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Doo-wop
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Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s. An African-American vocal style known as doo-wop emerged from the streets of north-eastern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore. With its smooth, consonant vocal harmonies, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the 1950s.
Origins of name
Interestingly, in the beginning and during its reign, this type of music did not have a specific name.
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Encyclopedia
Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s. An African-American vocal style known as doo-wop emerged from the streets of north-eastern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore. With its smooth, consonant vocal harmonies, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the 1950s.
Origins of name
Interestingly, in the beginning and during its reign, this type of music did not have a specific name. The term "doo-wop" was not used yet.
In the 1950s, this type of harmonized group sound was referred to (broadly) as "rock and roll", but more narrowly as "R&B". However, R&B was still too general a term, since R&B included single artists, instrumentalists, and jump blues bands, as well as vocal groups. At the time, the best and most accurate term used was probably "vocal group harmony", but the style still did not have an official name, despite the fact that it dominated the charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The term "doowop" first appeared in print in 1961, notably in the Chicago Defender, when African American fans of the music coined the term during the height of a vocal harmony resurgence. After the doo-wop era ended in 1964, making way for the Beatles, some record stores began selling the old doo-wop records, but had to categorize them with a name. The record stores began using the term "old town music" to describe the sound, which indicated the music's urban roots. "Old town" was the accepted term for a long time, but it never really caught on.
Two songs in particular may lay claim to being the first to contain the syllables "doo-wop" in the refrain: the 1955 hit, When You Dance by The Turbans, in which the chant "doo-wop" can be heard; and the 1956 song In the Still of the Night by The Five Satins, with the plaintive "doo wop, doo wah" refrain in the bridge. The Velvets used the phrase Doo-Wop in the background of their 1961 song, Tonight (Could Be The Night) also.
It has been erroneously reported that the phrase was coined by radio disc jockey Gus Gossert in the early 1970s. However, Gossert himself said that "doo-wop(p) was already being used [before me] to categorize the music in California." After some time,the term "doo-wop" finally caught on as a description and category for R&B vocal group harmony. In the 1990s, many CD's that were exclusively composed of original recordings of this music were being sold, all under the name of "Doo Wop", which became the accepted term that still is used today.
The definition expanded backward to include rhythm and blues groups from the mid-1950s and then even further back to include groups from the early 1950s and even the 1940s. There is no consensus as to what constitutes a doo-wop song and many aficionados of R&B music dislike the term intensely, preferring to use the term "group vocal harmony" instead.
Stylistic origins
Among the earliest recorded examples of African-American vocal-group music is My Prayer by the Ink Spots, in 1939.
According to some authorities, this may be the oldest known recorded doo-wop song. Doo-wop had its roots in the 1930s and 1940s music, and evolved from groups that sang gospel in churches, in African American urban areas. It was gospel music from these churches, where doo-wop truly began. However, influences of the blues were also added at this time, giving the music its own identity. Sometimes members of churches who sang gospel, would amass on street corners with their own music and lyrics, generally singing about love or relationships in their music. These street corner groups would generally (there were exceptions) consist of 3 to 6 members, and the music would consist of 3, 4, and even 5 part harmonies. That was the key to the doo-wop sound, harmony...the heavy presence of soulful, simultaneous harmonies. Since the members did not use instruments on these street corners, it was done using only voice, making it a cappella.
Some of the singers imitated instruments while singing the nonsense syllables from which the name of the style is derived. The name was later extended to group harmony . An example of this includes Count Every Star by The Ravens (1950), which includes vocalizations imitating the "doomph", "doomph" plucking of a double bass. This vocal style created a template for later groups. Among the earliest popular African-American vocal groups to make an impact were the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers. Later, The Orioles helped develop the doo-wop sound with their hits It's Too Soon to Know (1948) and Crying in the Chapel (1953). Doo-wop broke into the mainstream in 1951, with R&B chart hits such as My Reverie by The Larks, Where Are You? by The Mello-Moods, Glory of Love by The Five Keys, Shouldn't I Know by The Cardinals, I Will Wait by the Four Buddies, and Will You Be Mine by The Swallows. Other important African American doo-wop groups included The Marcels, The Coasters, The Drifters, The Moonglows, Clovers, Little Anthony and the Imperials , The "5" Royales , The Flamingos , The Dells, The Cadillacs, The Midnighters, and The Platters.
When "doo-wop" was first being recorded in the late 30's and 40's, usually instruments were included for the recorded version. Listening to very early doo-wop from the 1940s, the very strong gospel influence is heard...so much in fact, that much of it can be mistaken for gospel music (with the influence of blues added). Most doo-wop of this era was slow music...and very bluesy. Some of this early doo-wop did not have a repeating chorus and repeating harmonies, but much of it did. In the early 1950s almost all doo-wop was uniform in its formula. Many songs were becoming mainstream, with songs like Since You've Been away by The Swallows in 1951, and The Glory of Love by The Five Keys, also in 1951. By 1953, doo-wop was popular in pockets across the country among a broader audience, notably in Cleveland, Ohio, where disc jockey Alan Freed began introducing black groups' music to his white audiences. Groups included The Spaniels, The Coronets, The Moonglows, and The Flamingos, whose song Golden Teardrops is a classic of the genre.
In 1954, doo-wop groups played a significant role in ushering in the rock and roll era, when two big rhythm and blues hits by vocal harmony groups, Gee by The Crows and Sh-Boom by the The Chords crossed over onto the pop music charts. The success of these records was significant, and quickly other R&B vocal groups began entering the pop charts, particularly in 1955, the breakthrough year in the introduction of rock and roll. That year saw such cross-over doowop hits as Sincerely by The Moonglows, Earth Angel by the Penguins, and Only You by The Platters. The following year, the cross-over record by The Turbans, When You Dance, became the first doo-wop hit that used the "doo-wop" vocal riff.
Doo-wop records were being made with faster beats, as often as with slower beats. This faster element was aimed at the younger, teenage audience. It was at this time in 1956, when doo-wop was about to become a national phenomenon. Until this time, although many doo-wop songs were heard on radio stations near urban areas like New York, much of the country did not hear the music yet. This, despite a number of hits that were placing high on the charts in '54 and '55, culminating with doo-wop's first number one pop chart hit in 1956, The Great Pretender by The Platters.
Doo-wop attains national exposure in 1956
The big break for the genre came in 1956, when Frankie Lymon and his group "the Teenagers" appeared on the Frankie Laine show in New York, which was televised nationally. America tuned in to watch Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers perform their new smash hit Why Do Fools Fall in Love?. But since this type of music still did not have its own name, the shows host Frankie Laine referred to it as "rock and roll". Curiously, the band backing up Frankie Lymon was Frankie Laines own jazz band, and they were playing in the wrong key. As the band played in the key of D, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers sang in the key of E. Despite this, the song somehow came off sounding well, and received high acclaim. After this popular performance on the Frankie Laine show, it was common to see doo-wop songs in the top 5, sometimes all of the top 5. Frankie Lymon put up a string of hits, including I Promise To Remember, Share, and I'm not a Juvenile Delinquent. Doo-wop became one of the most popular genres of the mid and late 1950s and early 1960s.
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers illustrated a new sub-category of doo-wop, that became known as "kiddie doo-wop". This type of doo-wop includes a group that has several older members in the group, but the lead is around 12 or 13. This type of doo-wop became very popular, and in 1957, Frankie Lymon's talented little brother Lewis Lymon got into the doo-wop scene with his own very successful group, The Teenchords. Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords had a string of hits in 1957 including Your Last Chance, (You Don't know) Honey Honey, Tell Me Love, and I'm So Happy. Another of these groups were The Kodaks, with hits like Oh Gee Oh Gosh, and Runaround Baby. However, from 1958 onward, the public began favoring groups with older lead singers. Some of these groups include The Rays with Silhouettes in 1957, Plea in the Moonlight by The Gaytunes, and in 1958, Book of Love by the The Monotones. Another important group in the doo-wop genre was Earl Lewis and the Channels with a string of songs that did well in the Northeast, including The Closer You Are,The Girl Next Door, Now You Know and Bye Bye Baby.
Racially integrated groups (which included members that were black and members that were white in the same group) were also making the scene. Some racially integrated groups were the The Del-Vikings who hit big in 1957 with Come Go With Me and Whispering Bells, The Crests with The Angels Listened In in 1960, and the Five Discs with Never Let You Go in 1961. The Timetones also had a few hits including Here in my Heart in 1961. These groups and others like them had very good success.
All-white doo-wop groups were also appearing. Two very early all-white groups were the Mello Kings in 1956 with Tonight, Tonight, and The Diamonds, also in 1956. The Diamonds produced many hits, and topped the charts with Little Darlin in 1957. Other examples are The Castaleers in 1958 with You're My Dream and The Skyliners, who hit big in 1959 with Since I Don't Have You and in 1960 with This I Swear. The Tokens were another example, with hits in 1961 like Tonight I Fell In Love and I Love My Baby. The Excellents, (who hailed from the Bronx but sang about Brooklyn) hit big in 1961 with Coney Island Baby. However, of the white groups, the ones with Italian heritage were beginning to weigh in the most heavily.
The rise of Italian-American doo-wop
1958 heralds the rise of Italian doo-wop groups. It was at this time, that the Italian groups took over a large portion of the genre (but certainly not all of it), from 1959, to 1964 when doo-wop ended. Though some African Americans moved toward their new creation, "soul music", this alone can not be stated as the reason for the Italians rise. Like their African American counter-parts, the Italians were extremely talented singers, and also hailed from the inner city and urban areas. For example, Dion DiMucci and the Belmonts hailed from the Belmont section of the Bronx. And, just like the African Americans who started doo-wop, the Italians were generally very religious. They mostly attended Catholic churches, which gave them much singing experience. By the late 1950s, Italian street corner doo-wop groups were being seen in urban cities including New York, especially the Bronx and Brooklyn. Some of the Italian groups who had national chart hits include Dion and the Belmonts in 1958 with A Teenager In Love, The Capris with There's A Moon Out Tonight in 1960, The Elegants, The Mystics, The Duprees, Vito & The Salutations, the Del Satins. Other Italian groups include Dino and the Diplomats, The Four Jays, The Essentials, and Randy and the Rainbows who hit the charts with their 1963 smash, Denise.
Doo-wop remained popular until just before the British Invasion of 1964. 1961 might have been the peak of doo-wop, with hits that include The Marcels' Blue Moon. There was a revival of the nonsense-syllable form of doo-wop in the early 1960s, with popular records by the Marcels, the Rivingtons, and Vito & The Salutations. A few years later, the genre had reached the self-referential stage, with songs about the singers (Mr. Bass Man by Johnny Cymbal) and the songwriters (Who Put the Bomp? by Barry Mann) in 1961.
Total number of recordings
During its recording era from around 1939 to 1964, many groups produced doo-wop songs on 78 RPM records, and on 45 RPM records. During the late 1950s and early 1960s because of its popularity, some radio stations were flooded with new doo-wop records, not all of which could be put on the air. Because of this fact, many high-quality recordings did not receive any air time, and some previously unreleased doo-wop is still being released on CD sets. In some cases only a hundred or so records of a particular song would be pressed, and never really got played. Some old doo-wop records that were never really aired are still being discovered. How many doo-wop songs that got recorded from 1939 to 1964 is not really known. Some estimates put it over 30,000 songs recorded.
1970s-1990s revivals
The genre has seen revivals at various points in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Its main artists are concentrated in urban areas (New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles, and others), with a few exceptions. Revival shows on TV and boxed CD sets (ex. DooWop Box 1-3) have kept people's interest in the music. Groups have done remakes of doo-wops with great success over the years. Part of the regional beach music or shag music scene, centered in the Carolinas and surrounding states, includes both the original classic recordings and numerous re-makes over the years.
Britain also made a notable contribution in the mid-late 1970s with the group Darts, who successfully (and with some authenticity) revived revered doo-wop standards such as "Daddy Cool", "Come Back My Love" and "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart".
Other artists have had doo-wop or doo-wop-influenced hits in later years, such as Led Zeppelin's 1973 song D'yer Mak'er, David Bowie's 1973 hit Drive-In Saturday, Billy Joel's 1983 hit, The Longest Time, Frank Zappa's 1981 song, Fine Girl, or Electric Light Orchestra's 1977 smash Telephone Line. Horror punk bands like the Misfits also included a healthy amount of doo-wop in their early songs. The last known doo-wop hit was It's Alright by Huey Lewis and the News, which reached number 6 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in June 1993.
A number of band names are drawn from birds (e.g., The Orioles, The Ravens, The Cardinals, The Crows, The Swallows, The Larks, The Flamingos) and from cars: The Edsels, The Cadillacs, The Fleetwoods, The Impalas). Doo-wop is popular among collegiate a cappella groups due to its easy adaptation to an all-vocal form. Doo-wop recently experienced a resurgence in popularity with PBS' doo-wop concert programs: Doo-Wop 50, Doo Wop 51, and Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop. These programs brought back together, live on stage, some of the better known doo-wop groups of the past.
See also
Bibliography
Group Harmony: Behind the Rhythm and Blues. New Bedford, MA: TRB Enterprises. ISBN 0-9631722-5-5.
Group Harmony: Echoes of the Rhythm and Blues Era. New Bedford, MA: TRB Enterprises. ISBN 0-9706852-0-3.
The Sound of Philadelphia. London: Eyre Methuen.
White and Still All Right. Scarsdale, NY: Crackerjack Press.
- Goosman, Stuart L (2005).
Group Harmony: The Black Urban Roots of Rhythm and Blues. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania. ISBN-10: 0-8122-3886-9.
- Gribin, Anthony J., and Matthew M. Shiff (1992).
Doo-Wop: The Forgotten Third of Rock 'n. Roll. Iola, WI: Krause Publications.
- Gribin, Anthony J., and Matthew M. Shiff (2000).
The Complete Book of Doo-Wop. Iola, WI: Krause Publications.
They All Sang on the Corner. West Hempstead, NY: Phillie Dee Enterprises.
Du-Wop. Chicago: Vesti Press.
The New Haven Sound 1946-1976. New Haven, CT: [self published].
- McCutcheon, Lynn Ellis (1971).
Rhythm and Blues. Arlington, VA.
Doowop: the Chicago Scene. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02208-4.
Encyclopedia of Rhythm & Blues and Doo Wop Vocal Groups. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow.
The Da Capo Book of American Singing Groups. New York: Da Capo Press.
External links
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- Mike Miller Doo Wop Stylist http://www.harmonystreet.biz
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