ITALIAN AMERICANS AND DOO-WOP

We would need a social scientist of some kind to explain why so many Italian Americans found the so-called race music of the 50's and 60's so intoxicating. Even without the scientific explanation we know that Italian Americans in New York, D.C., Baltimore, and other cities had almost identical experiences when it came to doo-wop. The street corner groups, the tight harmonies, the doo-wop sounds in the songs, and the showmanship on stage. In many cases if you closed your eyes, you couldn't tell the Italian groups from the Black groups. They sounded the same, the high first tenor, and the deep rumbling bass. There must have been fifty groups Black and White that sang "Gloria". There were cross-over songs in New York long before MOTOWN. So in this blog we'll talk about some of those groups.

While doing the research for this blog, I found something that surprised me. I had always thought that TIMI YURO, was Black and Korean mixed. I was just going by her name and the sound of her voice. As it turns out, Timi Yuro was Italian American. Yuro is considered the first non Black female to sing soul and R&B with success. Timi Yuro (real name,Rosemary Timothy Yuro) was born in Las Vegas in 1940 to Italian American parents.
Yuro's family moved to Los Angeles to open a restaurant. Yuro sang in the restaurant and local clubs until she was discovered by executives of Liberty Records. After being signed to the label, Yuro had a #4 hit with a cover of a Roy Hamilton song, "Hurt" in 1961. She also scored a #12 hit with her follow up song, "What's The Matter Baby" (Is It Hurting You), in 1962. Yuro had an emotional style that she claimed was influenced by Dinah Washington and other Black Jazz singers. From her sound, many listners thought Yuro was Black.
In 1961 Yuro was asked to tour with Frank Sinatra on his Australian tour.
Yuro covered all kinds of music, on one album "Make The World Go Away", Yuro covered country and blues standards. Yuro added some soul to some of the standards of the day like, "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", "Smile", and "I Apologize".
In the 60's Yuro made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, and was on American Bandstand, Where The Action Is, and The Lloyd Thaxton Show. In 1967 Yuro appeared in a black and white film in the Philippines.
Yuro performed in venues from London to Las Vegas, but her career lost it's early momentum, and Yuro quit the business after she got married in 1969. Yuro started singing again in the 80's, but found out she had throat cancer. Her larynx was removed, but Yuro passed in 2004. Her last album called "Today" was released in 1982 by Ariola Records and was produced by her friend Willie Nelson.
Yuro is still admired in Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Now let's get to the Italian doo-wop groups!!!!!
Let's start with LARRY CHANCE and the EARLS. The Earls were a popular doo-wop group formed in the Bronx, New York. Their two biggest hits were "Remember Then" and "Life Is But A Dream". The group had two other songs that charted, "Never" and "I Believe". Some say the The Earls took the original Black doo-wop street corner harmony and refined it, but if you listen to their songs you'll find that they had more instruments, but the groove was the same as the Black doo-wopers.
Larry Chance was the driving force behind the group. Chance grew up in Philadelphia, and attended high school with Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon, and Danny Rapp, of Danny and The Juniors. In 1957 Chance moved with his parents to the Bronx. Chance formed a group at Tecumsa Social Club, called the High Hatters. The group included Chance, Bob Del Din, Eddie Harder, Larry Palumbo, and John Wray.
In the fall of 1959 the group was singing in front of a subway station when Johnny Powers heard them and wanted them to sing on his small Rome label. The group had to use their own money to record four tracks, they were still the High Hatters at this point, but they soon changed their name to The Earls.
In 1960 Larry Palumbo was lost in an army skydiving accident.
In 1961 Rome Records released "Life Is But A Dream". The group soon found themselves in the big time performing for Murray the K and Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The Earls were helping to make doo-wop popular with non Black listners. It was in 1962 that the group hooked up with Stan Vincent and recorded the song they are most remembered for "Remember Then", for Old Town Records. The song went to #24 on the Billboard charts.
Some time in late 1963 or early 1964 Chance went solo for a short time and recorded "Let Them Talk". Chance went back to The Earls, who had recruited two new members, Bob Moricco,and Ronnie Calabrese. In 1967 the group started playing their own instruments.
The group is still one of the most requested groups on the oldies circuit.

THE TOKENS
The Tokens were formed in 1955 at Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School and were known as the Linc-Tones. The group includd Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin. Rabkin left the group and was replaced by Jay Siegel in 1956. The band recorded it's first song, "While I Dream" that same year. In 1957 Sedaka and Zolotin left the group leaving Siegel and Medress who recruited two new members for the group, and recorded the single "Picture In My Wallet" as Darrell and the Oxfords. After some more changes the group became The Tokens. The changes included recruiting a 13 year old kid that played many instruments, brothers Mitch and Phil Margo and guitarist Joe Venneri.
In 1961 The Tokens released a single for Warwick Records called "Tonight I Fell In Love" which went to #15 on the Billboard charts and earned them a spot on American Bandstand. This opportunity got them the chance to cover the Solomon Linda's song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for RCA Victor. The song went to #1 on the Billboard charts and stayed there for three weeks. From 1962 to 1970 the group released nine more songs that made it to the top ten, including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" in 1964, and "Portrait Of My Love" in 1967. The group also served as producers for a number of other groups including, The Chiffons, Randy and The Rainbows, and The Happenings.
In 1973 Medress left the group and Siegel teamed with the Margo brothers and formed a group called Cross Country, which had some success when they covered "In The Midnight Hour"
The Tokens reunited in 1975 for some work on a game show called Musical Chairs. In 1978 the group recorded a song for School House Rock.
A version of of The Tokens still tours. There have been some law suits, about who owned the name of the group, and who owned the rights to their arrangement of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"


VITO AND THE SALUTATIONS
Vito and The Salutation were a 60's doo-wop group out of New York (surprise!!), whose first recording, "Gloria", was a regional hit.
In 1963 The Salutations scored a hit with an up-tempo version of "Unchained Melody", which went to #60 on the Cash Box charts, and made the top ten in many cities.
The group lasted from 1961 to 1965, and had reunion in 1971. Lead singer Vito Balsamo,also sang with The Del Vons and The Kelloggs and still performs in The Golden Group Memories.
The group's version of "Unchained Melody" has been included in several movies, including the popular movie Goodfellas.

THE DUPREES
The group was formed in 1960 in Jersey City, New Jersey, by William L. Dickinson High School students Michael Arnone, Joe Santollo, John Salvato, Tom Bialoglow, and Joey Canzano.
George Paxton a former big band leader was impressed by the group's style and signed them to his Coed Records label. Their first single was a re-make of a Jo Stafford 1952 hit, "You Belong To Me". The Duprees version had doo-wop vocals and a big band backing and reached the top ten in the US.
The group had a few more top 40 hits over the years. They scored with "My Own True Love" a vocal adaptation of "Tara's Theme" from the soundtrack of Gone With The Wind. "Have You Heard" and "Why Don't You Believe Me" also reached the top 40. The group became know for mixing doo-wop vocals with big band arrangements. Like most of these groups The Duprees changed members often.
The Duprees continued to get work even after the British Invasion, by turning towards a more pop sound and had songs in the top 100 even into the 70's.
In Novenber 2008, The Duprees were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.


THE CAPRIS
The story of The Capris reads like most of the stories of doo-wop groups, but this story has a twist.
The Capris formed in Ozone Park, Queens New York, in 1957. The group included Nick Santamaria (aka Nick Santo), Mike Mincelli, Frank Reina, Vinnie Naccarato, and John Cassese. All of the members were teenagers and still in school. In 1958 the final member of the group was recruited and the group was on their way. The Original name of the group was The Supremes, but soon changed to The Capris. They took their name from the 50's Lincoln Capri car.
The group gained experience and popularity by performing at local venues and school dances. In 1958 the group was at Bell Studios in New York recording their biggest hit, "There's A Moon Out Tonight". The song was released by Planet Studios in early 1959. They recorded only one other song called "Indian Girl".
After that release the group disbanded, and everyone went their own way.

Here comes the strange twist!
"There A Moon Out Tonight" was so popular, that collectors in New York scoured the city looking for copies of the record. A group of collectors bought the masters of the songs and pressed 330 copies on red vinyl and gave a few copies to some DJ's. The song became popular all over again. The song ended up in the hands of Murray the K at WINS. Murray had show called "Rate The Record". On the show Murray had five records going against each other. "There's A Moon Out Tonight" won one night and came in second on another night. Second to "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles. The Capris quit their jobs and reunited, the next week they were at The Apollo Theater, and then at Brooklyn's Paramount. They were everywhere and on the rise again. In 1961 the song hit the charts and stayed there for 14 weeks. The group released more songs and changed labels, but didn't have another hit until 1982. In 1982 the group released an album called "There's A Moon Out Tonight". On the album were some covers of some popular songs and a new track, "Morse Code Of Love". The song had the old doo-wop sound. Many people thought the song was a foregotten oldie, but not so, it was a new song. So 23 years after they had their first hit, and doo-wop was dead, the group had another doo-wop hit.
Some of the group's members have passed and some have retired from singing, but the remaining members are still performing on the oldies circuit.


These are just some of the groups that helped doo-wop cross over and become mainstream. With our Italian brothers singing what was considered race music (Black music) the doors were opened for Atlantic Records, Stax, and MOTOWN to become the labels that provided the sound tracks of our lives.

By no means is this the end of Italian Americans and doo-wop, we will re-visit them again!
Next up, Little Anthony and The Imperials. Please enjoy the blog and leave comments and request for information on other groups.