The Doo Wop Sound

The dawn of the rock and roll era was signaled by the vocal group sound. To many Doo Wop, a vocal group style, "was" rock and roll. The vocal group sound placed melody over rhythm, the song over the singer and  a blending of voices over individual personality or style

Vocal group singing was the most popular style of rhythm and blues in the early 1950's, the first music to be called "rock & roll" and the favorite of the the teenagers and disc jockeys.

corner.jpg (111929 bytes)     The Doo-Wop Groups  doowop2.jpg (74682 bytes)

rddia.gif (938 bytes) Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers            rddia.gif (938 bytes) The Platters

The dawn of the rock and roll era was signaled by the vocal group sound. To many Doo Wop, a vocal group style, "was" rock and roll. The vocal group sound placed melody over rhythm, the song over the singer and  a blending of voices over individual personality or style

Vocal group singing was the most popular style of rhythm and blues in the early 1950's, the first music to be called "rock & roll" and the favorite of the the teenagers and disc jockeys.

The Penguins
penguins.jpg (477439 bytes)
L to R: Curtis Williams, Cleve Duncan, Dexter Tisby, Bruce Tate
The Penguins "Earth Angel" a teenage anthem.

Members:
   Cleveland Duncan - lead
   Dexter Tisby - second tenor
   Curtis Williams - replaced by Randy Jones
   Bruce Tate - replaced by Teddy Harper

The Penguins "Earth Angel" was the first "pure" doo-wop record. "Earth Angel" blended pop's melodicism and lyrical innocence with the emotional directness of gospel and R&B. A classic "ballad with a beat," the song is sung over a swaying piano triplets with sparse instrumental backing. The yearning lead vocal and ragged background voices created an amateurish" sound in the best sense.

The simple lyrics ("Earth Angel, will you be mine...") have an innocence that the untrained voices and the "garage" sound only served to heighten. "Earth Angel" was literally recorded in the garage of Dootsie Williams, owner of Dootsie Records. The Penguins sound like what they were: a group of high school students singing a song for one of their girlfriends. The message of "Earth Angel" was "That it could be me," by aspiring young singers who couldn't imagine singing like The Ink Spots or leading a jump band like Louis Jordan, but could imagine writing or singing a song like "Earth Angel." 1

Its been said that there were 15,000 Doo Wop groups that recorded at least one record. While that might been an exaggeration certainly a few thousand that did. Hundreds of those had hits, but were found a second one to be elusive. Many would spend a few years trying.   The same qualities that made them initially successful would doom them. Youth and inexperience caused them to make bad business decisions. As they married and started families came responsibility and they no longer could chase their dreams.

Below is a list of the some of the Doo Wop groups, many one hit wonders.

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Belmonts blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Bop Chords blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Cadets blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Cleftones blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Cadillacs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Capris

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Cellos

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Channels

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Charms

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Chords

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Corsairs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Crests

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Crows

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Danleers

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Danny and the Juniors

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Dells

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Del Satins

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Diamonds

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Dubs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Duprees

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Earls

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Ebb Tides

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Edsels

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Eldorados

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Elegants

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Eternals

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Excellents

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Fiestas

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Five Satins

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes)  Flamingos

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) G-Clefs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Genies

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Harptones

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) The Hearts

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Heartbeats

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Hi-Lites

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Hollywood Flames

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Impalas

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Imperials

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Jayhawks

blueredball.gif (900 bytes) Jesters

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Jive Five

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Kodaks

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Knockouts

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) The Marcels

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Mello-Kings

blueredball.gif (900 bytes) Mono-Tones

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Moonglows

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Mystics

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Nutmegs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Olympics

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Paradons

blueredball.gif (900 bytes) Paragons

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Passions

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Pastels

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Rainbows

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Rays

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Regents

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Rivingtons

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Rob Roys

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Romans

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Safaris

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Salutations

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Schoolboys

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Shells

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Shields

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Skyliners

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Shep and the Limelites

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Silhouettes

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Spaniels

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Teenchords

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Tokens

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Turbans

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Valentines

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes)Willows

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Zodiacs

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Jaguars

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Dell-Vikings

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Midnighters

blueredball.gif (1701 bytes) Fleetwoods

1 Gass History of Rock Music: The Rock and Roll Era (McGraw-Hill, 1994) p 152


home.gif (2894 bytes)