‘Doo-wop’ music is a winding trail from then to now

Happy 90th anniversary in 2024 to The Delta Rhythm Boys, a recording group formed in 1934 at Langston (Okla.) University, the only HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in Oklahoma.

The quintet enjoyed much success in the entertainment industry and was a trailblazer in what became known as “doo-wop” music harmony.

 

The Delta Rhythm Boys’ 1945 recording “Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin’” is regarded as the first pop music song in which the background vocalists repeatedly uttered a “nonsense string of syllables” that sounded like “doo doo doo doo-wop.”

The tune was composed by the legendary Billy Strayhorn, with lyrics by Lee Gaines, who sang bass with the group.

The term “doo-wop” was coined much later – in the 1960s on the West Coast – to categorize a “movement” that had influenced a lot of popular artists beginning in the 1950s and moving forward.

Not every song of this ilk contained “doo-wops”…some had “ rama lama ding dongs” or “bop shoo bop shoo bops” or “dip da dip da dips” or “shoo doop shoo be doos” and so forth.

But following down the “doo-wop” trail a little farther, we arrive in 1951 when The Striders (a quartet that included three Strider brothers from Columbus, Ohio) crooned “doo doo da doo doo” behind Savannah Churchill on “When You Came Back to Me,” written by David Highsmith.

 

The first “hit record” that specifically used the term “doo wop” came through loud and clear in 1955 with The Turbans’ recording of “When You Dance,” written by bass vocalist Andrew “Chet” Jones. The single reached #3 on the R&B (rhythm and blues) chart as well as #33 on the pop chart. “When You Dance” was the only hit tune for The Turbans, who unraveled after that.

 

Perhaps “doo-wop” music, when interpreted as an offshoot “music genre” from R&B, began in 1953, with the release of “Gee” by The Crows. That song totally changed the music world, according to Bruce Eder, a respected music industry journalist.

 

The Crows formed in 1951 as a quartet from the New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. They were discovered while performing “amateur night” at the historic Apollo Theater. Initially, the group backed up singer-pianist Viola Watkins.

 

She and William Davis, who sang baritone with The Crows, wrote “Gee” with the syllable “doo” being repeated over and over in a unique cadence.

“Gee” became the first “doo-wop” release to sell more than 1 million records. The tune peaked at #2 on the R&B chart and #14 on the pop chart. Jay Warner, who has written volumes on the history of rock’n’roll, credits “Gee” as the first R&B song to cross the bridge to rock’n’roll.

In the end, The Crows dissolved, crashing as another “one-hit wonder” in the annals of pop music.

The “doo-wop” banner was picked up by other groups, such as The Clovers. Reflecting on the early history of “doo-wop,” Jeff Prugh, a columnist at the Los Angeles Times, wrote (in 1993) that The Clovers had the magic touch.

 

The Clovers had formed in Washington, D.C., in 1946, as a group of high school boys from Armstrong High School. In 1951, Max Silverman, owner of the Waxie Maxie’s chain of retail record stores in the D.C. area, convinced Atlantic Records to take a chance on The Clovers.

The group was taken under the wing of one of the record company co-owners, Ahmet Ertegun, who was the son of Munir Ertegun, the Turkish ambassador to the United States from 1934-44. Ahmet Ertegun (shown below) personally wrote many of the early R&B hits for The Clovers.