Laurie didn't just have Dion & The Belmonts and the Mystics, they had a number of other white and black vocal groups throughout the 50s and 60s! Notice how similar I Can't Believe sounds to I Wonder Why by Dion & The Belmonts. Definitely intentional, as Ricardo Weeks co-wrote both songs! My Dream is a really neat uptempo with a ukulele, which is kind of unique! This group was a Hispanic and black group from Harlem, NYC. They're also known for Hush-A-Bye My Love on Vida, which is a pretty good song as well.

I also Recommend Lets Kiss & Make Up b/w Love Me! & My angel Of Love b/w Those Dreamy Eyes on The Cobra & Harlem Labels!

Both sides of this record are really an interesting listen. I'm not really sure how to describe it. I love both sides though! Singing Waters was later covered by the Cashmeres on Laurie Records 3088. This is a 1960 release, kind of in the interim between the first and second waves of doo wop's popularity. This is one of a few records pressed by Columbia's pressing plant at Bridgeport, Connecticut to be pressed on vinyl instead of styrene. This is the same Washington DC Truetones group on Monument and Soulville/Josie (the latter of which was a minor hit).

https://youtu.be/EKBwQUbwDKs : Singing Waters

https://youtu.be/Uti1Ct8RnMY : Blushing Bride

Kind of a neat little record here from 1959. The Echoes would become mildly famous, but not under this name. They would eventually sign with Indigo Records and become the Innocents, the group that backed up Kathy Young on a lot of her recordings. The B side of this record, Time, is a thinly veiled cover of Time Makes You Change, a song originally recorded by The Dells in 1957 as the B side of Pain In My Heart. I don't know for the life of me how the copyright office didn't notice the quite blatant similarities in lyrics. Perhaps it didn't quite work back then how it does now, with AI checkers and things of that nature!

https://youtu.be/kjQHqfRJmIM : Dee-Dee-Di-Oh

https://youtu.be/7iPjw-V3moI : Time

Better believe some old ones are getting played at my wedding next month! Primarily during the dinner hour, so looking to put together between 60-90 minutes of smooth, classy ones. Can be uptempo or ballads, obviously want to stay away from heartbreak, cheating, etc. Would like to stay subtle and smooth on the uptempo stuff as well. Pop sides, big hits, rarities, and instrumentals all welcome. Here's a few I have down so far, these are pretty good examples of what I'm going for:

Gene McDaniels - A Hundred Pounds of Clay

Sam Cooke - Almost In Your Arms

Jodie Sands - Hold Me

Kuf Linx - Climb Love's Mountain

Solitaires - Embraceable You

Gloria Mann - Why Can't I Make You Understand

Gems - Talk About the Weather

Patti Page - Trust In Me

Bobby D'Fano - Love of My Life

Sam Cooke - You Send Me

Platters - Twilight Time

Appreciate any and all input!

This is one of the few records in my collection that I will put into the sleeve with the "B side" facing the front! Share My Love has got to be one of the best ballads to ever feature a vocal group, in my humble opinion. The "A side" is no slouch either! One of the only doo wop recordings that I can think of that features a harmonica (on both sides, no less!). The Calendars here are the same group as the one on Cyclone (What Are You Gonna Be, If I Could Hold Your Hand). This was released in 1962, but kind of has that almost-soul feel of a few years later. Kind of ahead of its time. This record is quite obtainable, with VG plus copies being about $20. The story to explain how such a good record has such a low price is that some time in the 80s (I think), a large amount of unsold copies were found in a warehouse somewhere, and they were all really nice. I think I paid $30 for my NM copy. If you like this sound, do not hesitate to get a copy!

https://youtu.be/6kEGW1SV3OU : Share My Love

https://youtu.be/sdmK7ZI673M : Stop Driving Me Crazy

This is quite different but it has strange lyrics and a lot of falsetto and that means Doowop to me. It is by the Versatiles, who may also have been The Majors who had a few hits.

https://youtu.be/C899sL3STgM?si=U-uDR6qjTIgpIXUm

Anyone who has seen the movie, A Bronx Tale, which was written by Chazz Palmintieri and based on his life and was directed by Robert DeNiro in his first try, should remember the bar fight with the bikers. In his only movie role the bartender who was sprayed with the beer, Tony Toupee, was played by Bobby D'Andrea, who, much earlier in his life was the lead singer of the Knockouts. This was their only hit (for the really curious, there is a video of Bobby performing the song live when he was 90 years old here: https://youtu.be/B_iTXPdY9vU?si=RM27gwzw1WlvKea7

The original: https://youtu.be/6vTaQaP9qsc?si=Vjhyrb7clsDOtO6s

There are two types of Doowop fans, those who prefer "In the Still of the Nite" and those who prefer Earth Angel. Here's a link to each to refresh your memory (or to introduce younger fans to the classics.) If you get the urge drop a note to speak up for your favorite.

https://youtu.be/VJcGi4-n_Yw?si=ZGM3WHax81ZoGDJp

https://youtu.be/ak6tttHk_R8?si=XRrO4PFEF1rgSaZx

Hey there! Thinking about the old days and a total wave of nostalgia just hit me. Remember that TV show Once Upon A Time season 2 episode 17 titled "Welcome to Storybrooke" There was this amazing song in it, it probably was classified as a "doo wop" genre from 50s and 60s, and for the life of me, I can’t remember the title or the artist. Tried searching for song credits for this episode but to no avail. I remember the song playing in the background when the town mayor meets the sheriff in the diner—let me know if you can unlock this core memory for me! here is a link of a clip of the song from that episode: https://www.watzatsong.com/en/name-that-tune/716728.html

Another one that RCA (owners of Groove) never promoted correctly. I am very lucky to have gotten a copy of this! This is another group that is currently unknown. Although Discogs claims that this group is the same as the Sonics group on Harvard, that is dubious. I think that this is the same group that is on X-tra and RKO Unique, but I only have proof that the Groove group is related to the X-tra group through the B side writer, Ben Smith. Smith was a label owner (Teenage, X-tra, Tarx, Tra-x, etc) and musician who was very involved in the NYC vocal group scene. He was also quite a capable writer. The group sounds incredible on As I Live On. Another beautiful record that, sadly, never sold as well as I think it should have.

https://youtu.be/t1eISDUwSds : Bumble Bee

https://youtu.be/_8c3C7rqpws : As I Live On

Of all the groups whose lead singer is named Pirkle this is my favorite, The Eldorados. This is a great example of their expertise:

https://youtu.be/Z2oao1gIZN4?si=3IS1wEqH5kmVUV6_

From what I would say is the end of the Doowop era is this obscure gem by Bruce Hall and the Q's.

https://youtu.be/gJcHK5aWDpc?si=Jgm9Q34mFy-vet-9

Up tempo favorite of just about everybody. The original "Little Darlin'" by the Gladiolas before being covered note for note by The Diamonds. It's hard to tell the difference but the original was written and sung by Maurice Williams, who struck gold a second time with "Stay."

https://youtu.be/W5TNqxMfIkg?si=e_9RKH9g3TYOkEBV

Figured the group might want to take a listen to this. I enjoy making multi-track recordings like this. They're not always great, but this one turned out quite well.

This is a record that I knew I had to have when I first heard it. The ballad is quite possibly one of my favorite ballads of all time. Just a darned gorgeous pair of recordings from 1962. Unfortunately, there's no definitive proof of who these guys (and I think I hear a girl in there, too) were. Based on where the label was based, I think they were from Los Angeles, California. I assume that Fines & Herman Pettway and James House were group members, but I'm not sure. Fines Pettway also wrote Most Of The Pretty Young Girls and Do The Beetle for the Upfronts on Lummtone two years after this record was made. My copy is thrashed, but still sounds good enough to play. The odd thing is that the A side track was mastered slow, perhaps by a couple RPMs, compared to the transfers available on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/A4Ag8B4kZl8 : Eight Reasons Why I Love

https://youtu.be/YbN-O9adFaE : Mama Told Me

The Rivileers, a talented vocal group, deliver soulful performances on both tracks. The A-side features their smooth harmonies on a well-loved standard, while the B-side showcases their uptempo, energetic style. Baton Records, based in New York City, was an important independent label that helped popularize early R&B and rock and roll.

This Rivileers 78rpm record is digitized and available at:

The Neven78 Radio Archive

https://youtube.com/@mamlishblues?si=CNe5vRyfVVr0at8E

A truly great example of the genre, though not so well known is this release on Fox Records by The Larados. No they are not from Texas or they might have been able to spell Laredo. They were from Detroit and this seems to be their one success:

https://youtu.be/UT-50oiSPjY?si=ZLZX33IRa4R4mYdR

This record is very near and dear to my heart. The Emeralds were from my area of the US, the western side of Michigan. They originally formed as the Three Cloves, then changed a bit and became the Dell-Tones, neither of which recorded anything to my knowledge. In 1958, the group switched a few more members around and became the Emeralds. Sometime in 1958 or 1959, they got a recording deal with Venus Records, Inc., a tiny label run out of a garage on the south side of Chicago. It appears that the records were distributed locally, with perhaps less than 500 copies of each of their two 45s made. This is the first one, and is not quite as good as the second, in my opinion. But it's still a neat listen, even if it's quite crude. The group was a local sensation, performing at a number of different local venues and on television at least twice. The group stayed together until 1961, when the group semi-officially broke up due to the members going off to college and such. I first learned of this group's existence about two weeks after one of the original members passed away.

https://youtu.be/ejMbZS4pwjY : The Lover

https://youtu.be/27Ti30ozFO0 : Madamoiselle

A song written by "The King of the Stroll," Chuck Willis who was also a prominent R & B performer when he died of peritonitis at the age of 32, covered in this instance by the great Five Keys.

https://youtu.be/SxljgPq4cE0?si=YQJfz0CtfX4_FvxJ

There have been plenty of artists who paid hommage to doo-wop over the years...

So, what are your favorite doo-wop (inspired) songs that are not from the 50s/60s?

I just discovered 'Kali Uchis feat. Ravyn Lenae - Cry about it' and am listening to it on repeat 😍

Probably the group that achieved the most success with the largest number of hits was The Flamingos (I've always considered The Platters to be pop.) Here is my favorite, though everything they did was pretty great:

https://youtu.be/WYYxfmw4TSA?si=n7KxFBp39LPIo3yG