Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a type of rhythm and blues music that began in African-American communities in the 1940s, especially in large cities like New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. It uses group singing with a catchy melody and a simple beat, often with little or no instruments. The lyrics are simple and often about love. A lead singer performs over background vocals. Sometimes, a part called the bridge includes a heartfelt message to the person being loved. Singing harmony with nonsense sounds like "doo-wop" is a common feature in these songs. Doo-wop became popular in the 1950s and remained successful until the early 1960s. It continued to influence musicians in other music styles.

Origins

Doo-wop has complex musical, social, and commercial origins.

The style of doo-wop combines musical elements that were already present in American popular music from the 1930s to the 1940s. These elements include songwriting, how music is arranged, and vocal techniques used by both Black and white songwriters and vocal groups.

Composers like Rodgers and Hart (in their 1934 song "Blue Moon") and Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser (in their 1938 song "Heart and Soul") used a specific pattern of chords in their music. Doo-wop songs later changed this pattern slightly to I–vi–IV–V, a progression so common it is sometimes called the "50s progression." This chord pattern was often combined with a musical structure called AABA, which was typical in songs from Tin Pan Alley.

Hit songs by Black groups, such as the Ink Spots ("If I Didn't Care," one of the best-selling singles worldwide, and "Address Unknown") and the Mills Brothers ("Paper Doll," "You Always Hurt the One You Love," and "Glow Worm"), were usually slow songs with simple instrumentation. Doo-wop street singers often performed without instruments but made their style unique by using a swing-like rhythm and "doo-wop" sounds to replace drums and bass instruments.

The vocal style of doo-wop was influenced by groups like the Mills Brothers, who used close four-part harmonies similar to those of earlier barbershop quartets.

Songs like the Four Knights' "Take Me Right Back to the Track" (1945), the Cats and the Fiddle's "I Miss You So" (1939), and the Triangle Quartette's "Doodlin' Back" (1929) showed early signs of doo-wop's rhythm and blues sound, even before doo-wop became popular.

In The Complete Book of Doo-Wop, authors Gribin and Schiff (who also wrote Doo-Wop, the Forgotten Third of Rock 'n' Roll) describe five features of doo-wop music:

• It is music performed by vocal groups.
• It includes a wide range of vocal parts, "usually from bass to falsetto."
• It uses made-up sounds or syllables.
• It has a simple beat and minimal instrumentals.
• It uses simple words and music.

While these features help identify doo-wop, they are not always present in every song. The typical chord progressions used in doo-wop are not listed in this guide. Bill Kenny, lead singer of the Ink Spots, is often credited with creating the "top and bottom" vocal arrangement, where a high tenor sings the introduction and a bass voice provides a spoken chorus. The Mills Brothers, known for mimicking instruments in their vocals, influenced street vocal harmony groups, who used wordless sounds to imitate musical instruments. For example, the Ravens' song "Count Every Star" (1950) includes vocalizations that mimic the sound of a double bass. The Orioles helped shape the doo-wop sound with their songs "It's Too Soon to Know" (1948) and "Crying in the Chapel" (1953).

Although the musical style began in the late 1940s and was popular in the 1950s, the term "doo-wop" was not used in print until 1961. It first appeared in The Chicago Defender when referring to the Marcels' song "Blue Moon." The name was attributed to radio disc jockey Gus Gossert, but he denied credit, saying "doo-wop" was already used in California to describe the music.

The phrase "doo-wop" itself is a made-up sound. It appears in the Delta Rhythm Boys' 1945 song "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin," in the Clovers' 1953 song "Good Lovin'" (Atlantic Records 1000), and in the chorus of Carlyle Dundee & the Dundees' 1954 song "Never" (Space Records 201). The first hit song to harmonize "doo-wop" in the chorus was the Turbans' 1955 song "When You Dance" (Herald Records H-458). The Rainbows used the phrase as "do wop de wadda" in their 1955 song "Mary Lee" (Red Robin Records; also a hit in Washington, D.C., on Pilgrim 703). In their 1956 national hit "In the Still of the Night," the Five Satins sang "doo-wop, doo-wah" across the bridge.

Development

After World War II, a new music style called rhythm and blues became very popular among Black teenagers in large cities on the East Coast, Chicago, and Detroit. Early groups that helped start this tradition included the Orioles, the Five Keys, and the Spaniels. These groups sang romantic songs that reflected the feelings of young people in the late 1940s and early 1950s, often focusing on love, longing, and sadness. A repeated sound, "doo doo doo doo-wop," from the song "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" by the Delta Rhythm Boys in 1945, later became the name of the genre. By the mid-1950s, vocal harmony groups began using this sound in their music, especially in a cappella songs, where singers used their voices to create rhythm. Many doo-wop groups became popular in the 1950s, including the Moonglows with "Sincerely," the Penguins with "Earth Angel," and the Flamingos with "I Only Have Eyes for You."

Young people who could not afford instruments formed groups that sang without instruments at school dances and other events. They practiced in places like street corners, under bridges, and in hallways, which had good acoustics. These groups developed a style of harmony inspired by Black spirituals and gospel music. Doo-wop music gave these young people a way to entertain others and share their ideas and feelings in a society that was not always fair to them.

Italian-American men also formed successful doo-wop groups, especially in New York City. Groups like Dion and the Belmonts and the Capris had national hits in the 1950s and 1960s. Some doo-wop groups included members of different races, such as the Teenagers, who recorded "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" after a Puerto Rican musician, Herman Santiago, wrote the song. Other racially mixed groups included the Del-Vikings and the Crests.

Female doo-wop singers were rare early on, but Lillian Leach of the Mellows and Margo Sylvia of the Tune Weavers helped open doors for more women in the genre.

In Baltimore, groups like the Orioles, the Cardinals, and the Swallows helped create a unique style of rhythm and blues. The Orioles, formed in 1947, sang simple ballads with a strong bass voice and a high tenor voice. Their song "It's Too Soon to Know" became the first doo-wop song to reach the top of a music chart. Later, their song "Crying in the Chapel" was their biggest hit. The Orioles were among the first groups to use bird names for their group.

Some Baltimore doo-wop groups were connected to street gangs, and competition among groups led to rivalries. In cities like Baltimore, music and dance were important parts of African-American culture, and success in these areas often brought attention and pride to local communities.

Doo-wop and racial relations

The mixing of music styles that became known as rhythm and blues, which was earlier called "race music" by record companies, became popular with many young people after World War II. This music helped bring changes to how people of different races interacted in American society. By 1948, RCA Victor began selling Black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm." In 1949, Jerry Wexler, a reporter for Billboard magazine, changed the order of the words and created the term "Rhythm and Blues" to replace "Race Music" for the magazine's music chart.

One type of rhythm and blues focused on singing, with instruments ranging from a full orchestra to no instruments at all. This style was often performed by a group, usually a quartet, similar to how Black gospel music was performed. These groups used close harmonies and sang slowly or at a medium pace. The lead singer, usually a high-pitched voice, often sang over the background chords of other singers or had a call-and-response conversation with them. Groups like the Ink Spots represented this style, which was the direct predecessor of doo-wop. Doo-wop began in the mid-1950s on inner city street corners and was very popular on music charts from 1955 to 1959.

Both Black and white young people enjoyed watching doo-wop performances. Mixed groups of young people would gather on inner city street corners to sing doo-wop songs without instruments. This made white supremacists angry, as they saw rhythm and blues and rock and roll as a threat to American youth.

The rise of rhythm and blues happened at the same time as racial segregation became a more serious issue in American society. Black leaders began to challenge old traditions and social structures. Some white leaders and entertainment industry executives, who controlled music companies, viewed rhythm and blues—rooted in Black culture—as inappropriate and a danger to white youth, even though the genre was growing in popularity among them.

Jewish influence in doo-wop

During the 1950s, Jewish composers, musicians, and business people played an important role in changing American popular music from jazz and swing to doo-wop and rock 'n' roll. Jewish business owners also started many record companies that recorded rhythm and blues music during the time when vocal groups were most popular.

From 1944 to 1955, many record companies that specialized in "race" music—later called "rhythm and blues"—were owned or co-owned by Jewish people. Small independent record companies were responsible for recording, marketing, and sharing doo-wop music. For example, Jack and Devora Brown, a Jewish couple in Detroit, created Fortune Records in 1946. They recorded many unusual artists and sounds. By the mid-1950s, they supported Detroit rhythm and blues music, including songs by local doo-wop groups.

Some Jewish women also worked in the music industry. Florence Greenberg started the Scepter label in 1959 and signed the African American girl group the Shirelles. A songwriting team named Goffin and King, who worked for Don Kirshner’s Aldon music, gave Greenberg a song called "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." The Shirelles recorded it, and it reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. During the early 1960s, Scepter was the most successful independent record label.

Deborah Chessler, a young Jewish sales clerk who loved black music, became the manager and songwriter for the Baltimore doo-wop group the Orioles. The group recorded her song "It's Too Soon to Know," which reached number 1 on Billboard’s race records charts in November 1948.

Some record company owners, like Herman Lubinsky, were criticized for treating black artists unfairly. Lubinsky founded Savoy Records in 1942 and recorded many artists, including the Carnations, the Debutantes, the Falcons, the Jive Bombers, and the Robins. While his business methods helped some groups gain more attention, many black musicians disliked how he treated them. Historians Robert Cherry and Jennifer Griffith say there is no strong evidence that Lubinsky treated African American artists worse than other record company owners. They believe his actions were more about the challenges of the music industry during that time than about his personal beliefs.

In the 1960s, Jewish musicians like Lou Reed, Joey and Tommy Ramone, and Chris Stein were fans of doo-wop music. Reed sang lead vocals on two doo-wop songs, "Merry Go Round" and "Your Love," in 1962, but they were not released at the time. Later, he worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records, writing songs that were popular with young people.

Doo-wop influence on punk and proto-punk rockers

The R&B and doo-wop music that influenced early rock 'n' roll was taken from without giving proper credit in the 1970s, just as blues-based rock had been in the 1950s and 1960s. Terms like "Brill Building music" hide the contributions of Black producers, writers, and groups such as the Marvelettes and the Supremes, who made similar music and created hits for Motown but were labeled as soul. According to music expert Evan Rapport, before 1958, more than ninety percent of doo-wop performers were African-American. This changed as more white groups began performing this style.

This music was adopted by punk rockers in the 1970s as part of a larger trend among white Americans who idealized it as music from a simpler time of racial harmony before the 1960s. White Americans had a nostalgic interest in the 1950s and early 1960s, which became popular in mainstream culture starting in 1969 when Gus Gossert began playing early rock and roll and doo-wop songs on New York's WCBS-FM radio. This trend peaked in racially segregated films like American Graffiti, Happy Days, and Grease, which was shown with the Ramones' film Rock 'n' Roll High School in 1979.

Early punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, used the 12-bar aab pattern from California surf or beach music in songs with eight-, sixteen-, or twenty-four bar structures. They either covered these songs or created new ones. These bands used musical styles from the 1950s and 1960s, such as call-and-response background vocals and doo-wop-style sounds, to reference that era. Their songs often focused on themes like teenage love, cars, and dancing, following the examples of earlier rock and roll and doo-wop groups. Some punk musicians used irony or sarcasm in their music based on their own experiences, but they still embraced the nostalgic ideas these songs represented.

By 1963 and 1964, Lou Reed, a musician who influenced punk rock, performed covers of three-chord songs by pop groups and played music with a classic doo-wop feel and a street attitude. Jonathan Richman, founder of the influential proto-punk band the Modern Lovers, released the album Rockin' and Romance (1985), which used acoustic guitar and doo-wop harmonies. His song "Down in Bermuda" was directly inspired by "Down in Cuba" by the Royal Holidays. His album Modern Lovers 88 (1987) included doo-wop styles and Bo Diddley rhythms, recorded with a small group of musicians using acoustic instruments.

Popularity

Doo-wop groups had R&B chart hits in 1951 with songs like "Sixty Minute Man" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes, "Where Are You?" by the Mello-Moods, "The Glory of Love" by the Five Keys, and "Shouldn't I Know" by the Cardinals. These groups played an important part in starting the rock and roll era when two rhythm and blues songs by vocal harmony groups, "Gee" by the Crows and "Sh-Boom" by the Chords, appeared on pop music charts in 1954. "Sh-Boom" was the first rhythm-and-blues record to reach the top ten on the Billboard charts, reaching number 5. A few months later, a white group from Canada, the Crew Cuts, released their cover of the song, which reached number 1 and stayed there for nine weeks. This was followed by other white artists covering doo-wop songs by Black artists, which scored higher on Billboard charts than the originals. These include "Hearts of Stone" by the Fontaine Sisters (number 1), "At My Front Door" by Pat Boone (number 7), "Sincerely" by the McGuire Sisters (number 1), and "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds (number 2). Music historian Billy Vera notes that these recordings are not considered doo-wop.

"Only You" was released in June 1955 by the pop group the Platters. That same year, the Platters had a number one pop chart hit with "The Great Pretender," released on November 3. In 1956, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers performed their hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" on the Frankie Laine show in New York, which was televised nationally. Frankie Laine called the song "rock and roll." Lymon's youth appealed to young audiences. His other hits included "I Promise to Remember," "The ABC's of Love," and "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent."

Upbeat doo-wop groups like the Monotones, the Silhouettes, and the Marcels had Billboard-charting hits. All-white doo-wop groups also had success, including The Mello-Kings in 1957 with "Tonight, Tonight," the Diamonds in 1957 with the chart-topping cover of "Little Darlin'" (original by an African American group), the Skyliners in 1959 with "Since I Don't Have You," and the Tokens in 1961 with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

The peak of doo-wop may have been in the late 1950s. In the early 1960s, notable hits included Dion's "Runaround Sue," "The Wanderer," "Lovers Who Wander," and "Ruby Baby," as well as the Marcels' "Blue Moon." A revival of the nonsense syllable style of doo-wop happened in the early 1960s with songs by the Marcels, the Rivingtons, and Vito & the Salutations. The genre later included songs about the singers ("Mr. Bass Man" by Johnny Cymbal) and songwriters ("Who Put the Bomp?" by Barry Mann) in 1961.

Doo-wop's influence

Other pop R&B groups, such as the Coasters, the Drifters, the Midnighters, and the Platters, helped connect the doo-wop style to the mainstream and to the future sound of soul music. The influence of doo-wop can be heard in the music of the Miracles, especially in their early songs like "Got A Job" (an answer song to "Get a Job"), "Bad Girl," "Who's Loving You," "(You Can) Depend on Me," and "Ooo Baby Baby." Doo-wop came before many African-American musical styles that are popular today. It developed from pop, jazz, and blues and influenced many major rock and roll groups of the late 20th century. It also helped create new musical ideas that came later.

Doo-wop's influence continued in soul, pop, and rock music of the 1960s, including groups like the Four Seasons, girl groups, and vocal surf music performers such as the Beach Boys. In the Beach Boys' song "Surfer Girl," the use of certain music patterns shows the influence of doo-wop. The Beach Boys later covered the song "Barbara Ann," originally recorded by the Regents in 1961, and released their version in 1966. In 1984, Billy Joel released "The Longest Time," which clearly honors doo-wop music. In 1998, Lauryn Hill released the song "Doo Wop (That Thing)," which uses many elements of the doo-wop style.

Revivals

The long-term future of doo-wop music has been debated. However, the genre experienced comebacks from the 1970s to the 1990s. During these periods, musicians who revived doo-wop were mostly located in large cities, including New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, and Los Angeles. Television programs and music collections, such as the "Doo Wop Box" sets, helped increase interest in the music, the artists, and their stories.

In late 1968, an album called Cruising with Ruben & the Jets was released. It was a concept album of doo-wop music performed by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, who pretended to be a made-up Chicano doo-wop band named Ruben & the Jets. Singer Ruben Guevara, who worked with Zappa, later formed a real band called Ruben and the Jets. A notable comeback of "pure" doo-wop happened when Sha Na Na performed at the Woodstock Festival. In 1972, the soul group the Trammps recorded a song called "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart."

Over time, other groups achieved success with doo-wop or doo-wop-inspired songs. These include Robert John's 1972 version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," the Darts' revival of "Daddy Cool" and "Come Back My Love" in the late 1970s, Toby Beau's 1978 hit "My Angel Baby," and Billy Joel's 1984 song "The Longest Time." Showaddywaddy played a major role in the doo-wop revival, with 23 songs reaching the Top 40 in the UK between 1974 and 1983. Most of these songs were covers of classic doo-wop tracks.

Soul and funk bands, such as Zapp, released a single called "Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)/A Touch of Jazz (Playin' Kinda Ruff Part II)." The last doo-wop song to reach the top ten on the U.S. pop charts was "It's Alright" by Huey Lewis and the News, a version of a 1963 song by the Impressions. It reached number 7 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in June 1993. Another track from the By the Way album, a cover of "Teenager In Love" by Dion and the Belmonts, also showed doo-wop influences. In 2018, the Brooklyn-based band the Sha La Das released an album called Love in the Wind, which helped doo-wop music gain popularity again.

Doo-wop is popular among barbershoppers and college a cappella groups because it can be performed with only voices. The genre became more popular in the early 2000s after PBS aired programs such as Doo Wop 50, Doo Wop 51, and Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop. These shows brought back famous doo-wop groups from the past to perform live on stage. The programs were organized by TJ Lubinsky, the grandson of Herman Lubinsky. Other doo-wop acts that gained attention in the 2000s include the Four Quarters and Street Corner Renaissance. Bruno Mars and Meghan Trainor are modern artists who include doo-wop music in their songs and performances. Mars has said he has a special appreciation for old-school music.

The Broadway musical Jersey Boys inspired two touring doo-wop groups: The Midtown Men, featuring members of the Broadway cast, and Under the Streetlamp, featuring members of the Chicago and touring casts. The musical is based on the real-life story of the Four Seasons, who began as street-corner doo-wop singers and later became a famous pop-rock band.

The rise of hip-hop music in the late 1970s is similar to the rise of doo-wop in the 1950s, especially in how both genres reflected urban street culture in the 1990s. Bobby Robinson, a well-known music producer, has commented on these parallels.