Doo Wop - Rhythm and Blues vocalized into gorgeous melodies

by: Themusicmam
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Influenced by rhythm and blues, doop-wop was a vocalized harmonized genre using phonetic syllables (doo-wop) without obvious meanings to bring in rhythm and harmonic arrangements. Primarily an African American music genre, it became popular throughout the 50's and the 60's as a separate genre.

Thinking about Doo Wop at the time, one had to think also about street corner youngsters, who formed into groups of 5 or 6 individual and who would harmonize to the sounds of doo-wop for the fun of it. These youngsters owed much of their music background to the teaching and music of the local black churches and as such were particularly adept at adapting to this new vocal genre. They brought fun and a carefree philosophy to music.

Because of that, they were also inexperienced in their relationship with the business world and often times overly trusted their contacts to the record companies. It was not uncommon for label owners to convince them that in order to gain name recognition, it was his own name that should appear as the music composer as his name was already recognized by the deejays.

In addition, these inexperienced youngsters were lead to believe that they would be paid by session, rather than by number of records sold. They were made to sign contracts that permitted studio and promotional costs to be paid directly from the artist's own royalties.

And just as this wasn't enough, original rights to the songs had to be passed on to the record companies who also insisted that the musician perform for free on major promotional shows. Finally, agents took a 50 pc cut from all of the musicians' income.

The irony in the above unsavory practices is that they were often times initiated by smaller record companies. These companies and the groups they badly represented might have survived if the musicians had not bee so cheated of mechanical and performance rights!

Popular groups from the doo wop era include

The Dubs who in 1957 released one of doo wop classics: "could this be magic". A sweet and endearing ballad, it featured lead vocalist Richard Blandon.

The Duprees who in 1962 hit it big with their delightful doo wop harmonization of "you belong to me" which had previously been recorded by Patty Page, Jo Stafford, Dean Martin and Joni James.

The Elegants, a New York doo wop music group that became famous for the most gorgeous "Little Star" released in 1958. This title topped both R&B and Pop charts. They were a White ensemble led by Vito Picone

"In the Still of the Night" is another doo wop gem, released in 1954 by The Five Satins. Known as a true classic of this music genre, "In the Still of the Night" was created in the basement of a local church. Fred Harris was the leader of the group and actually had already been drafted by the army and was stationed in Japan when his song hit the charts.

In the mid 1960's British Rock and Rock groups launched what is commonly referred to as the British Invasion and this signaled the end of the doo wop era as a predominant force. The doowop popularity although largely diminished saw various up turns in the decades that followed.

Doo Wop has an international and varied audience. Concerts and events are still being organized today and continue to enthrall an audience that combines both the older with their grand-kids they often times bring to see the show.

About the Author

The Music Mama has a unique selection of oldies, Doo wop music and more. We aim to offer the very best in customer satisfaction and our Doo wop CDs are covered by a no question asked guarantee.  

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