Provides an extensive history of doo-wop from 1950 through the early 1970s and gives definitions and illustrations of the music that falls between rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll. It also features 150 photos, 64 sheet-music covers and prices for 1000 top doo-wop records.
A must for all lovers of vocal group harmony and foo-wop music. Contains a collector's checklist of the Top 1000 foo-wop songs of all time. Other lists include the best leads, the best basses, the best of the female groups, white groups, schoolboy sound, gang sound, pop sound, etc.
Formed by five young black men from Chicago, the Flamingos rose to prominence as one of the top vocal acts of the 1950s rock and roll explosion. They appeared in motion pictures and turned out a string of hit records that have remained popular for more than a half-century. Providing a wealth of never-before-told stories of the influential quintet and their experiences in a white-dominated industry, this book details the back-room record deals, life on the road, the creative process, meticulous recording sessions and live performances, based on interviews with original members and those who worked with them.
In Doo-Wop Acappella: A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies, scholar and musician Lawrence Pitilli details this too-little-explored area of 1950’s - early 60’s American culture. As Kenny Vance and the Planotones suggested in their classic song “Looking for an Echo,” every doo-wop acapella group’s mission—the search “for a sound, a place to be in harmony, a place we almost found”—was more than the story of street kids seeking recording glory. It is the tale of urban change, mass migrations, ethnic acculturation, a changing radio and recording industry, and the dynamics of cultural change in the “sounds”—sonic and linguistic—that every generation seeks to make and re-make for itself. In his study of this neglected period, Pitilli uncovers a rich musical tradition practiced largely by amateurs in an almost mythologized urban America. Although most of these practitioners were musically untrained, their lack of formal music education and financial support neither diluted their passion for singing or their quest for possible fame and fortune. In this engagingly written and celebratory work, Pitilli further demonstrates that doo-wop acappella was closely tied to broader issues, including the self-invented individual, gender roles, ethnicity, race, and class.
Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s digs back through the catalogue of popular music and brings to life the solo artists, duos, and groups whose music once filled the airwaves and turntables with rock & roll and doo-wop. The Doctor of Doo-Wop, J.C. De Ladurantey, brings his expertise, honed by hosting a weekly radio show, “Making Your Memories,” to his revelation of the backstories of these trendsetting artists. Until the British Invasion in mid 1963 changed the direction of American music, the sounds created by the artists profiled in Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop shaped the entertainment soundtrack of a generation. This music history shares the little-known details of the lives of these artists, the history of the period, the distinctiveness of the music, and the power and influence of the songs’ lyrics. Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s will leave echoes of the time’s memorable songs in your mind’s ear and their lyrics on the tip of your tongue. You’ll discover a fresh desire to find the recordings and give them another “spin” on your “record player,” even if your digital music lives in the cloud.
This landmark volume by radio legend "Cousin Brucie" Morrow not only revisits the gorgeous, lilting harmonies of unforgettable doo wop favorites but also traces music, politics, art, architecture, and popular culture from doo wop's 1940s roots up into the sixties.
Contains alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on the cities of origin, members, and music of some of the most popular rhythm and blues and doo wop groups.