(Still gettin’ plenty of mileage out of their hits)
The Contours
The Contours (Do You Love Me?)
Aretha Franklin
(Promoting her “The Electrifying Aretha Franklin” album)
PITTSBURGH WAS ROCKIN’ IN ’62!!!
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
AND A FEW MORE, but didn’t do it like I know I should, SO how about I start now with a LONG SET of Pittsburgh Love Songs???
Let’s start out with The Starglows ’cause we wanna be a LOT more than just friends…
The Safaris talkin’ about The Image of a Girl…
And from 1959, The fantastic Fascinators talk the talk so we can walk the walk...
And a couple of “newcomers” from The Windy City score LARGE in The Burgh…
Etta James & Harvey Fuqua- If I Can't Have You/ My Heart Cries- Chess(1760)60. This B side was the Pittsburgh Favorite…
Motown hadn’t really made it yet (Gordy was gettin’ close, though!) and money was to be had by leasing out great tunes like this one to the Chess Label out of Chicago and they made it to the airways—Especially in The Burgh…
Of course this “new stuff” out of Detroit, albeit via Chicago, was just part of the mix
—REAL Doo-Wop still ruled the Pittsburgh airwaves (and the back seats of the Pittsburgh hot rod community)…
LYRICS—WHO NEEDS LYRICS!?!
Barry White had some real grindin’ tunes a few years later, but this one--with no lyrics-- by The Viscounts, well, you know…
Close this LONG set out with my #1 FAVORITE tune of all time…
The GREAT Donnie Elbert…
And that’s what it was all about, in The Burgh, in the back seat of (fill in your ride here—mine was a 1958 Oldsmobile) in the 1960s…Ain’t nothin’ changed!
BTW: MORE LOVE SONGS AND ROCKERS TO COME
ON TROPICAL JON'S EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'n ROLL...
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
Jimmy Beaumont was the lead vocalist and their recording of “Since I Don’t Have You” is one the all-time great recordings in Rock ‘n Roll History…
The lone female member of the group, Janet Vogel (Rapp), provided the beautiful falsetto in the last chorus of the song: Her high notes in "Since I Don't Have You" are priceless……
"Since I Don't Have You" peaked at #12 in March of 1959, but history has been kind to this recording as it tops many lists as the greatest doo-wop ever recorded…
Janet Vogel-Rapp died at 37 on February 21, 1980 in a garage under her home. The cause of death was Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and was ruled an apparent suicide…
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
OK, let’s have another Saturday Nite at the Tarena Dance Club —Or a facsimile, anyway:
First up, the GREAT Richard Berry of “Louie, Louie” fame and his monster
“Have Love Will Travel”
Roll into Motown’s Shorty Long…
Close it out and get ready for the slow set with Nathaniel Mayer, another Motorcity favorite…
Time to grind to a Pittsburgh favorite, Jimmy & Wayne’s “The Magic of Her Love”
Back to the Motor’s Harvey label with The Five Quails…
Close out the first slow set with
The Monrays’
“Five Minutes to Love You”
And THAT is how we started out a Saturday night at the Tarena Dance Club
in Tarentum, PA
circa 1963…
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
took "Blue Moon", a tune written in 1934 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, to the top of the Billboard chart. It was also a #1 in the UK.
Rodgers hated the doo-wop arrangement so much that he took out advertisements in UK trade papers, urging people not to buy it—Chill Out Rodgers, It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll!!!
(The group was named by Fred Johnson's younger sister Priscilla, after a popular hair style of the day, the marcel wave)
The Marcels, as a group, was best known for turning the classical pop “Blue Moon” into rock and roll. They formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—This writer’s ORIGINAL hometown which just happens to be The Capitol of Doo-Wop Music!
They signed to Colpix Records, with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, Ron Mundy, and Richard Knauss.
In 1961 many were surprised to hear a new version of the ballad "Blue Moon" that began with the bass singer saying, "bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip." The record sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll…
The Marcels are as advertised, the guys who put the "Bomp" in the "Bomp-A-Bomp" back in 1961 when their first recording, "Blue Moon" sold over two and a half million copies. The Marcels can boast of three record albums, numerous hit singles, with sales in the millions. They also recorded the theme song, "The Greatest Love" for the motion picture, "The Interns" and appeared with Chubby Checker in the film "Twist Around The Clock." Their signature song, "Blue Moon" has been used in at least four major motion pictures and various TV shows, such as Sha Na Na, Cheers,
Moonlighting,
Laverne & Shirley,
Happy Days, etc.
In August 1961, due to problems encountered in the Deep South while touring because of the group being bi-racial, the white members, Knauss and Bricker left and were replaced by Allen Johnson (brother of Fred) and Walt Maddox. Mundy left soon after, leaving the group a quartet…
Some people aren’t aware that The Marcels’ "Heartaches"
peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over one million copies worldwide…
And it’s b-side wasn’t too shabby…
The Marcels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002…
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
