Esposito provided lead vocals for the band and played guitar, while Sudano played keyboards and Hokenson played drums and occasionally sang lead vocals.
"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. Some, including Jay Warner, consider it as the first of the "rock and roll records".
The Del-Satins were an American vocal group, most active in the early 1960s, who recorded on their own but are best remembered for their harmonies on hit records for Dion and others. They have been described as having "few peers as practitioners of white doo-wop."
The Capris are an American doo wop group who became a one-hit wonder in 1961 with "There's a Moon Out Tonight." They experienced a popularity and performing resurgence in the 1980s, when three members reformed and The Manhattan Transfer recorded their song, "Morse Code of Love," which reached the US Hot 100 and the U.S. AC top 20.
Dean Parrish was an American singer from New York City, best known for the song "I'm on My Way", which became noted for being the penultimate record that was played at the last Northern soul all-nighter at the Wigan Casino.
"A Teenager in Love" is a song written by Doc Pomus and partner Mort Shuman. It was originally recorded by Dion and the Belmonts, and released in March 1959. It appeared on their album Presenting Dion and the Belmonts (1959). It reached number 5 on the Billboard pop charts.
The Classics were an American vocal group formed in 1958 in Brooklyn.
The Chimes were an American doo wop group from Brooklyn.
Kenny Vance and the Planotones is an American musical group led by Kenny Vance, formerly of Jay and the Americans.
The Passions are an American doo-wop group from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
Matt Bauder is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He is the bandleader of the jazz trio Hearing Things, the jazz quintet Day in Pictures, and the modern doo-wop group White Blue Yellow & Clouds. He is a member of the long-form improvisation trio Memorize the Sky, jazz collective Ghost Train Orchestra, and was formerly a member of the touring lineups for Arcade Fire and Iron & Wine.
"Go, Jimmy, Go" is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and performed by Jimmy Clanton. It reached #5 on the U.S. pop chart on July 12, 1959, #19 on the U.S. R&B chart, and #1 in Canada. It was featured on Clanton's 1961 album My Best to You. The song ranked #33 on Billboard magazine's Top 100 singles of 1960.
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