1950s Doo-Wop
I was particularly smitten by the similarity between Doo-Wop and the African tradition of acapella groups. In Africa it goes right back to its tribal roots with groups of young men, shuffling, swaying and stamping in rhythm and singing in harmony without any instrumentation. I saw this on many street corners as I went around in Cape Town. It was interesting to see how the tradition was continued in black America in the 1950s. It was common to find groups of youths on street corners doing a similar thing.
As there were no instruments the voices were used to provide that backing. As the main singer gave vent the rest of the group harmonised with bass and harmony and largely nonsense words and sounds to create an intricate arrangement. The term Doo-Wop was not really applied to the style until the end of the fifties. Before that it was seen as another R&B style.
The popularity of the style was obvious. Young blacks suffered a lot of unemployment and there was little money. They had time, talent and no instruments. It was something you could do creatively with your friends that got you attention from the girls, respect from your friends and had the potential to earn money.
It first started up in the 1940s in cities like Chicago and New York and soon became a phenomenon. The earliest successful groups were the Ink Spots and Mills Brothers who, along with others, took it into the charts in the late forties and even reached white audiences and had television exposure.
In the early fifties there were a whole range of Doo-wop groups with names based on birds such as the Ravens, Orioles, Swallows, Robins, Flamingoes, Larks and Penguins. Some of the harder R&B groups had more instrumentation and a touch of Rock as with the Clovers, Hank Ballad and the Midnighters, the Cadillacs, Impalas and Bill Ward and the Dominoes.
By the end of the fifties it was having great success with bands like the Platters, Little Anthony and the Imperials and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
It was incorporated into the Rock scene along with other R&B and elements of Doo-wop regularly find their way into Rock Music as with the backing on many Roy Orbison songs.
The style went on to develop with the highly successful Coasters and Drifters and even into the sixties with the Four Tops.
Other minority groups got in on the sound with Hispanic and Italian groups leading the way. Groups like Dion and the Belmonts and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Doo-Wop has played a big part in the evolution of Rock Music.