UK Doo-Wop Group The Metrotones
The Metrotones are Britain’s top doo-wop group. Formed in 1991, they began as a 4 piece acappella outfit, recording doo-wop jingles for London’s Capital Gold. Shortly afterwards, they added a full 5 piece backing group and toured extensively all over Europe to great acclaim. Dressed in bright matching suits and incorporating wild choreography, they were described by John Stafford of Now Dig This magazine as being “as vocally excellent as they are visually exciting”. Over the years the line-up has changed a little, but the front line has remained the same, but for bass-singer Colin Salway being replaced by the former Darts doo-wop bassman, Den Hegarty. They have also recently added a second saxophone to the doo-wop powerhouse.
The Doo-wop years
The term “doo-wop” is first known to have appeared in print in 1961 in the Chicago Defender, when fans of the music coined the term during the height of a vocal harmony resurgence.[2] The phrase has been attributed to the radio disc jockey Gus Gossert but Gossert himself said that “doo-wop(p) was already being used [before me] to categorize the music in California.”
There is general acknowledgement that the first hit record to use the syllables “doo-wop” in the refrain was the 1955 hit, “When You Dance” by The Turbans (Herald Records H-458).[4] Previously the scat backing vocal “doo-wop” can be heard in The Clovers’ 1953 release “Good Lovin’” (Atlantic Records 1000) and in the chorus of Carlyle Dundee & The Dundees’ 1954 song “Never” (Space Records 201). The 1955 song “Mary Lee” by The Rainbows on Red Robin Records, a Washington DC regional hit on Pilgrim 703, contains the background “do wop de wadda”: the 1956 song “In the Still of the Night” by The Five Satins features a plaintive “doo-wop, doo-wah” refrain in the bridge. After some time, the term “doo-wop” finally caught on as a description and category for R&B vocal group harmony. 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.
The Cleftones during their participation in the doo wop festival celebrated in May 2010 at the Benedum Center.
Doo-wop songs had fast beats as frequently as slow ones.
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 Chords crossed over onto the pop music charts. Quickly other R&B vocal groups entered the pop charts, particularly in 1955, which saw such cross-over doowop hits as “Sincerely” by The Moonglows, “Earth Angel” by The Penguins, and “Only You” by The Platters and The Turbans’ “When You Dance” became the first hit to use the “doo-wop” syllables. The same year saw a number one pop chart hit, “The Great Pretender” by The Platters. In 1956 Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers appeared on the Frankie Laine show in New York, which was televised nationally, performing their hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”. Frankie Laine referred to it as “rock and roll” but Lymon’s extreme youth made the style appeal to a young and enthusiastic audience. His string of hits included “I Promise To Remember”, “The ABCs of Love” and “I’m not a Juvenile Delinquent”. In 1958 “Book of Love” by The Monotones became an icon of the style.
The Quotations live in concert at the Benedum Center, Pennsylvania
The contribution of Hispanics to these groups is often overlooked. In the early development of doo-wop, especially in U.S. East Coast cities, Puerto Ricans were the lead singers in some groups with black and white members; such groups included The Crests, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, the Five Discs and the Tune Weavers. “Racially integrated” groups with both black and white performers included The Del-Vikings, who hit big in 1957 with “Come Go With Me” and “Whispering Bells” and The Crests whose “The Angels Listened In” appeared in 1960. All-white doo-wop groups were also appearing; The Mello-Kings’ 1956 “Tonight, Tonight” and The Diamonds’ chart-topping “Little Darlin’” in 1957, The Skyliners’ 1959 “Since I Don’t Have You” and 1960 “This I Swear”, The Tokens’ 1961 “Tonight I Fell In Love” and “I Love My Baby” all saw success.
1958 also saw the rise of Italian American doo-wop groups. Like African-Americans, the Italians generally attended churches which gave them much singing experience. By the late 1950s, Italian street corner doo-wop groups were seen in urban cities like New York, especially the Bronx and Brooklyn. Some of the Italian groups who had national chart hits included Dion and the Belmonts in 1958 with “I Wonder Why”, The Capris with “There’s A Moon Out Tonight” in 1960, The Demensions, The Elegants, The Mystics, The Duprees, Vito & the Salutations, The Gaylords, Johnny Maestro, and The Del-Satins. Other Italian groups included Randy & the Rainbows, who charted with their 1963 hit single “Denise”.
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. Other important groups including The Coasters, The Drifters, The Midnighters , and The Platters, helped link the doo-wop style back into the mainstream and the future sound of soul music. It can be heard in the music of The Miracles, particularly in their early hits such as “Got A Job” (an answer song to “Get a Job”), “Bad Girl”, “Who’s Loving You”, “(You Can) Depend on Me”, and “Ooo Baby Baby”.
Doo-wop’s influence continued in soul, pop, and rock groups of the ’60s, in The Four Seasons and in various girl groups of the ’60s. In vocal surf music, like that of Jan and Dean and of the Beach Boys, the influence was heard in such hits as “Surfer Girl” and “Surfin” before it regressed towards less sophisticated pop and psychedelic rock songs with less complex, “modern” and “experimental” anti-vocal harmonies