Editing Doo-wop (section)

===New York City===
Early doo-wop music, dating from the late 1940s and early 1950s, was especially popular in the Northeast industrial corridor from New York to Philadelphia,<ref name="Albrecht2019">{{cite journal |last1=Albrecht |first1=Robert |title=Doo-wop Italiano: Towards an understanding and appreciation of Italian-American vocal groups of the late 1950s and early 1960s |journal=Popular Music and Society |date=15 March 2019 |volume=42 |issue=2 |page=3 |doi=10.1080/03007766.2017.1414663 |s2cid=191844795 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321896991 |access-date=7 November 2020}}</ref> and New York City was the world capital of doo-wop.<ref name="GribinSchiff2000136b">{{cite book|author1=Anthony J. Gribin|author2=Matthew M. Schiff|title=The Complete Book of Doo-wop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kEUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22world%20center%E2%80%9D |year=2000 |publisher=Krause|isbn=978-0-87341-829-4|page=136}}</ref> There, African American groups such as the Ravens, the Drifters, the Dominoes, [[The Charts (American group)|the Charts]], and the so-called "bird groups", such as the Crows, the Sparrows, the Larks, and [[The Wrens (R&B band)|the Wrens]], melded rhythm and blues with the gospel music they had grown up singing in church. Street singing was almost always ''a cappella''; instrumental accompaniment was added when the songs were recorded.<ref name="Albrecht2019" /> The large numbers of blacks who had migrated to New York City as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] came mostly from Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. In the 1940s black youths in the city began to sing the rhythm and blues styling that came to be known as doo-wop.<ref name="WeissmanWeissman2005">{{cite book|author1=Dick Weissman|author2=Richard Weissman|title=Blues: The Basics|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYtR20TlGOoC&pg=PA95|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-97068-6|pages=95–96|chapter=New York and the Doo-wop Groups}}</ref> Many of these groups were found in [[Harlem]].<ref name="Shaw1978">{{cite book|author=Arnold Shaw|title=Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyY6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22thousands%22%20%22Harlem%22 |year=1978 |publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-02-610000-7|page=xix}}</ref>

Blacks were forced by legal and social segregation, as well as by the constraints of the [[built environment]], to live in certain parts of New York City of the early 1950s. They identified with their own wards, street blocks and streets. Being effectively locked out of mainstream white society increased their [[Group cohesiveness|social cohesion]] and encouraged creativity within the context of African American culture. Young singers formed groups and rehearsed their songs in public spaces: on street corners, apartment stoops, and subway platforms, in bowling alleys, school bathrooms, and pool halls, as well as at playgrounds and under bridges.<ref name="Runowicz201038" />

[[Bobby Robinson (record producer)|Bobby Robinson]], a native of South Carolina, was an independent record producer and songwriter in Harlem who helped popularize doo-wop music in the 1950s. He got into the music business in 1946 when he opened "Bobby's Record Shop" (later "Bobby's Happy House") on the corner of [[125th Street (Manhattan)|125th Street]]<ref name="Eligon2007">{{cite news |author1=John Eligon |title=An Old Record Shop May Fall Victim to Harlem's Success (Published 2007) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/nyregion/21bobbys.html |access-date=7 November 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=21 August 2007}}</ref><ref name="Morris2011">{{cite news |author1=Christopher Morris |title=Music entrepreneur Bobby Robinson dies at 93|url=https://variety.com/2011/music/news/music-entrepreneur-bobby-robinson-dies-at-93-1118030020/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115003747/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118030020?refCatId=16 |archive-date=15 January 2011}}</ref> and [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]], near the [[Apollo Theater]], a noted venue for African-American performers. The Apollo held talent contests in which audience members indicated their favorites with applause. These were a major outlet for doo-wop performers to be discovered by record company talent scouts.<ref name="Zak2012">{{cite book|author=Albin Zak|title=I Don't Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DEc_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|date=4 October 2012|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-03512-0|page=89}}</ref> In 1951, Robinson started Robin Records, which later became [[Red Robin Records]], and began recording doo-wop; he recorded the Ravens, the Mello-Moods, and many other doo-wop vocal groups.<ref name="MooreCross2002">{{cite book|author=Dave Headlam|editor1=Allan Moore|editor2=Jonathan Cross|title=The Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-P5JyRVS6UC&pg=PA171|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00107-6|page=172|chapter=Appropriations of blues and gospel in popular music}}</ref> He used the tiny shop to launch a series of record labels which released many hits in the US.<ref name="Hinckley2011">{{cite news |author1=David Hinckley |title=Harlem legend dead Bobby Robinson, owner of Happy House on 125th St. |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/harlem-legend-dead-bobby-robinson-owner-happy-house-125th-st-article-1.150627 |access-date=6 November 2020 |work=New York Daily News |date=8 January 2011}}</ref> Robinson founded or co-founded Red Robin Records, Whirlin' Disc Records, Fury Records, Everlast Records, Fire Records and Enjoy Records.<ref name="Govenar2010">{{cite book|author1=Alan B. Govenar|title=Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cia6lyn3c4YC&pg=PT126|year=2010|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-55652-962-7|pages=126}}</ref>

[[Arthur Godfrey]]'s long-running (1946–1958) morning radio show on CBS, [[Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts|Talent Scouts]], was a New York venue from which some doo-wop groups gained national exposure. In 1948, the Orioles, then known as the Vibra-Nairs, went to the city with [[Deborah Chessler]], their manager and main songwriter, and appeared on the show. They won only third place, but Godfrey invited them back twice. Chessler leveraged a few demo recordings the group had cut, along with the recent radio exposure, to interest a distributor in marketing the group on an independent label. They cut six sides, one of which was a doo-wop ballad written by Chessler called "[[It's Too Soon to Know]]". It reached no. 1 on ''Billboard's'' national Most-Played Juke Box Race Records chart, and, in a first for a doo-wop song, the record crossed over to the mainstream pop chart, where it reached no. 13.<ref name="Zak201289" />

[[The Du Droppers]] formed in Harlem in 1952. Members of the band were experienced [[gospel music|gospel]] singers in ensembles dating to the 1940s, and were one of the oldest groups to record during the era. Among the Du Droppers' most enduring songs are "I Wanna Know" and "I Found Out (What You Do When You Go Round There)", which both reached number three on the [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|''Billboard'' R&B charts]] in 1953.

Frankie Lymon, lead vocalist of [[the Teenagers]], was the first black [[teen idol]] who appealed to both black and white audiences. He was born in Harlem, where he began singing doo-wop songs with his friends on the streets. He joined a group, the Premiers, and helped members [[Herman Santiago]] and [[Jimmy Merchant]] rewrite a song they had composed to create "[[Why Do Fools Fall in Love (song)|Why Do Fools Fall In Love]]", which won the group an audition with [[Gee Records]]. Santiago was too sick to sing lead on the day of the audition, consequently Lymon sang the lead on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" instead, and the group was signed as the Teenagers with Lymon as lead singer. The song quickly charted as the number one R&B song in the United States and reached number six on the [[Billboard Hot 100|pop chart]] in 1956,<ref name="Phelps1999">{{cite book|editor=Shirelle Phelps|title=Contemporary Black Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzR2AAAAMAAJ|date=August 1999|publisher=Gale Research Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7876-2419-4|pages=137–139}}</ref><ref name="Smith2012">{{cite book|author1=Jessie Carney Smith|title=Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93SDBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|date=1 December 2012|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=978-1-57859-424-5|page=46}}</ref> becoming the number one pop hit in the United Kingdom as well.<ref name="Besel2020">{{cite web |author1=Peter Besel |title=Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers (1954–1957) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/frankie-lymon-and-teenagers-1954-1957/ |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107171044/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/frankie-lymon-and-teenagers-1954-1957/ |archive-date=7 November 2020 |date=2 December 2018}}</ref>

[[The Willows (group)|The Willows]], an influential street corner group from Harlem, were a model for many of the New York City doo-wop acts that rose after them. Their biggest hit was "[[Church Bells May Ring]]", featuring [[Neil Sedaka]], then a member of [[The Tokens#Career|the Linc-Tones]], on [[Tubular bells|chimes]]. It reached number 11 on the [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|US R&B chart]] in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Willows, "Church Bells May Ring" Chart Positions|url=http://musicvf.com/song.php?title=Church+Bells+May+Ring+by+Willows&id=48906|access-date=August 23, 2018}}</ref><ref name="MorrowMaloof2007">{{cite book|author1=Cousin Bruce Morrow|author2=Rich Maloof|title=Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CDKHWB1amlgC&pg=PA132|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4027-4276-7|page=132}}</ref>

Although they never had a national chart hit, [[the Solitaires]], best known for their 1957 [[hit single]] "[[Walking Along]]", were one of the most popular vocal groups in [[New York City|New York]] in the late 1950s.<ref name="Goldberg2009">{{cite web|author1=Marv Goldberg|author-link=Marv Goldberg|title=The Solitaires|url=http://www.uncamarvy.com/Solitaires/solitaires.html|website=Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks|access-date=31 March 2015|quote=While never achieving the national stature of many of their contemporaries, the Solitaires managed to outlast most of them in a career that saw them as one of the top vocal groups on the New York scene.}}</ref>

The heyday of the girl group era began in 1957 with the success of two teen groups from the Bronx, [[the Chantels]] and [[the Bobbettes]]. The six girls in the Bobettes, aged eleven to fifteen, wrote and recorded "Mr. Lee", a novelty tune about a schoolteacher that was a national hit. The Chantels were the second African-American [[girl group]] to enjoy nationwide success in the US. The group was established in the early 1950s by five students, all of them born in the Bronx,<ref name="Hoffmann2005">{{cite book|author=Frank W. Hoffmann|title=Rhythm and Blues, Rap, and Hip-hop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNfx07-AJwcC&pg=PA38|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-6980-4|page=38}}</ref> who attended the Catholic [[St. Anthony of Padua Church (Bronx)|St. Anthony of Padua School]] in [[the Bronx]], where they were trained to sing [[Gregorian Chant]]s.<ref name="Weller2008">{{cite book|author=Sheila Weller|title=Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Uz9qcETMwAC&pg=PT56|date=8 April 2008|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-6477-5|page=56}}</ref> Their first recording was "He's Gone" (1958), which made them the first [[pop rock]] girl group to chart. Their second single, "Maybe" hit the charts, No. 15 on ''Billboard''{{'}}s Hot 100.<ref name="Cole2009">{{cite book|author=Clay Cole|title=Sh-Boom!: The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953–1968)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8JQmqUBag0C&pg=PA208|date=October 2009|publisher=Wordclay|isbn=978-1-60037-638-2|page=208}}</ref>

In 1960, [[the Chiffons]] began as a trio of schoolmates at [[James Monroe High School (New York)|James Monroe High School]] in [[the Bronx]].<ref name="Warner2006265">{{cite book|author=Jay Warner|title=American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTM_9JTeoMIC&pg=PA265|year=2006|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-634-09978-6|page=265}}</ref> [[Judy Craig]], fourteen years old, was the lead singer, singing with Patricia Bennett and Barbara Lee, both thirteen. In 1962, the girls met songwriter [[Ronnie Mack]] at the after-school center; Mack suggested they add Sylvia Peterson, who had sung with [[Little Jimmy & the Tops]], to the group. The group was named the Chiffons when recording and releasing their first single, "[[He's So Fine]]". Written by Mack, it was released on the [[Laurie Records]] label in 1963. "He's So Fine" hit No. 1 in the US, selling over one&nbsp;million copies.<ref name="Murrels">{{cite book |author1=Joseph Murrells |year=1978 |title=The Book of Golden Discs |edition=2nd |publisher=Barrie and Jenkins Ltd |location=London |page=157 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/157 |isbn=0-214-20512-6 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Public School 99, which sponsored evening talent shows, and Morris High School were centers of musical creativity in the Bronx during the doo-wop era. Arthur Crier, a leading figure in the doo-wop scene in the [[Morrisania, Bronx|Morrissania]] neighborhood,<ref name="Naison2004">{{cite journal |author1=Mark Naison |title=From Doo Wop to Hip Hop: The Bittersweet Odyssey of African-Americans in the South Bronx {{!}} Socialism and Democracy |journal=Socialism and Democracy |date=2004 |volume=18 |issue=2 |url=http://sdonline.org/36/from-doo-wop-to-hip-hop-the-bittersweet-odyssey-of-african-americans-in-the-south-bronx/ |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213164340/http://sdonline.org/36/from-doo-wop-to-hip-hop-the-bittersweet-odyssey-of-african-americans-in-the-south-bronx/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> was born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx; his mother was from North Carolina. Crier was a founding member of a doo-wop group called the Five Chimes, one of several different groups with that name,<ref name="Groia1983">{{cite book|author=Philip Groia|title=They All Sang on the Corner: A Second Look at New York City's Rhythm and Blues Vocal Groups|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zYYAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Arthur%20Crier%22|year=1983|publisher=P. Dee Enterprises|isbn=978-0-9612058-0-5|page=130}}</ref> and sang bass with [[the Halos]] and [[the Mellows]].<ref name="McLaughlin2019">{{cite book|author=Carolyn McLaughlin|title=South Bronx Battles: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Renewal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knGODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|date=21 May 2019|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-96380-1|page=110}}</ref> Many years later he observed that there was a shift in the music sung on the streets from gospel to secular rhythm and blues between 1950 and 1952.<ref name="Crier2015">{{cite journal |author1=Arthur Crier |title=Interview with the Bronx African American History Project. |url=https://research.library.fordham.edu/baahp_oralhist/144/ |journal=Oral Histories |publisher=Fordham University |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620055431/https://research.library.fordham.edu/baahp_oralhist/144/ |archive-date=20 June 2020 |page=10 |date=25 September 2015}}</ref>

New York was also the capital of Italian doo-wop, and all its boroughs were home to groups that made successful records. The Crests were from the Lower East Side in Manhattan; Dion and the Belmonts, the Regents, and [[Nino and the Ebb Tides]] were from the Bronx; the Elegants from Staten Island; [[the Capris]] from Queens; the Mystics, the Neons, the Classics, and [[Vito & the Salutations]] from Brooklyn.<ref name="Cinotto2014198">{{cite book|author=Simone Cinotto|title=Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpKUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT198|chapter=Italian Doo-Wop: Sense of place, Politics of Style, and Racial Crossovers in Postwar New York City|date=1 April 2014|publisher=Fordham University Press|isbn=978-0-8232-5626-6|page=198}}</ref>

Although Italians were a much smaller proportion of the Bronx's population in the 1950s than Jews and the Irish, only they had significant influence as rock 'n' roll singers. Young people of other ethnicities were listening to rock 'n' roll, but it was Italian Americans who established themselves in performing and recording the music.<ref name="Naison2019">{{cite journal |author1=Mark Naison |title=Italian Americans in Bronx Doo Wop-The Glory and the Paradox |url=https://fordham.bepress.com/baahp_essays/1 |journal=Occasional Essays |publisher=Fordham University |access-date=6 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106032821/https://research.library.fordham.edu/baahp_essays/ |archive-date=6 November 2020|pages=2–4 |date=29 January 2019}}</ref> While relationships between Italian Americans and African Americans in the Bronx were sometimes fraught, there were many instances of collaboration between them.<ref name="Gennari20178">{{cite book|author=John Gennari|title=Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZUtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|date=18 March 2017|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-42832-1|pages=8–9|chapter=Who Put the Wop in Doo-wop?}}</ref>

Italian Americans kept African Americans out of their neighborhoods with racial boundary policing and fought against them in turf wars and [[Gang#Gang violence|gang battles]], yet they adopted the popular music of African Americans, treated it as their own, and were an appreciative audience for black doo-wop groups.<ref name="Tricarico2018">{{cite book|author=Donald Tricarico|title=Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzKBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38|date=24 December 2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-030-03293-7|page=38}}</ref> Similarities in language idioms, masculine norms, and public comportment<ref name="Gennari2017">{{cite book|author=John Gennari|title=Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0D0bDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA91|date=18 March 2017|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-42832-1|pages=22–23, 48, 71, 90–95}}</ref> made it possible for African American and Italian American young men to mingle easily when societal expectations did not interfere. These cultural commonalities allowed Italian Americans to appreciate the singing of black doo-woppers in [[Deterritorialization|deterritorialized]] spaces, whether on the radio, on records, at live concerts, or in street performances.<ref name="Cinotto2014204">{{cite book|author=Simone Cinotto|title=Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpKUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT204|chapter=Italian Doo-Wop: Sense of place, Politics of Style, and Racial Crossovers in Postwar New York City|date=1 April 2014|publisher=Fordham University Press|isbn=978-0-8232-5626-6|page=204}}</ref> Dozens of neighborhood Italian groups formed, some of which recorded songs at Cousins Records, a record shop turned label, on Fordham Road.<ref name="Warner2006434">{{cite book|author=Jay Warner|title=American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTM_9JTeoMIC&pg=PA434|year=2006|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-634-09978-6|page=434}}</ref> Italian American groups from the Bronx released a steady stream of doo-wop songs, including "Teenager In Love" and "I Wonder Why" by Dion and the Belmonts, and "Barbara Ann" by the Regents.<ref name="Naison2019" /> Johnny Maestro, the Italian American lead singer of the interracial Bronx group the Crests, was the lead on the hit "[[16 Candles (song)|Sixteen Candles]]". Maestro said that he became interested in R&B vocal group harmony listening to the Flamingos, [[the Harptones]], and the Moonglows on [[Alan Freed]]'s radio show on [[WINS (AM)|WINS]] in New York. Freed's various radio and stage shows had a crucial role in creating a market for Italian doo-wop.<ref name="Cinotto2014204" />