1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

3
00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:17,800
[statics]

4
00:00:20,716 --> 00:00:22,718
[jukebox operating]

5
00:00:22,761 --> 00:00:26,200
Everything has to begin
somewhere, everything.

6
00:00:26,243 --> 00:00:32,075
No matter where you went
in 1956, no matter
what neighborhood, what project,

7
00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:35,252
there was a group doo-wopping,
they were singing,
making harmony.

8
00:00:35,296 --> 00:00:37,602
You heard harmony
every place you went.

9
00:00:37,646 --> 00:00:40,736
[music playing]

10
00:00:40,779 --> 00:00:43,130
What is doo-wop? I wish I knew.

11
00:00:43,173 --> 00:00:45,567
If you talk to ten people
in this music business,

12
00:00:45,610 --> 00:00:47,351
they'll give
you ten different answers.

13
00:00:47,395 --> 00:00:50,354
Doo-wop means great music.

14
00:00:50,398 --> 00:00:53,357
Harmony, harmony, harmony.
No band, no nothing.

15
00:00:53,401 --> 00:00:55,533
I don't know who came up
with that term.

16
00:00:55,577 --> 00:00:58,449
I looked it up, doo-wop
in the Webster's dictionary...

17
00:00:58,493 --> 00:00:59,494
Street corner.

18
00:00:59,537 --> 00:01:00,582
Homegrown music.

19
00:01:00,625 --> 00:01:03,063
Acapellas,
street corner harmony.

20
00:01:03,106 --> 00:01:04,281
It's a feeling.

21
00:01:04,325 --> 00:01:06,762
I would call it
really rhythm and blues.

22
00:01:09,504 --> 00:01:13,377
Doo-wop. Do-bee-do-bee-do-wop.
Do-bee-do-bee-do-wop.

23
00:01:13,421 --> 00:01:16,206
They would doo-wop,
we were R&B singers.

24
00:01:16,250 --> 00:01:19,688
Four or five guys
standing on the corner
singing that wonderful music.

25
00:01:19,731 --> 00:01:22,169
And we said,
"Well if they can do that,
we could do that."

26
00:01:25,259 --> 00:01:29,741
One lady said
that she had conceived
four children on that song.

27
00:01:29,785 --> 00:01:33,093
I don't know
if I should take credit
for it or apologize.

28
00:01:34,181 --> 00:01:39,229
We paved the way for Rihanna,
Beyoncé, Destiny's Child.

29
00:01:39,273 --> 00:01:44,104
When I first heard Boyz II Men,
New Edition, Backstreet Boys,
all that's doo-wop.

30
00:01:44,147 --> 00:01:47,150
They should acknowledge us
because if it wasn't for us,
they wouldn't be here.

31
00:01:47,194 --> 00:01:51,589
There would be nobody
out there doing anything
if they didn't reach back

32
00:01:51,633 --> 00:01:54,679
into what we put down
as that foundation.

33
00:01:54,723 --> 00:01:56,681
You know as long as there's
teenage girls out there,

34
00:01:56,725 --> 00:01:59,119
I think vocal harmony groups
will be around.

35
00:01:59,162 --> 00:02:01,425
It was good music then,
it's good now,

36
00:02:01,469 --> 00:02:04,559
it's gonna be good in the future
when the next generation
recreates it.

37
00:02:06,169 --> 00:02:09,346
That period of time,
some of the greatest music,

38
00:02:09,390 --> 00:02:11,696
greatest singers,
greatest groups in history.

39
00:02:11,740 --> 00:02:16,136
That was the beginning
of a revolution
that has never ended.

40
00:02:16,179 --> 00:02:21,315
[music playing]

41
00:02:24,709 --> 00:02:28,887
When I was in gospel,
we learned how to hum before
we learned to ever sing.

42
00:02:28,931 --> 00:02:31,716
You know, my mother
used to go-- [hums]

43
00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:33,196
I said, "Whoa!"

44
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,242
[music playing]

45
00:02:46,253 --> 00:02:49,604
The do-wop as you call them,
I call them street corner
harmony groups,

46
00:02:49,647 --> 00:02:51,736
came from gospel.

47
00:02:52,868 --> 00:02:59,483
If you did have some talent,
it was-- usually it
came out in the church.

48
00:02:59,527 --> 00:03:03,792
We imitated
a lot of the groups
that were by the church groups

49
00:03:03,835 --> 00:03:07,535
that's where it basically
comes from. Soul Stirrers--

50
00:03:08,362 --> 00:03:11,321
whatever they were,
the patterns they would use,

51
00:03:11,365 --> 00:03:14,933
we would use that
into rock and roll
and rhythm and blues.

52
00:03:19,938 --> 00:03:22,550
My mom was a gospel singer.

53
00:03:22,593 --> 00:03:25,466
and through that
is where I met Sam Cooke

54
00:03:25,509 --> 00:03:27,859
and he sang with a group
called the Soul Stirrers.

55
00:03:27,903 --> 00:03:30,862
So, I got to meet a lot
of wonderful gospel singers

56
00:03:30,906 --> 00:03:34,910
and my mom used to take me
around to all of the churches
and places she would sing

57
00:03:34,953 --> 00:03:38,696
in the tri-state area.
So, I would sit there
and listen to her

58
00:03:38,740 --> 00:03:42,265
and listen to them sing
and-- and I got very inspired.

59
00:03:42,309 --> 00:03:45,877
I would listen to the High Lows
which weren't really
a doo-wop group necessarily,

60
00:03:45,921 --> 00:03:50,665
but they were male vocal
group. the Swan Silvertones
and-- and groups like that

61
00:03:50,708 --> 00:03:55,278
that were gospel in nature.
So, you had call
and response happening

62
00:03:55,322 --> 00:03:58,325
or where you'd have
a lead vocalist and then
the other three vocalists

63
00:03:58,368 --> 00:04:01,545
echoing what he was singing.
That was doo-wop.

64
00:04:01,589 --> 00:04:04,809
It was kind of like standing
under the streetlight
on the street corner

65
00:04:04,853 --> 00:04:07,290
and just starting parts
and just-- just singing.

66
00:04:07,334 --> 00:04:09,031
So, it was always a part
of our heritage.

67
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,907
Pretty soon when I got--
so I'd say, "I'm tired
of going to church singing.

68
00:04:15,951 --> 00:04:17,822
I gotta make some money."

69
00:04:17,866 --> 00:04:23,306
The evolution of doo-wop
music or harmonizing of music

70
00:04:23,350 --> 00:04:27,919
came from these guys
like the Mills Brothers,
the Ink Spots.

71
00:04:27,963 --> 00:04:32,402
["If I didn't care"
by Ink Spots playing]

72
00:04:32,446 --> 00:04:34,491
[Anthony]
Let's take the Ink Spots.

73
00:04:34,535 --> 00:04:36,928
Now that's the early 40s,
during World War II.

74
00:04:36,972 --> 00:04:40,932
The Ink Spots were singing
pop music. "If I Wouldn't Care."

75
00:04:40,976 --> 00:04:45,720
[hums] And we would hear
that stuff and go,
"God, dad what was that?"

76
00:04:45,763 --> 00:04:50,377
They used to rap, the Ink Spots.
♪ Oh, honey child, baby♪

77
00:04:50,420 --> 00:04:53,336
In the middle-- eighth
of the song.

78
00:04:53,380 --> 00:04:56,992
♪ Honey child
More than words can say♪

79
00:04:58,385 --> 00:05:00,996
[Anthony] Spiritual music
gave birth to blues,

80
00:05:01,039 --> 00:05:03,781
blues gave birth
to rhythm and blues,

81
00:05:03,825 --> 00:05:06,654
rhythm and blues
gave birth to rock and roll,

82
00:05:06,697 --> 00:05:09,787
rock and roll
gave birth to hip hop.

83
00:05:09,831 --> 00:05:12,660
No doo-wop.
I don't know where that is.
It doesn't fit in the category.

84
00:05:14,662 --> 00:05:20,537
It was the Ink Spots,
it was the Ravens,
but there was the Orioles.

85
00:05:20,581 --> 00:05:23,584
["Does She Loves Me"
by The Orioles playing]

86
00:05:23,627 --> 00:05:26,761
[Sammy] When they first heard
"Does She Loves Me"

87
00:05:26,804 --> 00:05:30,504
that earthy sound
from the Orioles with Sonny Til

88
00:05:30,547 --> 00:05:33,768
and by the time
"Crying in the Chapel"
came out,

89
00:05:33,811 --> 00:05:36,553
you could see that
the music had changed

90
00:05:36,597 --> 00:05:39,034
and it gave it
a more sophisticated sound.

91
00:05:39,077 --> 00:05:41,079
Oh, that was beautiful.

92
00:05:45,083 --> 00:05:48,565
They hung out
on Pennsylvania Avenue
which many of us believe

93
00:05:48,609 --> 00:05:51,612
was the birthplace of rhythm
and blues vocal harmony

94
00:05:51,655 --> 00:05:55,529
and it was rhythm and blues
vocal harmony, which would later
develop into doo-wop.

95
00:05:55,572 --> 00:05:59,010
The Orioles were fantastic,
but they weren't doo-woppers.

96
00:05:59,837 --> 00:06:02,492
The groups from then,
don't like that term

97
00:06:02,536 --> 00:06:06,017
because that's not
what they were. They were
rhythm and blues singers.

98
00:06:06,061 --> 00:06:10,021
Groups started springing up
all over the country trying
to imitate the Orioles

99
00:06:10,065 --> 00:06:16,114
and I dare say, I don't know
of a group that formed
between 1948 and 1952

100
00:06:16,158 --> 00:06:18,856
that was not influenced
strongly by the Orioles.

101
00:06:18,900 --> 00:06:23,774
It was just soul.
It was the soul of Baltimore.

102
00:06:30,433 --> 00:06:34,524
The Orioles hooked up
with a manager
named Deborah Chessler.

103
00:06:34,568 --> 00:06:38,398
Deborah Chessler was
a twenty-five-year-old
songwriter from Baltimore.

104
00:06:38,441 --> 00:06:42,445
She was Jewish
and she happened to stumble
on the Orioles

105
00:06:42,489 --> 00:06:44,926
and decided she wanted
to manage them and use them

106
00:06:44,969 --> 00:06:47,537
as an outlet for her songs,
which she did.

107
00:06:50,105 --> 00:06:54,762
Deborah Chessler was
the first white woman
to manage a black group.

108
00:06:54,805 --> 00:07:01,464
She went to a pool in Baltimore
and there was a sign,
"No blacks, no Jews."

109
00:07:01,508 --> 00:07:04,728
She swam and she was coming out
and she saw the sign

110
00:07:04,772 --> 00:07:07,035
and she went up to the girl
at the thing and said,

111
00:07:07,078 --> 00:07:11,474
"I just want to tell you
something. Uh, I'm Jewish,

112
00:07:11,518 --> 00:07:13,563
and I just swam in your pool."

113
00:07:13,607 --> 00:07:16,131
She understood discrimination.

114
00:07:16,174 --> 00:07:19,439
She identified, I think,
with African Americans.

115
00:07:19,482 --> 00:07:22,790
She was happy that--
that her songs fit their styles.

116
00:07:31,146 --> 00:07:34,932
My wife, she was in love
with Sonny Til in the Orioles,
you know.

117
00:07:34,976 --> 00:07:38,458
I guess that's what made me
sing the way I sang.

118
00:07:38,501 --> 00:07:41,156
They called him "The Voice."
They called him Sonny--
Sonny Voice.

119
00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:43,941
His real name was--
was Earlington Tilghman.

120
00:07:43,985 --> 00:07:46,814
His voice was so smooth.

121
00:07:46,857 --> 00:07:50,861
Sonny would go get on stage,
when he started singing,
he had women falling out.

122
00:07:50,905 --> 00:07:52,994
[music playing]

123
00:07:57,868 --> 00:08:02,133
That song was recorded
by every major artist.

124
00:08:02,177 --> 00:08:06,486
It was a new song
not written by a major composer,

125
00:08:06,529 --> 00:08:10,620
but by an unknown girl
and it was recorded
by Ella Fitzgerald,

126
00:08:10,664 --> 00:08:15,495
Dinah Washington, Irma Thomas
and Sonny Til which had the hit.

127
00:08:20,761 --> 00:08:25,026
What does a thirteen-year-old
boy know about love?

128
00:08:25,679 --> 00:08:30,161
Well, Mr. Laine,
I've been falling in love
since I was only five.

129
00:08:31,162 --> 00:08:33,164
-Five?
-[audience laughing]

130
00:08:33,208 --> 00:08:35,166
But I've been a fool
about it since I was eleven.

131
00:08:35,210 --> 00:08:37,517
[audience laughing]

132
00:08:38,779 --> 00:08:40,824
[Mr. Laine] I think we've had enough of this little chitchat.

133
00:08:40,868 --> 00:08:42,870
-Are you ready
to rock and roll?
-[Frankie] That's right.

134
00:08:42,913 --> 00:08:45,786
I was watching television,
of course, black and white

135
00:08:45,829 --> 00:08:49,006
and I hear this ruckus.
I'm watching
the Frankie Laine Show.

136
00:08:49,050 --> 00:08:52,053
And I see these five guys
jump over this brick wall

137
00:08:52,096 --> 00:08:55,535
and they had
on these white sweaters
with tees on them

138
00:08:55,578 --> 00:08:58,233
and they start singing
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"

139
00:08:58,276 --> 00:09:02,106
Well, when I tell you this
turned my whole life around.

140
00:09:02,150 --> 00:09:06,197
["Why do fools fall in love"
by Frankie Lymon
and The Teenager playing]

141
00:09:08,635 --> 00:09:13,553
I believe that Frankie Lymon
and The Teenagers
were put together

142
00:09:13,596 --> 00:09:17,861
to become Jackie Robinson
of doo-wop.

143
00:09:17,905 --> 00:09:20,037
[music playing]

144
00:09:24,738 --> 00:09:27,262
There wasn't the internet then,
you didn't have home recorders.

145
00:09:27,305 --> 00:09:29,830
So. in order to be
in the record industry,

146
00:09:29,873 --> 00:09:32,267
if you have a group
and wanted to be a singer,

147
00:09:32,310 --> 00:09:35,662
you had to go find an agent,
or start knocking on doors

148
00:09:35,705 --> 00:09:38,099
and hopefully they would open their door and listen you sing.

149
00:09:39,274 --> 00:09:44,322
Richie Barrett moved
into the neighborhood.
We were so excited.

150
00:09:44,366 --> 00:09:47,238
He's a recording artist,
he's a star, he has a group,

151
00:09:47,282 --> 00:09:50,198
he's getting ready to perform
at the Apollo Theater.

152
00:09:50,241 --> 00:09:54,855
Richard Barrett became
a big star as a singer
singing with the Valentine's,

153
00:09:54,898 --> 00:09:58,336
but then he also became big
on the other end
of the microphone

154
00:09:58,380 --> 00:10:01,601
just managing groups,
producing records,
writing songs.

155
00:10:01,644 --> 00:10:05,866
Richard Barrett-- [puffs]
the king of all this stuff.

156
00:10:05,909 --> 00:10:10,305
[Charlie H.] Richard Barrett
was living in an apartment
in Washington Heights

157
00:10:10,348 --> 00:10:13,177
and he kept hearing
these kids singing
beneath his window.

158
00:10:13,221 --> 00:10:16,093
And they were trying
to get attention.
They knew he was a big star.

159
00:10:16,137 --> 00:10:19,053
He sees us singing
and he says, "You know what?

160
00:10:19,096 --> 00:10:22,230
I'm gonna take you guys downtown
and get an audition."

161
00:10:22,273 --> 00:10:26,103
And we were thrilled.
We had Richie Barrett
of the Valentines

162
00:10:26,147 --> 00:10:28,932
who had a song out called
"Lily Maebelle"

163
00:10:28,976 --> 00:10:33,197
who's going to take us downtown
and make us stars.

164
00:10:33,241 --> 00:10:36,200
[music playing]

165
00:10:41,815 --> 00:10:45,949
The first week in September,
Richard Barrett
of the Valentines

166
00:10:45,993 --> 00:10:49,953
takes us down
to George Goldner
and there we do a live audition.

167
00:10:49,997 --> 00:10:52,216
[Jerry] Let me tell you
about George Goldner.

168
00:10:52,260 --> 00:10:58,222
He was one of the unsung heroes
of doo-wop street corner,
trust me.

169
00:10:58,266 --> 00:11:02,662
So, we're auditioning
in front of George--
"You know, you guys sound great.

170
00:11:02,705 --> 00:11:07,710
You guys sound-- Richie,
Richie, do they-- do they do
any original music?"

171
00:11:07,754 --> 00:11:10,147
I said, "Well, there's a song
that we've been working on.

172
00:11:10,191 --> 00:11:15,892
It's called Why Do Fools
Fall in Love."
And on December 3rd 1955,

173
00:11:15,936 --> 00:11:20,810
we went into the studio
and we recorded "Why Do Fools
Fall in Love?"

174
00:11:20,854 --> 00:11:27,817
And we were about sixteen,
and Frankie was thirteen.
Thirteen-years-old.

175
00:11:27,861 --> 00:11:29,863
I don't know what I can say
about this next act.

176
00:11:29,906 --> 00:11:32,692
What can you say?
But sensational.

177
00:11:32,735 --> 00:11:36,826
All over the world,
Frankie Lymon,
a 13-year-old youngster

178
00:11:36,870 --> 00:11:41,178
with a great way
with the song and The Teenagers.

179
00:11:41,222 --> 00:11:44,791
That was the beginning
of a revolution
that has never ended.

180
00:11:44,834 --> 00:11:46,836
That was a big bang
we were looking for.

181
00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,012
There had never been
no teenage group before.

182
00:11:49,056 --> 00:11:52,102
I'm 16 years old. Frankie Lymon
is younger than me.

183
00:11:52,146 --> 00:11:55,715
[music playing]

184
00:12:03,113 --> 00:12:06,029
And the people that related
to The Teenagers
were not just black,

185
00:12:06,073 --> 00:12:07,465
they were white.

186
00:12:08,118 --> 00:12:10,860
[Ron] The lyrics were something
that we got,

187
00:12:10,904 --> 00:12:12,732
you know,
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love"

188
00:12:12,775 --> 00:12:14,864
because when you're
14-years-old, 15-years-old

189
00:12:14,908 --> 00:12:17,780
you're falling in love
constantly
and hoping for the best.

190
00:12:17,824 --> 00:12:19,434
[Anthony] And they would get
to the Brooklyn Paramount

191
00:12:20,391 --> 00:12:22,916
with Alan Freed,
and I lived down the street.

192
00:12:23,525 --> 00:12:26,397
And me and a couple of other
kids, we knew that place
like the back of our hand.

193
00:12:26,441 --> 00:12:29,749
We didn't let a little thing
about the theater
and not having any money--

194
00:12:29,792 --> 00:12:32,012
we'd sneak in the theatre.
You know what I'm saying?

195
00:12:32,055 --> 00:12:35,102
And I remember seeing him,
and he was singing
with The Teenagers

196
00:12:35,145 --> 00:12:38,758
and Herman Santiago
and Sherman Garnes
and all the guys.

197
00:12:38,801 --> 00:12:41,804
I said, "Oh, shoot!"
I just so-- was so overwhelmed

198
00:12:41,848 --> 00:12:44,764
not knowing that I was gonna
meet him someday.

199
00:12:44,807 --> 00:12:46,940
Frankie could--
he was a natural.

200
00:12:46,983 --> 00:12:50,508
I always felt that way
and he could sing too.

201
00:12:50,552 --> 00:12:52,946
You know, I'm talking
about a kid about that tall.

202
00:12:52,989 --> 00:12:55,165
[music playing]

203
00:13:01,215 --> 00:13:05,219
I tried to sing his song,
but I wasn't able to hit
the notes that he could hit.

204
00:13:05,262 --> 00:13:07,438
He was fabulous.
He was fabulous.

205
00:13:07,482 --> 00:13:10,833
He was a great singer
and he had
a great stage personality.

206
00:13:10,877 --> 00:13:12,487
He was a genius.

207
00:13:12,530 --> 00:13:15,403
Frankie Lymon, of course,
I mean that's--
he was the best.

208
00:13:15,446 --> 00:13:17,274
I know Joey Fatone,
that's his favorite too.

209
00:13:17,318 --> 00:13:18,885
Some star, he was a star,
he was a star.

210
00:13:18,928 --> 00:13:21,452
It was written
all over him, man. "I'm good."

211
00:13:21,496 --> 00:13:24,238
-He had his swag on early.
-He had swag.

212
00:13:24,281 --> 00:13:25,282
[laughing]

213
00:13:25,326 --> 00:13:27,284
[music playing]

214
00:13:31,332 --> 00:13:34,509
The first time we met
he said, "Oh, yeah.
You're that cat, man.

215
00:13:34,552 --> 00:13:37,904
We call you little Anthony,
man. You're that cat."
I said, "Yes, sir."

216
00:13:37,947 --> 00:13:40,515
Then he tells me,
"Hey, man you want to go
to this here, restaurant?"

217
00:13:41,342 --> 00:13:45,346
And-- and he took me
to Japanese restaurant
that specializes in soul food.

218
00:13:46,173 --> 00:13:50,133
Figure that one out, man.
So, Frankie took me there
and it became--

219
00:13:50,177 --> 00:13:52,309
we'd go there all the time.

220
00:13:52,353 --> 00:13:54,181
We figured together, man,
we had the power.

221
00:13:54,224 --> 00:13:55,617
I'm Little Anthony,
he's Frankie Lymon,

222
00:13:55,660 --> 00:13:58,446
literally women they
would just come from everywhere.

223
00:14:01,362 --> 00:14:03,581
For the next eighteen months,

224
00:14:03,625 --> 00:14:06,976
Frankie Lymon
and The Teenagers
were on top of the world.

225
00:14:07,020 --> 00:14:10,980
Can you imagine
in eighteen months,
they had six top 10 records

226
00:14:11,024 --> 00:14:14,505
and they even made a tour
of England where they played
the London Palladium.

227
00:14:14,549 --> 00:14:18,640
[Jimmy] And remember
we on the road with men.
They were like sailors.

228
00:14:19,554 --> 00:14:22,513
You know, these guys
in the clothes
and The Coasters

229
00:14:22,557 --> 00:14:25,342
and The Drifters,
they had women in every town.

230
00:14:25,386 --> 00:14:28,084
And we started copying them,
you know.

231
00:14:28,128 --> 00:14:30,957
And we got rebuked out
of the hotel
because Park West Hotel

232
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,351
wasn't gonna have it,
you know. [laughs]

233
00:14:34,395 --> 00:14:35,526
Crazy!

234
00:14:35,570 --> 00:14:38,355
During the tour,
Frankie Lymon was--

235
00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:42,185
was no longer being managed
by Richard Barrett.

236
00:14:42,229 --> 00:14:45,275
They picked up some new managers
and they said,

237
00:14:45,319 --> 00:14:49,366
"Why are we dealing with
five kids when we only need
to deal with one?

238
00:14:49,410 --> 00:14:52,152
We're gonna split Frankie
Lymon away from the group."

239
00:14:52,195 --> 00:14:56,939
They split the group up
and Frankie Lymon after that
never had another hit record.

240
00:14:56,983 --> 00:14:59,376
And The Teenagers on their own
with different leads

241
00:14:59,420 --> 00:15:01,509
never had another hit record
after that.

242
00:15:03,076 --> 00:15:08,255
I watched him in happy times
and I saw him when he
had become self-destructive

243
00:15:09,038 --> 00:15:12,259
and there was nothing we can do.
And-- and I mean, I remember,

244
00:15:13,260 --> 00:15:17,307
he was getting worse,
and worse, and worse.
He was taking heroin.

245
00:15:18,439 --> 00:15:22,138
And-- and then we started.
So did the-- you know,

246
00:15:22,182 --> 00:15:24,532
that's something I couldn't--
I didn't want to deal with.

247
00:15:24,575 --> 00:15:26,621
I saw my brother get caught up
in that thing and I said,

248
00:15:26,664 --> 00:15:29,276
"You know, I-- that's not--
that's not where I want to go."

249
00:15:29,319 --> 00:15:32,235
But I just-- I just wanted--
I didn't know how to help him.

250
00:15:32,279 --> 00:15:33,976
But he was still my friend.

251
00:15:34,020 --> 00:15:36,674
Eventually,
I got to meet Frankie Lymon.

252
00:15:36,718 --> 00:15:39,242
I was working at the Apollo
and it was sad

253
00:15:39,286 --> 00:15:43,507
that he would hang around
backstage,

254
00:15:43,551 --> 00:15:48,077
you know, and he was on drugs,
and he didn't look good at all.

255
00:15:48,991 --> 00:15:52,429
And he would, you know,
try to borrow some money,
or ask for money

256
00:15:52,473 --> 00:15:56,085
and stuff like that.
I mean, he was--
I looked up to him

257
00:15:56,129 --> 00:15:58,653
and when I'm-- here
I am appearing at the Apollo,

258
00:15:58,696 --> 00:16:01,264
and I see the guy
that I look up to

259
00:16:02,178 --> 00:16:05,660
in this bad state,
you know, so--

260
00:16:06,487 --> 00:16:09,185
[Anthony] I get a call
from my wife. She says,

261
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:11,535
"He's not with us anymore."

262
00:16:12,232 --> 00:16:13,276
I said, "What?"

263
00:16:14,147 --> 00:16:16,410
"He's not with us anymore,"
she said.

264
00:16:16,453 --> 00:16:20,066
I was told by street people
that he took almost pure heroin

265
00:16:20,675 --> 00:16:22,372
and he shot it up.

266
00:16:23,112 --> 00:16:25,593
He was in the bathroom
and he slumped over and died.

267
00:16:26,681 --> 00:16:28,988
It just-- it was ended.

268
00:16:29,771 --> 00:16:30,772
It was over.

269
00:16:37,518 --> 00:16:41,217
When Frankie Lymon
and The Teenagers
jumped over that wall,

270
00:16:41,261 --> 00:16:46,353
I think the next day
teenage groups
popped up from coast to coast.

271
00:16:46,396 --> 00:16:49,225
All of a sudden,
we realized that as a teenager,

272
00:16:49,269 --> 00:16:51,619
we can actually,
you know, maybe make a record.

273
00:16:51,662 --> 00:16:53,664
Frankie Lymon was
about the same age I was,

274
00:16:53,708 --> 00:16:55,579
so I said, "Well,
if he can do it, I can do it."

275
00:16:55,623 --> 00:16:59,714
They caused the epidemic.
There were the groups
in every schoolyard.

276
00:16:59,757 --> 00:17:02,456
They were all over
and no matter where you went

277
00:17:02,499 --> 00:17:05,154
in 1956, during the summer,

278
00:17:05,198 --> 00:17:08,114
no matter what neighborhood,
what project,

279
00:17:08,157 --> 00:17:10,507
you heard harmony
every place you went.

280
00:17:12,205 --> 00:17:14,555
[music playing]

281
00:17:22,302 --> 00:17:24,565
[Diz] We used to sing
on street corners.

282
00:17:24,608 --> 00:17:28,134
If you were a singer,
then you know
what I'm talking about.

283
00:17:28,177 --> 00:17:30,440
Most the time we was--
we'd get together and sing.

284
00:17:30,484 --> 00:17:33,356
Come on, I'll meet you
at the corner, and I see you
walking up,

285
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,229
they gotta me, all good stop
and start singing
on the corner together.

286
00:17:37,665 --> 00:17:40,102
[Charlie T.] You know,
a long time before I got

287
00:17:40,146 --> 00:17:42,713
with the Drifters
I was with The Crowns--
The Five Crowns,

288
00:17:42,757 --> 00:17:46,195
and we used to sing
on the street corner
of 8th Avenue.

289
00:17:46,239 --> 00:17:48,676
It used to be the Cadillacs
on one corner,

290
00:17:48,719 --> 00:17:53,202
it used to be The Five Crowns
on one corner, The Harptones on another corner.

291
00:17:53,246 --> 00:17:56,249
You know, you know
you light the fire
in the garbage can

292
00:17:56,292 --> 00:18:00,470
and you take a little nip
of something and then you
hit a little doo-wop song.

293
00:18:00,514 --> 00:18:02,820
[music playing]

294
00:18:11,133 --> 00:18:16,399
And this is where this whole
thing called doo-wop developed
in the inner city

295
00:18:16,443 --> 00:18:20,229
and that to me
is what doo-wop really is.
It's a homegrown music.

296
00:18:20,273 --> 00:18:22,797
There was
a lot of poverty, you know,
there was no one who was rich,

297
00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:24,494
everybody was struggling.

298
00:18:24,538 --> 00:18:26,409
Everybody was trying to get out

299
00:18:26,453 --> 00:18:29,586
and you'd rely
on whatever skill,

300
00:18:29,630 --> 00:18:32,546
talent, ability
you had to do that.

301
00:18:32,589 --> 00:18:36,550
That was a way
of releasing tension
and to form brotherhood.

302
00:18:36,593 --> 00:18:40,249
Brooklyn was not
a high-end community.

303
00:18:40,293 --> 00:18:43,774
There really wasn't any money
for-- for instruments.

304
00:18:43,818 --> 00:18:46,777
Nobody could afford to buy
instruments, so you had to--

305
00:18:46,821 --> 00:18:50,564
you wanted
to make some money, you had
to imitate the instruments.

306
00:18:50,607 --> 00:18:53,741
Well not only could we
not afford them,
we couldn't play them.

307
00:18:54,394 --> 00:18:56,396
We didn't know how to play them.

308
00:18:56,439 --> 00:19:00,530
Started sundown,
as soon as the streetlights
came on,

309
00:19:00,574 --> 00:19:04,143
uh, you would find
various groups taking positions.

310
00:19:04,186 --> 00:19:07,537
It seems
like there was a group
under every streetlight.

311
00:19:07,581 --> 00:19:10,453
["My true story"
by The Jive Five playing]

312
00:19:14,849 --> 00:19:18,809
It was
just street-corner singing,

313
00:19:18,853 --> 00:19:22,813
getting that harmony to ring,
usually standing
under the streetlight.

314
00:19:22,857 --> 00:19:26,774
It would be like a concert
and it was just an amazing,

315
00:19:26,817 --> 00:19:31,779
amazing evening until of course, about nine o'clock, everything
shut down about 9:00.

316
00:19:31,822 --> 00:19:36,175
We would have a lot of parents
saying, "Stop that noise
and get out of my back door."

317
00:19:36,218 --> 00:19:37,567
And that was the good days.

318
00:19:37,611 --> 00:19:41,223
[music playing]

319
00:19:41,267 --> 00:19:43,660
[Barbara] Well, the schoolyards
they would assemble.

320
00:19:43,704 --> 00:19:47,882
Various groups would show up,
and they'd find a spot.

321
00:19:47,925 --> 00:19:50,667
Yeah everybody's going in
like a prizefighter.
You're going in,

322
00:19:50,711 --> 00:19:53,801
one group is standing
in the corner and standing
in another corner,

323
00:19:53,844 --> 00:19:57,544
in another corner, you know. And
it's-- when it's your turn--
when it's your turn to sing,

324
00:19:57,587 --> 00:19:59,676
you go up
and you do the best song.

325
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,592
About what we gonna do?
We gonna burn them
and all that kind of stuff

326
00:20:02,636 --> 00:20:06,466
that's-- that was the term
back then. We gonna burn.
We gonna burn them tonight.

327
00:20:06,509 --> 00:20:09,251
-That's right. That's right.
-[laughing]

328
00:20:09,295 --> 00:20:13,255
And it was really trial
and error. We were imitating
all the other groups.

329
00:20:13,299 --> 00:20:15,475
So basically, we were doing
their songs,

330
00:20:15,518 --> 00:20:17,868
but then we were here,
"Well, wait a minute.

331
00:20:18,739 --> 00:20:22,351
If we just singing it
in the streets,
it didn't sound the same

332
00:20:22,395 --> 00:20:24,266
as it was-- as they sound
on the records."

333
00:20:24,310 --> 00:20:26,790
Well, somehow,
we stumbled up in the hallways

334
00:20:26,834 --> 00:20:29,228
of Brooklyn
and in Fort Greene projects

335
00:20:29,271 --> 00:20:32,318
and other projects
where other groups came from
and it had echo.

336
00:20:32,361 --> 00:20:35,843
There was natural echo. We said,
"Oh! That's what we're hearing

337
00:20:35,886 --> 00:20:37,932
on the record. We could do this
in the hallway."

338
00:20:37,975 --> 00:20:39,977
You must be in

339
00:20:41,327 --> 00:20:42,545
a stairwell

340
00:20:43,372 --> 00:20:46,332
or a bathroom for harmony.
I mean, it was like--

341
00:20:46,375 --> 00:20:48,943
it was amazing to scramble
around the fire,

342
00:20:48,986 --> 00:20:52,468
"Where are we gonna sing today?
Oh, shucks!
They're in the bathroom."

343
00:20:52,512 --> 00:20:54,122
[Anthony] Then we found out

344
00:20:54,165 --> 00:20:55,819
that when we're down
in the subway,
it was even better

345
00:20:56,690 --> 00:20:59,388
and that's how we learned.
We learned by trial and error.

346
00:20:59,432 --> 00:21:02,913
This is how we talked.
It wasn't you're the tenor,
you're the baritone,

347
00:21:02,957 --> 00:21:04,567
you're the second tenor--
no, nobody--

348
00:21:04,611 --> 00:21:06,656
it's like,
"You do the high part,

349
00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:08,484
man and you--
you do the low part."

350
00:21:10,312 --> 00:21:13,315
When you're singing those--
those sweet love songs like
that on--

351
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,926
on the street corners
where there were girls
always around.

352
00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:19,582
-All right.
-And that was-- that was it.

353
00:21:19,626 --> 00:21:22,498
-That's what you all gonna do?
-I would put my baseball glove
down, my bat down--

354
00:21:22,542 --> 00:21:24,979
-this is what I wanted to do.
-And everything, right?

355
00:21:25,022 --> 00:21:26,546
Yes, yes indeed.

356
00:21:26,589 --> 00:21:29,723
["In the still of the night"
by The Five Satins playing]

357
00:21:31,725 --> 00:21:36,425
But the main thing it was
all the girls used to come
to the best group

358
00:21:36,469 --> 00:21:40,603
and we were the best group.
Over The Harptones
and The Moonglows and all.

359
00:21:40,647 --> 00:21:44,390
We were the best group.
They used to come and crowd
and load up our corner,

360
00:21:44,433 --> 00:21:46,653
you know, and that was them--
that's the most marvelous--

361
00:21:46,696 --> 00:21:48,872
excuse me wife,
this is my younger days.

362
00:21:48,916 --> 00:21:50,613
We wanted attention,
you know,

363
00:21:50,657 --> 00:21:52,528
and that was the easiest way
to get attention.

364
00:21:52,572 --> 00:21:54,051
Well, it was
because of the girls.

365
00:21:55,357 --> 00:21:58,665
Hell, all the fellas
wanted the girls, so.

366
00:21:58,708 --> 00:22:01,407
That was the coolest
thing in the world
that you didn't need a band.

367
00:22:02,103 --> 00:22:05,672
You didn't need anything.
That you and your friends
could go on a street corner

368
00:22:05,715 --> 00:22:09,850
and-- and sing-- and--
and girls would like that.

369
00:22:10,546 --> 00:22:13,462
That's a big deal.
That's a really big deal.

370
00:22:13,506 --> 00:22:15,725
[music playing]

371
00:22:24,517 --> 00:22:27,041
So that was the beginning
that evolution. It went
from the street corner,

372
00:22:27,824 --> 00:22:31,393
to the subways,
in the hallways of Brooklyn.

373
00:22:31,437 --> 00:22:34,614
And you remember,
as we keep doing this,
we're getting better and better

374
00:22:34,657 --> 00:22:36,355
and better at our craft.

375
00:22:36,398 --> 00:22:38,835
It wasn't thought
that we would eventually

376
00:22:38,879 --> 00:22:41,490
go on to be professional.

377
00:22:41,534 --> 00:22:44,624
-It was just the fact
that we were enjoying ourselves.
-Yeah.

378
00:22:44,667 --> 00:22:46,756
As long as they
had a streetlight,

379
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,498
or a bunch of guys together
staying on the corner,

380
00:22:49,542 --> 00:22:54,895
on the stoop, it didn't matter.
For me, it was the inner-city
urban sound.

381
00:22:55,635 --> 00:22:59,508
For me, it was camaraderie,
it was achievement,

382
00:22:59,552 --> 00:23:02,816
it was a coming together
of a bunch of guys

383
00:23:03,556 --> 00:23:06,036
singing their hearts out,
making harmony together.

384
00:23:13,957 --> 00:23:15,829
[music playing]

385
00:23:22,662 --> 00:23:25,839
["Maybe"
by The Chantels playing]

386
00:23:28,668 --> 00:23:34,021
Before the 50s, no one
was writing songs for kids.

387
00:23:34,064 --> 00:23:35,631
They didn't have money,

388
00:23:37,416 --> 00:23:39,592
but in the 50s,
Eisenhower was President
and things were good,

389
00:23:39,635 --> 00:23:44,901
and the kids literally had a buck to spend on a record.

390
00:23:44,945 --> 00:23:49,166
In the late 50s, young people started writing songs for kids.

391
00:23:49,210 --> 00:23:52,082
It was kids
writing songs for kids now.

392
00:23:56,957 --> 00:23:59,873
[Ron] Growing up
in New York area was
luckiest thing in the world

393
00:23:59,916 --> 00:24:02,745
because you could take
a ferryboat to Manhattan

394
00:24:02,789 --> 00:24:05,052
from Staten Island
and go up to the Brill Building,

395
00:24:05,095 --> 00:24:08,447
which was the mecca
of all music at the time.

396
00:24:08,490 --> 00:24:11,667
The Brill Building.
Oh, man! How sweet!

397
00:24:11,711 --> 00:24:13,930
The building wasn't a concept,
there was a building

398
00:24:13,974 --> 00:24:17,151
and it was just--
it was no more than that.

399
00:24:17,194 --> 00:24:20,459
That's where they
were making a star,
right in the Brill Building.

400
00:24:20,502 --> 00:24:24,811
It really wasn't magical then,
it's magical now.

401
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,207
[Sammy] This is the building where all the record companies,

402
00:24:30,251 --> 00:24:34,516
Scepter Records
and Gone Records
and a host of others.

403
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,563
It was like fourteen,
fifteen floors
of music publishers,

404
00:24:37,606 --> 00:24:41,218
managers, record companies,
and even a recording studio.

405
00:24:41,262 --> 00:24:43,699
So, everything was linked
to this-- this one area.

406
00:24:43,743 --> 00:24:47,616
[Jeff] It was just a cool place
with brass front doors,

407
00:24:47,660 --> 00:24:50,489
and a long hall leading
to the elevators,

408
00:24:50,532 --> 00:24:53,970
black and white marble floors,
and a restaurant on either side

409
00:24:54,014 --> 00:24:58,235
you could access
from the street,
or from the interior hallway.

410
00:24:58,279 --> 00:25:00,803
The whole building
was filled with music.

411
00:25:00,847 --> 00:25:02,849
There were people
in the elevators singing.

412
00:25:02,892 --> 00:25:06,026
You know, they were
actually elevator operators
who would tell you--

413
00:25:06,679 --> 00:25:09,029
that's when they didn't have
automatic elevators,

414
00:25:09,072 --> 00:25:12,206
they would tell you
which publishing companies
are looking for people.

415
00:25:15,688 --> 00:25:18,212
We were rabid Heartbeat fans,

416
00:25:18,255 --> 00:25:20,823
so we followed the address
on that label.

417
00:25:20,867 --> 00:25:22,564
We started knocking
on the doors, on every door

418
00:25:22,608 --> 00:25:24,566
in that building
until somebody said okay.

419
00:25:24,610 --> 00:25:28,222
I once met Paul Simon
and he was just starting out
and he said to me,

420
00:25:29,005 --> 00:25:30,920
"You don't have to start
on the first floor,
second floor."

421
00:25:30,964 --> 00:25:33,793
He said, "Go to the top
and walk down each flight

422
00:25:33,836 --> 00:25:36,883
and stop
at the publisher's offices
and the manager's office

423
00:25:36,926 --> 00:25:39,189
because it's easier coming down
than going up."

424
00:25:39,233 --> 00:25:44,020
One of the places we
stopped at was a record label
called Whole Records

425
00:25:44,064 --> 00:25:46,849
and the woman and her husband
that owned the label said,

426
00:25:46,893 --> 00:25:50,026
"You don't have to go
no further than this.
We're very interested."

427
00:25:50,070 --> 00:25:52,028
They gave us a contract
to take home to our parents

428
00:25:52,072 --> 00:25:53,726
because we were all minors
at the time

429
00:25:54,248 --> 00:25:56,032
and that's what we did.

430
00:25:56,076 --> 00:25:58,121
We signed,
we were in the studio,

431
00:25:58,165 --> 00:25:59,558
and we recorded "Little Star."

432
00:26:00,254 --> 00:26:03,170
["Little Star"
by The Elegants playing]

433
00:26:07,827 --> 00:26:12,614
We were all seventeen-years-old
when we had our first hit
record "Son in Law."

434
00:26:13,093 --> 00:26:16,313
When I was sixteen-years-old,
I recorded my first hit record,

435
00:26:16,357 --> 00:26:19,969
a group called The Chips,
the record was called
"Rubber Biscuit."

436
00:26:20,013 --> 00:26:23,277
I think we started
when I was about
fourteen-fifteen years old.

437
00:26:23,930 --> 00:26:28,195
I was thirteen coming up,
thirteen, twelve, you know.

438
00:26:29,239 --> 00:26:32,068
I was nineteen-years-old
when we recorded,
"I only have eyes for you."

439
00:26:33,940 --> 00:26:37,683
When I wrote Little Star
and recorded it,
I was sixteen-years-old.

440
00:26:39,206 --> 00:26:42,252
I was coming out
of summer school
for the last time I thought

441
00:26:42,949 --> 00:26:47,083
and I saw Jimmy Moschello
who was still singing
with me today,

442
00:26:47,127 --> 00:26:50,783
one of the original members,
and I'm coming down the walkway,
and he's beeping the horn

443
00:26:50,826 --> 00:26:53,742
and he's yelling,
"It's number one.
It's reached number one."

444
00:26:53,786 --> 00:26:56,876
And we knocked out Perry Como
and I didn't want to tell
my grandmother that.

445
00:26:56,919 --> 00:27:00,749
She would kill me.
I took my books
and I saw a big garbage pail

446
00:27:00,793 --> 00:27:04,187
and I threw my books
in the garbage pail
and I jumped into his car

447
00:27:04,231 --> 00:27:07,756
and we took off
and I said, "That's it.
I'm-- I'm a singer now.

448
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,279
I don't--
I don't need a diploma."

449
00:27:10,716 --> 00:27:13,414
[music playing]

450
00:27:18,811 --> 00:27:23,772
It's all in the writing baby.
It's all in the writing. The
real stars are the songwriters.

451
00:27:23,816 --> 00:27:28,211
It really was an occupation
that we would get up and--
and go in and write.

452
00:27:28,864 --> 00:27:32,172
And we would get to work
every day. Some guys would get
there ten in the morning.

453
00:27:32,215 --> 00:27:36,742
We had four or five, six,
maybe eight piano rooms
and you'd close the door

454
00:27:36,785 --> 00:27:38,700
and then you'd start
to write your song.

455
00:27:38,744 --> 00:27:41,137
["Yakety Yak"
by The Coasters playing]

456
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,144
See, we were
with a couple of guys
named Leiber and Stoller.

457
00:27:48,188 --> 00:27:50,712
These are white Jewish guys
that went to church

458
00:27:50,756 --> 00:27:55,717
and they loved the black sound
in the churches.

459
00:27:55,761 --> 00:27:58,807
Leiber and Stoller
were the man.

460
00:27:58,851 --> 00:28:01,984
They were the ones,
Jerry and Mike.
They was the man.

461
00:28:02,028 --> 00:28:06,075
We were the first white act
they ever touched
other than Elvis

462
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:10,732
and they wrote for him
and produced
some of the stuff,

463
00:28:10,776 --> 00:28:14,388
but they produced
all of The Drifters
and The Coasters

464
00:28:14,431 --> 00:28:17,391
and all this great music
that had complicated
arrangements.

465
00:28:17,434 --> 00:28:19,959
They were too me--
they were the best.

466
00:28:20,002 --> 00:28:24,833
They could just out of clear
blue sky-- just give you
some words.

467
00:28:24,877 --> 00:28:28,358
They were the hippest guys
out there on the streets.

468
00:28:28,402 --> 00:28:31,318
Their lyrics
were always cool--

469
00:28:31,361 --> 00:28:32,711
-[Marty] Right on.
-Right on.

470
00:28:32,754 --> 00:28:36,149
Jerry said, "Billy,
you talk too much, man."

471
00:28:36,192 --> 00:28:38,760
And Billy said,
"No, I don't talk too much."
"Yes, you do it."

472
00:28:38,804 --> 00:28:44,374
Said, "Yeah you just yak, yak,
yak all the time."

473
00:28:44,418 --> 00:28:48,422
And when we came back
the next day, Jerry had put
some words to "Yakety Yak.

474
00:28:49,292 --> 00:28:52,992
They had a million hits
and they were
with the best people.

475
00:28:53,035 --> 00:28:57,387
Oh, Yakety Yak, Charlie
Brown, Along came Jones,

476
00:28:57,431 --> 00:29:01,261
Down in Mexico,
One kiss led to another,
Searchin',

477
00:29:01,304 --> 00:29:02,871
on and on.

478
00:29:04,220 --> 00:29:08,181
It was happening.
We were inventing.
I called it Kitty Hawk,

479
00:29:09,008 --> 00:29:11,793
you know, that's
where the Wright Brothers
threw their--

480
00:29:11,837 --> 00:29:15,405
pushed their first plane
off the hill and went,
"Hey, it flies," you know.

481
00:29:15,449 --> 00:29:16,929
And that's what we were doing.

482
00:29:16,972 --> 00:29:18,017
People have said,

483
00:29:19,235 --> 00:29:21,455
"You made history.
Did you know it?"

484
00:29:21,498 --> 00:29:24,240
We didn't know
we were making history.
We were making records.

485
00:29:30,943 --> 00:29:33,772
[music playing]

486
00:29:41,475 --> 00:29:45,348
See back then,
especially in Philadelphia
and New York City too,

487
00:29:46,393 --> 00:29:49,918
most radio stations
were playing
the popular music of the day;

488
00:29:50,484 --> 00:29:53,792
Rosemary Clooney,
The Four Lads, but all the--

489
00:29:53,835 --> 00:29:57,230
at the other end
of the dial, you had
the little black stations.

490
00:29:59,449 --> 00:30:02,496
[Jocko] You ready for the big
ride from outer space, huh?

491
00:30:02,539 --> 00:30:06,892
Passengers fasten
your seat belts.
Three, two, one, take it off.

492
00:30:06,935 --> 00:30:09,155
[music playing]

493
00:30:14,377 --> 00:30:18,338
I was listening to a disc
jockey from North New Jersey

494
00:30:18,381 --> 00:30:22,864
where you could hardly hear it
on the radio,
there was such static,

495
00:30:22,908 --> 00:30:25,911
but you could hear
the doo-wop sound
coming through.

496
00:30:25,954 --> 00:30:28,522
["Stay" by Maurice William
And The Zodiacs playing]

497
00:30:32,439 --> 00:30:34,571
I was fooling around
with the dial
and I hit black radio

498
00:30:34,615 --> 00:30:37,313
down the right end
of the dial and I found it
much more interesting.

499
00:30:37,357 --> 00:30:39,576
They played records
that I never heard,

500
00:30:39,620 --> 00:30:41,448
that never got over
to the white stations.

501
00:30:41,491 --> 00:30:42,971
It was much more interesting.

502
00:30:43,015 --> 00:30:45,147
There was a disk jockey
called Jocko

503
00:30:45,974 --> 00:30:49,978
who had a rap--
who had a persona.

504
00:30:50,022 --> 00:30:52,894
He will come out
the Apollo Theater
in a rocket ship

505
00:30:52,938 --> 00:30:57,290
and in a spaceman's suit
and he was the persona.

506
00:30:58,073 --> 00:31:01,511
[Jocko] --through Jocko and the
engineer the big rocket ship
sure thing.

507
00:31:01,555 --> 00:31:03,383
Greeting salutations.

508
00:31:03,992 --> 00:31:07,169
Jocko knew the ghetto,
the street corner,

509
00:31:07,213 --> 00:31:09,171
the music
in the black neighborhoods

510
00:31:09,215 --> 00:31:12,348
and was playing music
because he had an ear.

511
00:31:12,392 --> 00:31:16,352
[music playing]

512
00:31:16,396 --> 00:31:20,356
So, all the black cats
Lord Fauntleroy,

513
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:25,057
Sir John Bandy,
all the black cats
had a persona.

514
00:31:25,579 --> 00:31:28,321
So, what happened
when rock and roll happened,

515
00:31:28,364 --> 00:31:30,976
the white cats,
all had to get a handle.

516
00:31:31,019 --> 00:31:33,195
I became the Geator.

517
00:31:33,239 --> 00:31:35,241
Jocko, if he
would have been white,

518
00:31:35,284 --> 00:31:37,547
he would have been bigger
than Alan Freed.

519
00:31:37,591 --> 00:31:41,638
-[radio presenter]
The Moondog Show.
-Hi, everybody. Hi y'all.

520
00:31:41,682 --> 00:31:43,989
This is yours truly,
Alan Freed welcoming you

521
00:31:44,032 --> 00:31:45,947
to the Big Beat
once again on radio.

522
00:31:46,643 --> 00:31:49,211
Alan Freed, my main man.

523
00:31:49,255 --> 00:31:52,649
Alan Freed
was the king of the DJs.

524
00:31:52,693 --> 00:31:58,307
Anyone who was anyone
had to go
through my main man.

525
00:31:58,351 --> 00:32:02,181
[Fred] Alan Freed was
a disc jockey from Cleveland,

526
00:32:02,224 --> 00:32:06,489
who was one
of the first white deejays
to play black music.

527
00:32:06,533 --> 00:32:09,623
["That's what you're doing
to me" by The Dominoes playing]

528
00:32:11,625 --> 00:32:13,453
People didn't like that
too much really.

529
00:32:13,496 --> 00:32:15,411
He was not initially into this.

530
00:32:15,455 --> 00:32:20,068
He knew enough
to visit record stores
and see what kids were buying

531
00:32:20,112 --> 00:32:23,593
and when he saw
white and black kids
buying black music

532
00:32:23,637 --> 00:32:26,422
like this he said,
"Well, maybe I can start

533
00:32:26,466 --> 00:32:27,946
playing some of this
on the radio."

534
00:32:27,989 --> 00:32:31,775
He realized that this was
a new form of music.

535
00:32:35,562 --> 00:32:38,260
[Charlie H.]
He moved to New York
basically on the fame

536
00:32:38,304 --> 00:32:41,089
that he had developed
in-- in Cleveland

537
00:32:41,133 --> 00:32:44,223
and of course now,
he had an even bigger audience

538
00:32:44,266 --> 00:32:46,007
and he could push hard.

539
00:32:46,051 --> 00:32:50,185
But what he really did
was mix R&B music with--
with the white pop

540
00:32:50,229 --> 00:32:52,013
that was out there
and play it all.

541
00:32:52,057 --> 00:32:54,711
So, you would hear Elvis Presley
and then you'd hear
The Platters,

542
00:32:54,755 --> 00:32:57,410
then you would hear
The Moonglows, then you
would hear The Elegants.

543
00:32:57,453 --> 00:33:00,500
You would hear
different groups on your radio
and that opened it up.

544
00:33:00,543 --> 00:33:02,981
They just couldn't hardly
separate it.

545
00:33:03,024 --> 00:33:06,636
It was very difficult
to separate it after Alan Freed
started playing it.

546
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,597
They had hit the major markets,
you know, like Jocko was
on a limited station.

547
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,252
Tommy Smalls, Dr. Jive
was on a limited station.

548
00:33:13,295 --> 00:33:16,081
You couldn't get him, let's say,
in the five boroughs

549
00:33:16,124 --> 00:33:18,518
just like you could get
Alan Freed.

550
00:33:18,561 --> 00:33:22,696
[Diz] You ever heard of a Clyde
McPhatter? Alan Freed,
you know who Alan Freed was.

551
00:33:23,523 --> 00:33:27,527
They had a song
that said "That's
what you're doing to me."

552
00:33:27,570 --> 00:33:29,616
That they were playing
over the air

553
00:33:30,573 --> 00:33:33,446
and here's
where this expression came from.

554
00:33:34,186 --> 00:33:37,058
"I want to rock.
I want to roll.

555
00:33:37,102 --> 00:33:40,018
I want to feel it deep down
in my soul.

556
00:33:40,061 --> 00:33:43,064
Oh, can't you see.
That's what you're doing to me."

557
00:33:44,587 --> 00:33:46,633
[music playing]

558
00:33:52,508 --> 00:33:56,686
Alan Freed would play
that every day on the air

559
00:33:56,730 --> 00:33:59,254
and when Alan would come back
on the air

560
00:33:59,298 --> 00:34:02,649
and say, "Everybody,
it's time to rock n roll"

561
00:34:02,692 --> 00:34:04,085
because he got it
from the record.

562
00:34:05,434 --> 00:34:06,740
So, he was playing this music

563
00:34:08,220 --> 00:34:11,049
and at-- at an alarming rate
and it was growing so fast

564
00:34:11,092 --> 00:34:13,529
and so many people
were digging it, kids.

565
00:34:13,573 --> 00:34:15,792
It just grew like wildfire.

566
00:34:15,836 --> 00:34:20,362
All of a sudden black music
became the number one music
in the world.

567
00:34:20,406 --> 00:34:24,584
Once Alan Freed pulled
the covers off of that music

568
00:34:24,627 --> 00:34:30,198
and had the audacity
to make movies integrated
with this music

569
00:34:30,242 --> 00:34:33,114
that was shown
from coast to coast,

570
00:34:33,158 --> 00:34:36,204
I think that's
one of the reasons
why they got rid of him

571
00:34:36,248 --> 00:34:37,553
and really tried to hurt him.

572
00:34:38,598 --> 00:34:41,470
They tried to blackball him.

573
00:34:41,514 --> 00:34:44,691
They tried to threaten him
that he couldn't do this.

574
00:34:44,734 --> 00:34:47,259
He couldn't do that.
And he just went
against the odds.

575
00:34:47,302 --> 00:34:51,437
To me, he was the king
of rock and roll.
I'm sorry he's gone.

576
00:34:52,307 --> 00:34:55,441
[Jerry] This is the Geator,
the big boss with the big cat sauce, the man with the planet.

577
00:34:55,484 --> 00:34:59,662
Let's go back to the year 1959. Dion and the Belmonts,
ladies and gentlemen,

578
00:34:59,706 --> 00:35:04,624
out of the Bronx.
The name of the song is called
"I Wonder Why?" My man.

579
00:35:06,278 --> 00:35:09,107
["I wonder why" by Dion
and the Belmonts playing]

580
00:35:12,197 --> 00:35:14,547
The black groups really
were the R&B soul singers.

581
00:35:14,590 --> 00:35:17,376
They were
really the earthy singers,
but there were other groups

582
00:35:17,419 --> 00:35:21,162
and there were white groups.
They could not sing
the way we did.

583
00:35:21,206 --> 00:35:24,731
They couldn't get that soul.
So, they created
their own style.

584
00:35:30,867 --> 00:35:33,740
We often look at the late 50s

585
00:35:33,783 --> 00:35:37,265
as a time when a lot
of white doo-wop groups
started singing

586
00:35:37,309 --> 00:35:42,270
and, in the beginning,
of course,
they were singing black music.

587
00:35:42,314 --> 00:35:46,622
We were all kids
and they-- they heard
the same thing that we heard.

588
00:35:46,666 --> 00:35:49,538
Now, I would-- I wouldn't even
buy a record that was recorded

589
00:35:49,582 --> 00:35:52,367
by a white artist at that time.

590
00:35:52,411 --> 00:35:54,761
You know I was like, you know,
it was like going against

591
00:35:54,804 --> 00:35:57,198
everything that I--
that I believed in musically.

592
00:35:57,242 --> 00:36:00,332
My first exposure
to doo-wop music came
from my cellar

593
00:36:00,375 --> 00:36:04,249
because there was a local group,
The Elegants and they
would rehearse in my cellar.

594
00:36:04,292 --> 00:36:07,600
So, I would hear
these great harmonies
coming out of the cellar

595
00:36:07,643 --> 00:36:09,819
and my dad would say,
"But they're
never gonna make it.

596
00:36:09,863 --> 00:36:12,822
How are they gonna get
a record made?"
And about three months later,

597
00:36:12,866 --> 00:36:16,696
they had the number one record
in the country and they sold
a million records.

598
00:36:16,739 --> 00:36:21,222
It has been stated
that the first two groups
to create and open the door

599
00:36:21,266 --> 00:36:24,443
for this whole Italian-American
doo-wop movement

600
00:36:24,486 --> 00:36:27,489
was ourselves
The Elegants
and Dion and the Belmonts.

601
00:36:29,491 --> 00:36:31,841
[music playing]

602
00:36:36,368 --> 00:36:41,764
The Italian-American groups
were basing their singing
on their own culture.

603
00:36:41,808 --> 00:36:46,856
They grew up listening
to Frankie Laine and Tony
Bennett and Frank Sinatra.

604
00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:50,643
And there's a little bit
of that in their style
of singing.

605
00:36:50,686 --> 00:36:57,302
Some of it is spiritual,
some guys sang bluesy, but it
was all in a city feeling.

606
00:36:57,867 --> 00:37:01,349
It had no color
cause Dion and the Belmonts
was doo-wop group,

607
00:37:01,393 --> 00:37:03,873
Frankie Valli the Four Seasons
was a doo-wop group.

608
00:37:03,917 --> 00:37:06,702
White groups and black groups
do sound slightly different

609
00:37:06,746 --> 00:37:10,489
even when doing the same song
in similar style.

610
00:37:10,532 --> 00:37:14,232
This was pretty much brought
on by the fact
that in many cities

611
00:37:14,275 --> 00:37:15,972
the Italian-American
neighborhoods

612
00:37:16,016 --> 00:37:18,714
were right next
to the African-American
neighborhoods

613
00:37:18,758 --> 00:37:21,413
and there was
some interaction between groups.

614
00:37:21,935 --> 00:37:24,633
All the groups,
all the white groups
and the black groups

615
00:37:24,677 --> 00:37:26,331
there was no difference
after a while.

616
00:37:26,374 --> 00:37:28,768
["The angels listended in"
by The Crests playing]

617
00:37:32,641 --> 00:37:35,818
This music is
for whoever wants to do it.

618
00:37:35,862 --> 00:37:39,561
It's basically
a black form of music,

619
00:37:39,605 --> 00:37:44,566
but the fact
that we had two Puerto Ricans
in our group

620
00:37:44,610 --> 00:37:48,744
lets the world know
that Puerto Ricans
love the music as well.

621
00:37:48,788 --> 00:37:52,574
You know, I like to think
that music is the great uniter.

622
00:37:52,618 --> 00:37:56,361
It was especially noticeable
in doo-wop music,

623
00:37:56,404 --> 00:37:59,364
I think, because here
were cases
where all of a sudden

624
00:37:59,407 --> 00:38:03,324
you started having racially
integrated groups singing.

625
00:38:03,368 --> 00:38:07,415
There were several of them that were very big The Romancers out on the west coast,

626
00:38:07,459 --> 00:38:11,419
The Del Vikings were another.
Johnny Maestro in The Crests.

627
00:38:11,463 --> 00:38:14,770
I came from a place
called South Beach
in Staten Island New York.

628
00:38:14,814 --> 00:38:18,470
Johnny Maestro's family
lived not too far from us

629
00:38:18,513 --> 00:38:21,299
and he also wanted to doo-wop,
to sing with his own group

630
00:38:21,342 --> 00:38:23,388
at that time
when he had The Crests.

631
00:38:23,431 --> 00:38:25,607
Johnny Maestro and The Crests.
The first integrated group.

632
00:38:25,651 --> 00:38:28,480
Spanish, black, white.

633
00:38:28,523 --> 00:38:31,309
Johnny Maestro greatest voice
of them all.

634
00:38:31,352 --> 00:38:33,920
[music playing]

635
00:38:38,751 --> 00:38:44,322
It was black and white kids
singing together,
emulating that harmony.

636
00:38:49,936 --> 00:38:55,333
Music has no color.
This is about love.
It's for the love of the music.

637
00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:03,384
[music playing]

638
00:39:07,780 --> 00:39:10,348
Before I actually played
the Apollo,

639
00:39:10,391 --> 00:39:13,481
I often wondered
what they did
when the show was over,

640
00:39:13,525 --> 00:39:15,831
they went to another--
and-- and-- and I would hear
them talk about--

641
00:39:15,875 --> 00:39:19,400
"Well, we're going
on a big tour. We're gonna go
to the Howard Theatre.

642
00:39:19,444 --> 00:39:21,359
We're gonna play this
out there tomorrow." Oh, man,

643
00:39:21,402 --> 00:39:23,535
that's like running away
and going to the circus.

644
00:39:24,405 --> 00:39:26,146
["A thousand miles away"
by The Heartbeats playing]

645
00:39:29,584 --> 00:39:34,372
Touring and so forth,
shows this was
all new to us, to all of us.

646
00:39:34,415 --> 00:39:36,678
We went to almost every state
with Dick Clark.

647
00:39:36,722 --> 00:39:39,551
We went from Canada to Texas,
New York to California.

648
00:39:39,594 --> 00:39:45,557
We did ninety one-nighters
in ninety days and we did
three of them in one year.

649
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,864
Get on a bus, you get off
a bus. You do your show,
you get back on the bus.

650
00:39:48,908 --> 00:39:51,650
You go to the hotel,
you-- you didn't have time
to even hang out.

651
00:39:51,693 --> 00:39:53,434
It's time to go to sleep,
get up, get on the bus.

652
00:39:53,478 --> 00:39:55,871
Well the buses were fine.
Actually, there was
always somebody,

653
00:39:55,915 --> 00:39:58,439
a group of somebody's
playing cards in the back.

654
00:39:58,483 --> 00:40:00,615
There was a great sense
of camaraderie on it.

655
00:40:00,659 --> 00:40:04,576
We just had each other
and the jamming and the kidding
around and the joking.

656
00:40:04,619 --> 00:40:09,537
It was a big-- big family.
I was working with some of the biggest acts at the time.

657
00:40:09,581 --> 00:40:12,148
We didn't think of anyone
as being a legend,

658
00:40:12,192 --> 00:40:16,892
but here I am, you know,
thirty days and sixty days,
you know, eating and drinking,

659
00:40:16,936 --> 00:40:20,635
and laughing and joking
with Buddy Holly, and Dion,
and Frankie Avalon,

660
00:40:20,679 --> 00:40:23,725
and Bobby Darin, and The Coasters, The Drifters.

661
00:40:23,769 --> 00:40:26,119
We were all
just having a good time.

662
00:40:26,162 --> 00:40:29,078
I made lifelong friends
on those tours.

663
00:40:33,692 --> 00:40:36,869
There was a lot of fun.
It was all brand new to us.

664
00:40:37,739 --> 00:40:39,132
The South was different.

665
00:40:41,134 --> 00:40:44,572
[chuckles] The South was
a lot different.
It was-- it wasn't as much fun.

666
00:40:44,616 --> 00:40:46,748
[music playing]

667
00:40:55,583 --> 00:40:59,500
I'll never forget Birmingham,
Alabama. It was scary.

668
00:40:59,544 --> 00:41:01,502
It was a scary time
in my life.

669
00:41:01,546 --> 00:41:03,461
During 1959, we did

670
00:41:03,504 --> 00:41:06,507
a six-week tour
of one-nighters in the south

671
00:41:07,552 --> 00:41:12,034
and that was a mind-boggling

672
00:41:12,078 --> 00:41:15,124
and eye-opening situation
for all of us.

673
00:41:15,168 --> 00:41:20,652
We would see people outside
with sticks, guns,

674
00:41:20,695 --> 00:41:25,047
"better not get off
that bus boy," you know,
it was a heck of a time man.

675
00:41:25,091 --> 00:41:28,224
[Lois] You know, we knew
what we were reading on--
in the papers.

676
00:41:28,268 --> 00:41:31,489
We heard it on the news.
We saw things on TV

677
00:41:31,532 --> 00:41:35,014
about what was happening
in the south, but we
really didn't have a clue.

678
00:41:35,057 --> 00:41:41,673
To play the South was like,
it was hard for me as a
teenager, as a young teenager.

679
00:41:41,716 --> 00:41:44,980
I don't know
about the other girls
because they were eighteen

680
00:41:45,024 --> 00:41:47,809
and maybe they were
more mature than I was.

681
00:41:47,853 --> 00:41:52,858
I wasn't as mature
to understand racism
and I was angry.

682
00:41:52,901 --> 00:41:56,644
[sighs] Rough, man. Some of them
was rough, you know.

683
00:41:56,688 --> 00:41:59,125
We had to go to the back room.
When we would go
into the south,

684
00:41:59,168 --> 00:42:03,825
we had to go to the back room
to eat. We couldn't sit
down and rest around.

685
00:42:04,783 --> 00:42:07,263
Mmm-hm, they wouldn't--
they wouldn't serve you.

686
00:42:08,221 --> 00:42:09,831
They wouldn't serve you
back then.

687
00:42:10,658 --> 00:42:13,269
[music playing]

688
00:42:21,582 --> 00:42:24,106
We're kids. We go,
we sit at the counter

689
00:42:25,238 --> 00:42:28,676
and we go to order
and somebody said,
"You can't order sitting here."

690
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:30,678
"What do you mean
we can't order?"

691
00:42:30,722 --> 00:42:34,552
You know and then, you know,
we went and did
the, "We're from New York."

692
00:42:34,595 --> 00:42:38,033
And a guy, a black guy
came and tapped us,
and he said, "Come here."

693
00:42:38,077 --> 00:42:42,864
And he said,
"You're gonna get us killed.
You cannot order at a counter.

694
00:42:42,908 --> 00:42:45,867
You can only order over there
and you can't eat here."

695
00:42:45,911 --> 00:42:49,697
White artists,
they were allowed to sleep
in the Sheraton Hotels

696
00:42:49,741 --> 00:42:52,961
when we were not allowed
to sleep at Sheraton Hotels.

697
00:42:53,005 --> 00:42:55,703
We had to sleep
on some floors of hotels.

698
00:42:55,747 --> 00:42:58,880
We had to stay in these,
you know, backstreet motels

699
00:42:58,924 --> 00:43:02,231
that no kid should have been in
because of the things
that we heard.

700
00:43:02,275 --> 00:43:08,150
We couldn't see because we were
pretty much locked in our rooms
for our own protection.

701
00:43:08,194 --> 00:43:10,936
Cops would have to escort us in.
They'd be looking at us,
"Don't look,

702
00:43:10,979 --> 00:43:13,939
don't you look
at no white girl.
Don't look at a white girl."

703
00:43:14,853 --> 00:43:15,854
I mean, yep--

704
00:43:17,420 --> 00:43:19,248
you have to keep your eyes
like this, guns all around you,

705
00:43:19,292 --> 00:43:21,033
I mean, you know,
it's frightening.

706
00:43:21,947 --> 00:43:23,862
[music playing]

707
00:43:30,346 --> 00:43:34,742
[Charlie T.] We did a show
in Georgia with James Brown
and they say--

708
00:43:34,786 --> 00:43:39,094
the producers say,
"You're not allowed
to sing to black or white"

709
00:43:39,138 --> 00:43:43,621
and they put our microphones
to the wall. We had to sing
to the wall.

710
00:43:43,664 --> 00:43:47,102
First time I went
to venue where the orchestra's
to my back,

711
00:43:47,146 --> 00:43:48,321
I'm singing to the wall,

712
00:43:49,191 --> 00:43:52,151
there's white on this side,

713
00:43:53,021 --> 00:43:56,242
black on that side
and they all screaming
for the music.

714
00:43:56,285 --> 00:43:59,071
We're not looking
to either side,
we're looking to the wall.

715
00:43:59,114 --> 00:44:00,638
I mean, it was hard to--

716
00:44:01,726 --> 00:44:04,685
hard to believe
that I'm being hated
on one side

717
00:44:04,729 --> 00:44:08,994
and getting
so these kids are loving us.
It was strange.

718
00:44:09,037 --> 00:44:13,215
By me being thirteen and, you
know, a thirteen-year-old got
a little fire in her.

719
00:44:13,259 --> 00:44:17,306
When the white kids would come
and they would say to us,

720
00:44:17,350 --> 00:44:20,135
you know,
with the southern accent,
"Could I have your autograph?"

721
00:44:20,179 --> 00:44:21,659
And I would say no.

722
00:44:23,399 --> 00:44:26,141
Why do I have to give
my autograph?
You know that was my way

723
00:44:26,185 --> 00:44:31,190
of rebelling and that was
my way of being heard.

724
00:44:31,233 --> 00:44:33,801
We went down to Charleston,
South Carolina

725
00:44:33,845 --> 00:44:37,022
and the bus driver
was a white guy. His name
was Little Willie, you know.

726
00:44:37,065 --> 00:44:39,415
So, him and I went down
to [mumbles].

727
00:44:39,459 --> 00:44:42,288
A water faucet for the black
and water faucet for the white.

728
00:44:42,331 --> 00:44:46,858
You know, so Willie said,
"I'm gonna get me
a drink of water," you know.

729
00:44:46,901 --> 00:44:49,121
I said-- he said, "Come on,
go with me Charlie."

730
00:44:49,164 --> 00:44:51,689
So, I went with him.
He was up to this, you know,

731
00:44:51,732 --> 00:44:55,910
and so he went
to the white faucet.
He said, "Come here, Charlie."

732
00:44:55,954 --> 00:44:57,956
Said, "You drink out
that one, I'm gonna drink
out of this one."

733
00:44:57,999 --> 00:44:59,827
Like then we took a quick sip

734
00:44:59,871 --> 00:45:02,134
and went back. He said,
"How do you feel?"

735
00:45:02,177 --> 00:45:05,180
"I feel like I drunk water."
He said, "I do too."

736
00:45:05,224 --> 00:45:07,835
He said, "I do too."

737
00:45:07,879 --> 00:45:11,143
He said, "Now you can see
how the water tastes on the
white side.

738
00:45:11,186 --> 00:45:15,190
And I can see how the water
tastes on the black side."
I said, "Okay."

739
00:45:15,234 --> 00:45:18,237
In my mind as a kid,
I'm performing for you.

740
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:22,458
I'm doing everything I can
and I hear all this applause
and you like me.

741
00:45:22,502 --> 00:45:25,026
And I'm happy that you like me,
you know.

742
00:45:25,070 --> 00:45:29,378
I'm good enough to perform
when I'm on stage
and I'm good enough

743
00:45:29,422 --> 00:45:32,425
for them too like me
as a performer,

744
00:45:32,468 --> 00:45:35,167
but I'm not good enough
for them to like me
as a person.

745
00:45:35,210 --> 00:45:40,041
But then as I got older,
I realized that, uh,

746
00:45:40,085 --> 00:45:42,348
color doesn't matter, you know.

747
00:45:42,391 --> 00:45:45,307
And I know that I had to
develop from inside

748
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,398
and not outside. I had
to learn that it didn't matter.

749
00:45:51,792 --> 00:45:53,881
[music playing]

750
00:45:59,539 --> 00:46:04,065
Obscenity and vulgarity
of the rock and roll music

751
00:46:05,153 --> 00:46:09,244
is obviously a means
by which the white man

752
00:46:09,288 --> 00:46:11,986
and his children can be driven
to the level with a nigger.

753
00:46:12,030 --> 00:46:16,425
Rock and roll has got to go.
And go it does at KWK.

754
00:46:16,469 --> 00:46:19,994
This was a time
when there were movements

755
00:46:20,038 --> 00:46:23,824
within the country
to ban rock and roll
from radio and everywhere else

756
00:46:23,868 --> 00:46:27,219
because first of all they
considered it the devil's music

757
00:46:27,262 --> 00:46:30,918
and the people that did not
consider it the devil's music,

758
00:46:30,962 --> 00:46:33,094
considered this Negro music.

759
00:46:33,138 --> 00:46:39,013
Most of the great songs
were coming
from the R&B singers

760
00:46:39,057 --> 00:46:43,539
and all those songs were copied by at least four or five
or six white artists.

761
00:46:43,583 --> 00:46:47,065
As soon as the black artists
had a great hit,
they jumped right on it.

762
00:46:47,108 --> 00:46:50,982
And so you can see when The
Chords came out with "Sh-boom"

763
00:46:51,025 --> 00:46:54,420
which is very black sounding
rhythm and blues song,

764
00:46:54,463 --> 00:46:57,466
then The Crew Cuts out of Canada
started doing it

765
00:46:57,510 --> 00:47:01,470
as a white group
and they toned it way down
and made it more commercial.

766
00:47:01,514 --> 00:47:04,038
["Sh-boom"
by The Crew Cuts playing]

767
00:47:16,529 --> 00:47:19,837
["Sh-boom"
by The Chords playing]

768
00:47:28,541 --> 00:47:32,327
When I heard their version,
I was livid. I was so angry

769
00:47:32,371 --> 00:47:36,897
because first of all it
wasn't-- it didn't have
the same rhythm

770
00:47:36,941 --> 00:47:39,465
that you really wanted
to dance-- at least we didn't.

771
00:47:39,508 --> 00:47:42,903
And I just thought it was--
it was so awful

772
00:47:42,947 --> 00:47:47,125
that they gave this
such airplay and the guys--

773
00:47:47,168 --> 00:47:49,562
The Chords never got a chance.

774
00:47:51,956 --> 00:47:55,394
["Sh-boom"
by The Chords playing]

775
00:47:55,437 --> 00:48:00,051
Pat Boone was doing
Little Richard, which to me was,
you know, it was unheard of.

776
00:48:00,094 --> 00:48:03,315
Pat Boone covered Little
Richard's "Tutti Frutti,"

777
00:48:03,358 --> 00:48:06,492
you know, and tamed it down
some and then that was played

778
00:48:06,535 --> 00:48:09,625
on the white stations
that would not play black music.

779
00:48:09,669 --> 00:48:11,976
[Terry] Pat was covering
everybody's songs

780
00:48:12,019 --> 00:48:17,024
and he was really making this
and it was a disheartening thing

781
00:48:17,068 --> 00:48:21,202
to hear something
that was recorded by these guys

782
00:48:21,246 --> 00:48:24,902
and watch a white guy take over
and reap the rewards,

783
00:48:24,945 --> 00:48:28,906
and the financial
and the success. It was a drag.

784
00:48:30,081 --> 00:48:33,562
[Wally] They didn't put
black people on th cover
of their records.

785
00:48:33,606 --> 00:48:36,435
Fats Domino just sold
twenty-five million records

786
00:48:36,478 --> 00:48:38,132
and you don't put his picture
on the cover?

787
00:48:39,264 --> 00:48:41,179
At that particular time,
they didn't.

788
00:48:41,222 --> 00:48:44,922
"I Only Have Eyes for You"
was on our album
"Flamingo Serenade."

789
00:48:48,055 --> 00:48:50,318
["I only have eyes for you"
by The Flamingos playing]

790
00:48:55,628 --> 00:48:57,195
We wanted our picture on it.

791
00:48:58,979 --> 00:49:01,416
I'm sitting on a stool
with my guitar
Tommy Hunt's there.

792
00:49:01,460 --> 00:49:05,638
Nate's at the table
with the champagne,
and what a great picture,

793
00:49:06,639 --> 00:49:08,946
but George had to stop
doing that. He said,

794
00:49:08,989 --> 00:49:10,991
"We can't use-- we can't use
the photographs anymore."

795
00:49:12,123 --> 00:49:14,299
We said, "Why?" He said,
"Because down South they--

796
00:49:15,430 --> 00:49:17,389
down South is
not gonna play it."

797
00:49:17,432 --> 00:49:20,261
They're not gonna play it
because they see us black guys,
we can't do that.

798
00:49:20,305 --> 00:49:23,090
So Flamingo Favorites,

799
00:49:23,134 --> 00:49:26,006
they had a whole field
of green grass

800
00:49:26,050 --> 00:49:29,096
and then they had
all these pink flamingo birds.

801
00:49:29,140 --> 00:49:33,448
They could accept our music
and, you know, our singing,
but not--

802
00:49:33,492 --> 00:49:35,624
wrong color, man. Wrong color.

803
00:49:35,668 --> 00:49:37,670
[music playing]

804
00:49:45,330 --> 00:49:48,507
When rock and roll
and doo-wop started,

805
00:49:49,334 --> 00:49:55,035
there was no script.
There was no rhyme or reason.
There was no how-to book.

806
00:49:55,079 --> 00:50:01,389
In 1955-56, uhm, you know,
black artists,

807
00:50:01,433 --> 00:50:06,046
and especially, young;
their parents didn't know
anything about copyright.

808
00:50:06,090 --> 00:50:08,483
They didn't know
about music law.

809
00:50:08,527 --> 00:50:10,659
They didn't know
about royalties.

810
00:50:10,703 --> 00:50:14,489
Our parents believed everything
that our manager told them.

811
00:50:14,533 --> 00:50:17,144
We didn't know any better.
We were all young and dumb

812
00:50:17,188 --> 00:50:20,060
and because the record companies
knew that so they
took advantage of it.

813
00:50:20,713 --> 00:50:25,413
Our manager was George Goldner.
He said, "Hey, this is
for the board. Sign this."

814
00:50:25,457 --> 00:50:29,287
Okay, they signed,
but they didn't know that they
were signing away our rights.

815
00:50:29,330 --> 00:50:31,419
My lyrics have been taken.

816
00:50:31,463 --> 00:50:34,553
I've gotten--
not one royalty in my life

817
00:50:34,596 --> 00:50:37,686
and I wrote practically
everything
that we-- we recorded.

818
00:50:38,339 --> 00:50:42,517
This is one of the--
the parts of the music industry

819
00:50:42,561 --> 00:50:46,260
that people need to know about.
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers

820
00:50:46,304 --> 00:50:50,525
also represents the great
American Royalty Rip-off.

821
00:50:50,569 --> 00:50:53,572
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love"
is played in elevators.

822
00:50:53,615 --> 00:50:59,360
I heard it on American Idol.
Numerous people
have recorded it;

823
00:50:59,404 --> 00:51:02,450
Diana Ross, The Beach Boys.

824
00:51:03,669 --> 00:51:06,367
Frankie's wife is getting
royalties,

825
00:51:06,411 --> 00:51:10,241
but he didn't get no money
while he was alive and we don't.

826
00:51:11,111 --> 00:51:14,723
[Eddie] I'm working on it now,
I'm trying to get--
to get my royalties.

827
00:51:14,767 --> 00:51:17,770
They're selling my records,
they're still playing

828
00:51:17,813 --> 00:51:19,250
them and they're still out
there doing it.

829
00:51:19,293 --> 00:51:20,381
They ain't changed, you know.

830
00:51:20,425 --> 00:51:21,600
They're still doing it.

831
00:51:21,643 --> 00:51:23,210
Look at the body of work.
We sold seventy--

832
00:51:23,254 --> 00:51:24,820
seventy-some million records

833
00:51:24,864 --> 00:51:26,431
over the years.
We didn't even know it.

834
00:51:27,432 --> 00:51:29,564
Somebody got the money
and it sure wasn't me.

835
00:51:29,608 --> 00:51:31,566
[music playing]

836
00:51:35,614 --> 00:51:38,356
Every time I saw a girl group
on television
I always wondered,

837
00:51:38,399 --> 00:51:41,576
"Oh, I bet they're having
so much fun and look
at their clothes,

838
00:51:41,620 --> 00:51:44,231
and their singing,
and their vocals
and their harmonies."

839
00:51:53,197 --> 00:51:57,114
When I moved to New York City
from Philadelphia

840
00:51:57,157 --> 00:52:01,640
and I saw and heard
various groups,

841
00:52:01,683 --> 00:52:05,296
I mean, even more
so than in Philadelphia,
on the street corners

842
00:52:05,339 --> 00:52:08,125
and that tight harmony
just gave me chills.

843
00:52:08,168 --> 00:52:10,257
I knew that I wanted
to be a part of that.

844
00:52:10,301 --> 00:52:14,522
The guys on the block
used to stand
on the corners and sing.

845
00:52:14,566 --> 00:52:17,134
Then we said,
"Well, if they can do that,
we can do that."

846
00:52:17,177 --> 00:52:19,701
We used to get on, like I said,
on the porch and just sing

847
00:52:19,745 --> 00:52:22,356
with one another
in schools after school,

848
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:25,446
that's what you did for fun
in the summertime.
That was what we did.

849
00:52:25,490 --> 00:52:27,361
-We loved to sing.
-A-ha.

850
00:52:27,405 --> 00:52:30,495
I don't know how we became
professional.

851
00:52:31,278 --> 00:52:32,453
It just happened

852
00:52:33,193 --> 00:52:37,284
as my becoming
a Clickette just happened.

853
00:52:38,894 --> 00:52:40,896
["Lover's Prayer"
by The Clickettes playing]

854
00:52:45,205 --> 00:52:49,209
You know and we were classy.
We came from good families,
good parents,

855
00:52:49,253 --> 00:52:51,559
you know, we may have
not had money,

856
00:52:51,603 --> 00:52:54,475
but we had morals.
That's what The Crystals
were about.

857
00:52:54,519 --> 00:52:58,349
We knew how to dress,
we knew how not to be sleazy,

858
00:52:58,392 --> 00:53:02,570
we knew that when we'd go
on the road, we'd have
to protect ourselves.

859
00:53:02,614 --> 00:53:05,573
We just went out and did what
we had to do and then went back
to the dressing room

860
00:53:05,617 --> 00:53:07,488
and weren't allowed
to socialize.

861
00:53:07,532 --> 00:53:09,838
For a woman in the industry,

862
00:53:09,882 --> 00:53:13,277
especially once she decides
to get married and have kids,

863
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:17,281
she's juggling now.
You know, she-- she--
her attention is divided,

864
00:53:17,324 --> 00:53:20,240
she can't be very
as focused on her music,

865
00:53:20,284 --> 00:53:23,330
or you know, on the music side
of her life because she's torn.

866
00:53:23,374 --> 00:53:26,638
And I experienced this--
as a mom, you know, and a wife.

867
00:53:26,681 --> 00:53:30,598
[Fanita] You know, when they
called us and told us they
wanted us to go on tour,

868
00:53:30,642 --> 00:53:33,949
and to be gone
for maybe two months, oh.

869
00:53:33,993 --> 00:53:38,345
I was devastated.
I mean, I had one small boy.

870
00:53:38,389 --> 00:53:41,696
It was just the hardest thing
I've ever had to do.

871
00:53:41,740 --> 00:53:45,744
As young girls, it wasn't easy.
The pay was horrible.

872
00:53:45,787 --> 00:53:49,791
We still struggled,
no matter if the people
were dancing to it,

873
00:53:49,835 --> 00:53:54,361
enjoying our music,
we as artists,
we were struggling.

874
00:53:54,405 --> 00:53:58,713
Let's forget about the intro
for now, let's just come
right in. One, two, three.

875
00:53:58,757 --> 00:54:02,239
[music playing]

876
00:54:02,282 --> 00:54:07,548
[La La] When we did work
with Phil, we knew
that we were gonna have a hit.

877
00:54:07,592 --> 00:54:10,769
With all the music
that was around us
in the studio,

878
00:54:11,857 --> 00:54:15,904
you knew, that there was
something special

879
00:54:15,948 --> 00:54:17,558
that's gonna come out
of this studio.

880
00:54:17,602 --> 00:54:19,604
[Fanita] He was a genius.

881
00:54:19,647 --> 00:54:21,954
He was different.
He was a different producer.

882
00:54:21,997 --> 00:54:24,043
He knew exactly what he wanted

883
00:54:24,739 --> 00:54:28,003
and we did exactly,
you know, what he told us to do.

884
00:54:28,047 --> 00:54:32,573
He would go into the studio
and create a wall of sound.

885
00:54:32,617 --> 00:54:35,010
["Then he kissed me"
by The Crystals playing]

886
00:54:36,577 --> 00:54:39,711
And then when he heard
"Then He Kissed Me,"
it was like--

887
00:54:39,754 --> 00:54:43,323
they thought it was like
as if it was an opera. I know--

888
00:54:43,367 --> 00:54:45,804
all they're saying
about "Then He Kissed Me"
is like, "Huh?"

889
00:54:46,892 --> 00:54:48,502
I'm just putting down the track.

890
00:54:49,373 --> 00:54:51,462
I didn't even have a boyfriend
at the time

891
00:54:51,505 --> 00:54:54,029
to even know
what the lyrics meant.

892
00:54:54,639 --> 00:54:58,295
That's what Phil
picked up on, innocence.

893
00:54:58,338 --> 00:55:02,342
And when you're innocent
and pure, and you're
putting down the track

894
00:55:03,430 --> 00:55:06,955
that's what came in.
I think, if I had been dating,

895
00:55:06,999 --> 00:55:09,915
even though I was fifteen,
maybe I was like dating
a little bit,

896
00:55:09,958 --> 00:55:12,047
I may have had
a little attitude.

897
00:55:12,091 --> 00:55:15,355
[Fanita] Well, the experience
that we got from working
with Phil Spector

898
00:55:15,399 --> 00:55:20,447
was endurance
because we had to have
patience with him.

899
00:55:20,491 --> 00:55:24,016
And he'd work you to death.
I mean, I remember going
to the studio

900
00:55:24,059 --> 00:55:28,716
and working with Phil,
Sonny Bono picking me up
at the Knickerbocker Hotel,

901
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,676
would share,
and he would pick me up
at 12 o'clock.

902
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:34,548
And I wouldn't leave
the studio until five o'clock
in the morning.

903
00:55:34,592 --> 00:55:38,117
He would call us sometimes
at four o'clock in the morning,

904
00:55:39,118 --> 00:55:40,859
to come and do the background.

905
00:55:40,902 --> 00:55:44,036
And my husband wasn't
very happy about that
at the time,

906
00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:47,344
but we got up
and, you know, we-- we went
and did what we had to do.

907
00:55:47,387 --> 00:55:52,000
His sound was so big that
they call it the Wall of Sound.

908
00:55:52,044 --> 00:55:55,526
He taught me
how to produce records.
How to produce guitars,

909
00:55:55,569 --> 00:55:57,702
and pianos,
combine them together,

910
00:55:57,745 --> 00:56:00,052
drums and bass.
I learned a lot from him.

911
00:56:00,095 --> 00:56:02,054
[Jerry] Phil was a genius,

912
00:56:02,924 --> 00:56:06,537
but as all geniuses sometimes,
you get a little nuts.

913
00:56:08,539 --> 00:56:10,715
[Fanita] You know, when we were
at Fremont High School

914
00:56:11,629 --> 00:56:14,675
walking down the halls,
singing a cappella,

915
00:56:14,719 --> 00:56:16,503
I had no idea

916
00:56:17,417 --> 00:56:20,028
that I would have a career
like this,

917
00:56:20,072 --> 00:56:22,117
being able to see the world,

918
00:56:22,161 --> 00:56:23,945
just had no idea this--
you know,

919
00:56:23,989 --> 00:56:25,817
that it would happen
to a little girl like me.

920
00:56:27,949 --> 00:56:30,038
[Lois] What I'm most proud
of for The Chantels is
that through all of--

921
00:56:30,691 --> 00:56:34,434
what we went through,
we maintained our integrity,

922
00:56:34,478 --> 00:56:37,916
our sense of who we were,
and we never lost that.

923
00:56:37,959 --> 00:56:39,918
[music playing]

924
00:56:44,009 --> 00:56:48,056
The white folk did not listen
any longer and silenced.

925
00:56:48,100 --> 00:56:53,584
They were bold about the fact
that they liked doo-wop,
they liked black music.

926
00:56:54,933 --> 00:56:57,414
["Tears on my pillow"
by Little Anthony
& The Imperials playing]

927
00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:03,507
With the kids,
there was no problem.

928
00:57:03,550 --> 00:57:06,684
It was a grown-ups--
they were the ones
that didn't like it,

929
00:57:06,727 --> 00:57:09,469
but the kids,
they were getting into it.

930
00:57:09,513 --> 00:57:12,907
-That music was restricted
in your white families.
-Yeah.

931
00:57:12,951 --> 00:57:14,953
-It was called jungle music--
-Yeah.

932
00:57:14,996 --> 00:57:19,523
Or jigaboo music, whatever,
but see, the white kids
loved the music.

933
00:57:19,566 --> 00:57:21,742
So, I mean, it was coming.

934
00:57:21,786 --> 00:57:24,919
All of a sudden, these black
artists are breaking out
everywhere and crossing over,

935
00:57:24,963 --> 00:57:27,835
but we crossed over
in such a remarkable way,

936
00:57:28,662 --> 00:57:29,794
we bridged it.

937
00:57:30,621 --> 00:57:32,753
[music playing]

938
00:57:36,888 --> 00:57:41,066
I went to Dallas
and right down the center they--
they had a rope

939
00:57:41,980 --> 00:57:44,896
right down the center
of the place and they had
the black on this side,

940
00:57:44,939 --> 00:57:46,506
and the white on this side.

941
00:57:47,028 --> 00:57:48,987
And as we were singing,

942
00:57:49,030 --> 00:57:52,556
these on this side was shaking hand with this hand they were dancing like--

943
00:57:52,599 --> 00:57:56,124
like, you know, like you have
to dance with a girl
and you grab my hand.

944
00:57:56,168 --> 00:57:59,127
The white and the black were doing this across the rope.

945
00:57:59,171 --> 00:58:01,478
And then after that we stopped.

946
00:58:02,043 --> 00:58:05,830
We stopped the band
and stopped everything
and asked the promoter there--

947
00:58:05,873 --> 00:58:08,615
asked can we take
the rope aloof.

948
00:58:08,659 --> 00:58:11,488
We said, "Look how those kids
are dancing. Look how they're
doing together."

949
00:58:11,531 --> 00:58:15,056
And when he took the rope aloof from the front--
at the front of it,

950
00:58:15,100 --> 00:58:17,755
they went together, man,
they started dancing
with each other

951
00:58:17,798 --> 00:58:19,800
and it just flipped.

952
00:58:19,844 --> 00:58:24,196
So, from then on,
we had mixed crowds
and we loved it.

953
00:58:29,854 --> 00:58:32,770
Things were turning around.
Things were changing.

954
00:58:32,813 --> 00:58:36,774
That was the very beginning
of this integration thing.

955
00:58:36,817 --> 00:58:38,950
As things progressed,

956
00:58:38,993 --> 00:58:43,911
it was not uncommon
for audiences in some
of the big concerts

957
00:58:43,955 --> 00:58:45,304
to be mixed, black and white.

958
00:58:47,175 --> 00:58:51,136
And it was in a sense of,
people who then would grow up
into the 60s

959
00:58:51,179 --> 00:58:55,053
that realized
that this was just one aspect
of black culture.

960
00:58:56,576 --> 00:59:00,885
This was creating
a sea change in America.

961
00:59:00,928 --> 00:59:05,019
Our music kind of like melted
the races together.

962
00:59:05,063 --> 00:59:09,197
If there's one legacy
that doo-wop music has is

963
00:59:09,241 --> 00:59:13,158
that it did help usher
in an era of civil rights.

964
00:59:13,201 --> 00:59:17,597
Music has always had
a way of being
the great common denominator

965
00:59:17,641 --> 00:59:19,947
that brought people together.

966
00:59:19,991 --> 00:59:24,691
This music moved
the country to a place

967
00:59:24,735 --> 00:59:28,260
where in the 60s
the civil rights movement
was ready to happen.

968
00:59:32,917 --> 00:59:36,747
Doo-wop music really peaked
in the late 1950s,

969
00:59:36,790 --> 00:59:40,707
uh, and of course,
you could see even then it
was starting to change.

970
00:59:40,751 --> 00:59:45,190
When you got into the 1960s
there were different styles
of music coming through.

971
00:59:45,233 --> 00:59:47,105
[music playing]

972
00:59:55,243 --> 01:00:00,597
As you moved into the 1960s,
things got a little bit
slicker in the music.

973
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:04,122
Doo-wop music had at this point
branched off
into a number of styles.

974
01:00:04,165 --> 01:00:06,646
The white groups
that are out there singing

975
01:00:06,690 --> 01:00:09,823
with sort of an Italian-American influence to them

976
01:00:09,867 --> 01:00:12,609
were the groups
that would evolve
into the white groups

977
01:00:12,652 --> 01:00:15,046
of the 1960s
like the Beach Boys.

978
01:00:16,874 --> 01:00:19,311
["Surfin'"
by The Beach Boys playing]

979
01:00:22,009 --> 01:00:25,012
Doo-wop kind
of became rock and roll.

980
01:00:25,056 --> 01:00:28,668
Those kinds
of harmonies were to lay
the foundation for us

981
01:00:28,712 --> 01:00:33,238
to create, you know,
music about more contemporary
things, like surfing.

982
01:00:34,021 --> 01:00:38,635
Like, "Surfing is the only life,
the only way for me.
Surf with me.

983
01:00:38,678 --> 01:00:41,376
Bop, bop doop-de-doop-de-doo.
Bop, bop."

984
01:00:44,771 --> 01:00:49,123
So, you had a little more
of an evolved doo-wop sound

985
01:00:49,167 --> 01:00:52,736
as the origins of the Beach Boys
incarnation.

986
01:00:55,173 --> 01:00:57,828
Well, the four freshmen taught
me a harmony,

987
01:00:57,871 --> 01:01:01,309
and-- and falsetto.
Well, it was four-part harmony.

988
01:01:01,353 --> 01:01:03,747
It spoke to me
in a very spiritual way.

989
01:01:05,879 --> 01:01:08,142
Brian's voice I thought was
beautiful, I mean,

990
01:01:08,186 --> 01:01:11,145
he honestly captured
that Frankie Lymon quality
to me.

991
01:01:11,189 --> 01:01:15,149
Real, real pure
even and Brian had that.

992
01:01:15,193 --> 01:01:20,024
Boy did we get lucky
with the voices
and composition and roots

993
01:01:20,851 --> 01:01:24,158
to work from, you know,
the basic roots. Very fortunate.

994
01:01:26,726 --> 01:01:28,554
[Brian]
When I heard "Surfin'"--

995
01:01:28,597 --> 01:01:30,338
my family and I were listening
to the radio
and they played "Surfin'."

996
01:01:32,384 --> 01:01:34,778
And we couldn't believe it.
We said, "Oh, my God!
Surfin's on the radio."

997
01:01:34,821 --> 01:01:37,432
I was proud as hell, you know.
Proud as hell.

998
01:01:37,476 --> 01:01:39,696
[music playing]

999
01:01:49,401 --> 01:01:53,013
Now, Motown started out
in the late 1950s

1000
01:01:53,057 --> 01:01:56,843
and Berry Gordy was writing
songs for Jackie Wilson.

1001
01:01:56,887 --> 01:01:59,324
Jackie Wilson, of course,
had a strong doo-wop background.

1002
01:01:59,367 --> 01:02:02,893
He started with The Dominoes
and then went out on his own.

1003
01:02:02,936 --> 01:02:06,200
Berry Gordy, in my opinion, did

1004
01:02:06,244 --> 01:02:09,029
probably
as much as Martin Luther King

1005
01:02:09,073 --> 01:02:12,076
did to bring
the races together.
He did it through music.

1006
01:02:13,077 --> 01:02:15,079
["It's the same old song"
by The Four Tops playing]

1007
01:02:16,994 --> 01:02:19,953
[Charlie H.] Berry Gordy was
looking for talent
and he stumbled upon

1008
01:02:19,997 --> 01:02:22,869
none other than Smokey Robinson
and The Miracles.

1009
01:02:22,913 --> 01:02:24,784
Smokey Robinson
and The Miracles,

1010
01:02:24,828 --> 01:02:28,266
you listen
to his early recordings
then you can hear the influence

1011
01:02:28,309 --> 01:02:31,008
of the other Detroit
doo-wop group that was so big,

1012
01:02:31,051 --> 01:02:32,966
Nolan Strong and the Diablos.

1013
01:02:33,010 --> 01:02:34,446
Berry Gordy came along.

1014
01:02:35,273 --> 01:02:38,232
He said, "I'm gonna make music
for young America.

1015
01:02:38,276 --> 01:02:42,846
I'm gonna have song writers
to write hits
for just this particular act."

1016
01:02:42,889 --> 01:02:45,022
Berry had a stable of young
writers,

1017
01:02:45,544 --> 01:02:47,415
you know, kids out of Detroit.

1018
01:02:47,459 --> 01:02:50,418
Holland-Dozier-Holland,
everybody's writing,

1019
01:02:50,462 --> 01:02:52,159
Smokey's writing,
they're all in house,

1020
01:02:53,204 --> 01:02:55,772
and they're coming out
with this whole new sound.

1021
01:02:55,815 --> 01:02:58,949
The sound of doo-wop and Motown

1022
01:02:58,992 --> 01:03:02,430
were distant cousins
in a sense.

1023
01:03:03,170 --> 01:03:08,523
The doo-wop era in the 50s
were basically just a way
to get started.

1024
01:03:08,567 --> 01:03:13,485
Get your opinion, your feeling,
into that genre of R&B music.

1025
01:03:13,528 --> 01:03:16,053
Motown is
a little more sophisticated.

1026
01:03:16,096 --> 01:03:21,275
They have more lyrics,
more melodies,
more chord progressions.

1027
01:03:21,319 --> 01:03:23,234
[music playing]

1028
01:03:29,066 --> 01:03:32,460
The stuff is still around
and the people are still--

1029
01:03:32,504 --> 01:03:35,289
when they throw parties,
the first thing
they want to hear

1030
01:03:35,333 --> 01:03:38,118
is a bunch of Motown
songs when they're having
a party, you know.

1031
01:03:38,162 --> 01:03:41,426
You're not partying,
unless you got Motown
on Jukebox.

1032
01:03:41,469 --> 01:03:44,559
Oh, my gosh! You can listen
to that stuff now
and it stills sounds fresh.

1033
01:03:47,606 --> 01:03:51,958
I think doo-wop had its time.
I mean, it was sort--

1034
01:03:52,002 --> 01:03:54,134
it was here
and then it was gone, but--

1035
01:03:54,178 --> 01:03:56,963
in one way
but in another way,

1036
01:03:57,007 --> 01:03:59,444
it was always there
in like an undercurrent.

1037
01:03:59,487 --> 01:04:01,925
The instrumentation
sort of changed it

1038
01:04:01,968 --> 01:04:04,884
and it gave it
a more sophisticated sound,

1039
01:04:04,928 --> 01:04:08,148
but the root of all of it
is still doo-wop.

1040
01:04:13,197 --> 01:04:15,982
[TV presenter]
There are rumors around
that this is Britain's revenge

1041
01:04:16,026 --> 01:04:19,290
for the Boston Tea Party.
Three thousand
screaming teenagers

1042
01:04:19,333 --> 01:04:21,858
are at New York's
Kennedy Airport to greet,

1043
01:04:21,901 --> 01:04:23,598
you guessed it,
The Beatles.

1044
01:04:23,642 --> 01:04:25,470
Beatles!

1045
01:04:25,513 --> 01:04:28,603
The musical Shack
that was heard around the world.

1046
01:04:28,647 --> 01:04:33,870
[Tony] Well, this jet pulls in,
707 and one by one,

1047
01:04:33,913 --> 01:04:36,524
a mop top came down
on the steps.

1048
01:04:36,568 --> 01:04:41,355
The Beatles, the phenomena,
it's just nothing ever happened
like it before.

1049
01:04:41,399 --> 01:04:42,879
They just took over.

1050
01:04:42,922 --> 01:04:46,012
They had the song.
They had the writers, you know.

1051
01:04:46,056 --> 01:04:48,188
They had the writers
singing the song.

1052
01:04:48,232 --> 01:04:52,889
They taught the world.
I respect them highly,
always have.

1053
01:04:52,932 --> 01:04:55,021
[TV presenter]
Their first meeting
with the American press

1054
01:04:55,065 --> 01:04:57,545
brings forth an interview
laced with quips and humor.

1055
01:04:57,589 --> 01:05:02,594
You'd laugh too with a gross of 17 million dollars last year.

1056
01:05:02,637 --> 01:05:06,380
The only thing is
when they came here, they

1057
01:05:06,424 --> 01:05:11,037
killed our music.
Yeah, our music stopped
dead in its tracks.

1058
01:05:11,081 --> 01:05:14,084
We had that-- that feeling
against the Beatles
and English music

1059
01:05:14,127 --> 01:05:15,563
and what--
how could you do this to us?

1060
01:05:15,607 --> 01:05:18,044
Just as music was
at it's highlight,

1061
01:05:18,088 --> 01:05:21,221
-the black music, you know,
they came in with a rush.
-Yeah.

1062
01:05:21,265 --> 01:05:23,049
And that really knocked us
to our knees.

1063
01:05:23,093 --> 01:05:26,096
[Jon] The British Invasion
had put an effective end

1064
01:05:26,139 --> 01:05:29,926
to the record sales of the 50s,
early 60s style.

1065
01:05:29,969 --> 01:05:33,016
And they came, even doing
some of our music.

1066
01:05:33,059 --> 01:05:37,281
The world had changed
so rapidly, uhm, in the 60s.

1067
01:05:37,324 --> 01:05:40,240
The most turbulent decade
of any of our lives,

1068
01:05:40,284 --> 01:05:43,983
who have lived that long, uhm. Turbulent in every possible way,

1069
01:05:44,027 --> 01:05:47,465
you know. Turbulent politically,
turbulent geopolitically,

1070
01:05:47,508 --> 01:05:50,468
you know, war in Vietnam
was going on.

1071
01:05:50,511 --> 01:05:55,386
The innocence by the end
of the 60s was kaput,
if-- there was no innocence.

1072
01:05:55,429 --> 01:05:56,604
End of an era.

1073
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:04,264
Doo-wop groups
have never gone away.
They just-- they evolved.

1074
01:06:04,308 --> 01:06:08,225
It comes back, you know.
It's always you know
reinventing itself

1075
01:06:08,268 --> 01:06:10,096
and that's what we're seeing
always, you know.

1076
01:06:10,140 --> 01:06:11,968
That-- those groups
will never go away.

1077
01:06:12,011 --> 01:06:13,578
They just reinvent themselves.

1078
01:06:13,621 --> 01:06:16,624
Billy Joel had a great line,
"Everything old is new again."

1079
01:06:16,668 --> 01:06:20,280
Nothing that's good really dies.

1080
01:06:20,324 --> 01:06:22,326
[music playing]

1081
01:06:27,331 --> 01:06:31,639
Remember Sha Na Na.
Watching Sha Na Na
on Saturday night,

1082
01:06:31,683 --> 01:06:34,294
♪ Do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do♪

1083
01:06:34,338 --> 01:06:36,253
♪ Tonight sweetheart--♪
It was like--

1084
01:06:37,384 --> 01:06:39,299
if-- if I could do that.

1085
01:06:39,343 --> 01:06:41,736
When Sha Na Na
started doing this

1086
01:06:41,780 --> 01:06:45,001
in the very late 60s, early 70s,

1087
01:06:45,044 --> 01:06:47,394
it's very hard to describe
if you weren't there,
but it seemed

1088
01:06:47,438 --> 01:06:50,354
like it was
a thousand years ago

1089
01:06:50,397 --> 01:06:53,096
that this music had happened.
It was a reclamation

1090
01:06:53,139 --> 01:06:56,403
of what seemed
like our youthful innocence.

1091
01:06:56,447 --> 01:07:00,059
- Let's give a big Sha Na Na
welcome to The Coasters.
-[cheering and aplause]

1092
01:07:02,714 --> 01:07:07,066
Miss Ronnie Spector
and The Ronettes.

1093
01:07:09,112 --> 01:07:12,593
-Martha Reeves
and the Vandellas. Hey!
-[cheering and aplause]

1094
01:07:12,637 --> 01:07:15,770
Prepare to meet Little Anthony.

1095
01:07:18,164 --> 01:07:22,038
-Hey, it is Ben E. King.
-[cheering and aplause]

1096
01:07:22,081 --> 01:07:24,388
Because we really had grown up
awfully fast.

1097
01:07:24,431 --> 01:07:26,694
Goodnight
and "Grease for Peace."

1098
01:07:26,738 --> 01:07:31,134
Then "Grease" opens,
the musical.

1099
01:07:31,177 --> 01:07:33,223
American Graffiti came along.

1100
01:07:33,266 --> 01:07:35,790
[TV presenter]
Grab that special one and jump into your candy colored custom,

1101
01:07:35,834 --> 01:07:40,099
or your screaming machine,
cruise down town and catch
American Graffiti.

1102
01:07:40,143 --> 01:07:42,536
Finally, ultimately
in the mid-70s

1103
01:07:42,580 --> 01:07:47,498
this nostalgia
craze peaked with "Happy Days"
and "Laverne and Shirley."

1104
01:07:47,541 --> 01:07:52,198
We really did raise
a whole generation
of little kids

1105
01:07:52,242 --> 01:07:55,506
on doo-wop
and early rock and and roll.

1106
01:07:55,549 --> 01:07:58,770
My dad being from New York
and being in, you know,

1107
01:07:58,813 --> 01:08:02,556
that was able to be
in that scene as a teenager--

1108
01:08:02,600 --> 01:08:06,691
to be able to-- and he comes
home and finds me listening
to these records, he's like,

1109
01:08:06,734 --> 01:08:09,650
"Why are you listening
to those records?" I was like,
"Because they're awesome."

1110
01:08:09,694 --> 01:08:13,437
He's like, "But you're seven."
I was like, "I don't care."

1111
01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:15,265
They're so awesome.
They're still awesome
to this day.

1112
01:08:15,308 --> 01:08:18,485
Vocal harmony groups have been
around for a very long time now

1113
01:08:18,529 --> 01:08:23,447
and they're not gonna go away.
You see genres and music come
and go, and come and go,

1114
01:08:23,490 --> 01:08:27,407
but that vocal harmony group,
it's-- it's always been around
with guys and girls.

1115
01:08:27,451 --> 01:08:29,757
[music playing]

1116
01:08:29,801 --> 01:08:32,630
The core of NSYNC
is the harmonies.
It's the singing.

1117
01:08:32,673 --> 01:08:35,198
It always has been
and it always will be.

1118
01:08:35,241 --> 01:08:38,505
We were always aware of--
of what came before us,

1119
01:08:38,549 --> 01:08:41,595
you know, from the 30s
to, you know, now.

1120
01:08:41,639 --> 01:08:44,381
We always respected
those vocal harmony groups

1121
01:08:44,424 --> 01:08:48,167
because we really loved
mixing that R&B
with that doo-wop.

1122
01:08:51,823 --> 01:08:54,565
There's not that big
a difference
between the Ink Spots

1123
01:08:54,608 --> 01:08:57,829
and The Platters
and Earth, Wind, and Fire

1124
01:08:57,872 --> 01:09:00,266
and the Doobie Brothers,
or any of these groups.

1125
01:09:00,310 --> 01:09:02,442
It's all the same stuff.

1126
01:09:02,486 --> 01:09:04,575
[Anthony] Hip hop ain't no different. It's still urban,

1127
01:09:04,618 --> 01:09:05,924
it's still music in the streets,

1128
01:09:06,664 --> 01:09:09,275
still kids
writings songs for kids.

1129
01:09:09,319 --> 01:09:13,453
You know, many young girls grew
up, uhm, and were so influenced

1130
01:09:13,497 --> 01:09:18,502
that they, uhm, became
recording artists like us.

1131
01:09:19,503 --> 01:09:22,158
We had a dream
and that music gave us faith

1132
01:09:22,201 --> 01:09:24,290
to know that we could grow up
and do the same thing.

1133
01:09:24,334 --> 01:09:26,901
And then to in turn,
to pass that hope on to--

1134
01:09:26,945 --> 01:09:28,512
-the next generation.
-Right.

1135
01:09:31,863 --> 01:09:35,649
That is the root.
When you get a bunch of guys

1136
01:09:35,693 --> 01:09:38,217
standing
around together, harmonizing.

1137
01:09:38,261 --> 01:09:40,785
So, I think that it's going
to continue to live.

1138
01:09:40,828 --> 01:09:42,613
This music
will be with us forever.

1139
01:09:42,656 --> 01:09:44,571
[music playing]

1140
01:09:48,532 --> 01:09:50,534
We still carry on the flavor,

1141
01:09:51,448 --> 01:09:54,190
trust me.
You'll still find out tonight.

1142
01:09:56,583 --> 01:09:59,499
[presenter] And I bring to you
Mr. Diz Russell.

1143
01:09:59,543 --> 01:10:03,242
♪ Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go♪

1144
01:10:03,286 --> 01:10:06,854
♪ Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go♪

1145
01:10:06,898 --> 01:10:10,380
♪ Now, baby please
Don't go back to New Orleans♪

1146
01:10:10,423 --> 01:10:13,731
♪ Because I love you so
Don't go, don't go♪

1147
01:10:13,774 --> 01:10:17,213
♪ You got me way down here
You got me way down here♪

1148
01:10:17,256 --> 01:10:19,519
Music is something
that if you love it--

1149
01:10:19,563 --> 01:10:22,957
I haven't been here over
fifty or sixty years.

1150
01:10:23,001 --> 01:10:27,223
--once you get attached to it,
you don't give it up.

1151
01:10:27,266 --> 01:10:29,268
You just don't give it up.

1152
01:10:33,925 --> 01:10:37,494
People don't forget good music.
So, we're keeping it alive.

1153
01:10:37,537 --> 01:10:40,497
We love this music.
It will never die.

1154
01:10:55,425 --> 01:10:59,777
It's just a great thing
that The Orioles continue
to keep the doo-wop alive.

1155
01:11:05,435 --> 01:11:08,264
[people cheering]

1156
01:11:09,308 --> 01:11:11,397
[Diz] Yeah! Thank you!

1157
01:11:11,441 --> 01:11:13,399
Still singing
after all these years.

1158
01:11:13,443 --> 01:11:15,009
-You got it, man.
-You reckon?

1159
01:11:15,053 --> 01:11:16,750
Oh, yeah.

1160
01:11:16,794 --> 01:11:19,797
So, this music
was never supposed
to mean anything

1161
01:11:19,840 --> 01:11:22,365
all these years later,
but it has.

1162
01:11:44,691 --> 01:11:47,825
I had a saying,
even at this time
when we were young kids

1163
01:11:47,868 --> 01:11:49,957
singing on-- on the Avenue,

1164
01:11:50,001 --> 01:11:54,614
I saw ourselves being stars
without a stage,

1165
01:11:54,658 --> 01:11:55,920
-right at that time.
-Mmm-hm.

1166
01:11:56,921 --> 01:11:58,488
-Wherever you sang.
-That's right.

1167
01:11:58,531 --> 01:12:00,664
-That was the stage.
-All right.

1168
01:12:00,707 --> 01:12:03,971
We had touched on something
that had never been done before

1169
01:12:04,015 --> 01:12:06,757
and all of a sudden, we were
on the ground floor of this.

1170
01:12:06,800 --> 01:12:09,368
That was a--
that was a tremendous feeling.

1171
01:12:09,412 --> 01:12:11,936
I can't--
they can't take it away from us
no matter what happens.

1172
01:12:11,979 --> 01:12:14,025
But the legacy, I'm there.

1173
01:12:14,068 --> 01:12:18,986
If you google, you see Barbra
Jean English did a lot of stuff.

1174
01:12:19,596 --> 01:12:21,075
I stand
on the shoulder of giants

1175
01:12:22,381 --> 01:12:23,687
who came before me.

1176
01:12:24,601 --> 01:12:27,343
And it's heck of a life.

1177
01:12:27,386 --> 01:12:30,476
I owe a debt of gratitude to--

1178
01:12:31,521 --> 01:12:34,088
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers

1179
01:12:34,132 --> 01:12:36,090
and every time
I see Jimmy Merchant,

1180
01:12:36,134 --> 01:12:38,354
I put my arms around him
and kiss him on the cheek

1181
01:12:39,616 --> 01:12:42,923
because they saved my life.
Excuse me for getting choked up.

1182
01:12:43,881 --> 01:12:47,537
I just hope that whatever
contribution we've made, uh,

1183
01:12:48,102 --> 01:12:50,366
leaves a lasting impression.

1184
01:12:50,409 --> 01:12:54,500
And I'm just suddenly
very cognizant of--

1185
01:12:55,719 --> 01:12:56,720
time.

1186
01:12:58,461 --> 01:13:01,594
I paid the dues and I paid
the cause to be a Drifter.

1187
01:13:01,638 --> 01:13:05,468
And I'm so proud
that we left a legacy behind.

1188
01:13:05,511 --> 01:13:08,819
I would like people
to remember me as being

1189
01:13:08,862 --> 01:13:11,865
a member of one
of the greatest girl groups

1190
01:13:11,909 --> 01:13:14,564
and that we influenced
other girl singers.

1191
01:13:14,607 --> 01:13:17,915
What I'm really proud of is

1192
01:13:19,438 --> 01:13:23,921
I came a long ways
and I met that lady over there.

1193
01:13:28,926 --> 01:13:30,710
I'm proud.

1194
01:13:30,754 --> 01:13:31,972
I never thought of quitting.

1195
01:13:33,974 --> 01:13:37,413
I never thought of quitting.
I figured I was gonna be
here till a hundred,

1196
01:13:37,456 --> 01:13:38,849
so I might as well to keep
on moving.

1197
01:13:40,198 --> 01:13:42,113
And that's what I've been doing
ever since.

1198
01:13:43,114 --> 01:13:47,161
I've been so blessed to be able
to sing this wonderful music.

1199
01:13:47,205 --> 01:13:52,036
It's hard to believe that I got
to really spend my whole life
making up songs

1200
01:13:52,079 --> 01:13:56,910
and going into studio
and having that great fun
producing records

1201
01:13:56,954 --> 01:14:00,131
and working with great talent.
I really got away with it.

1202
01:14:00,740 --> 01:14:06,572
Oh, we was in love with what we
was doing and we had a lot
of love for each other.

1203
01:14:19,237 --> 01:14:23,154
I see in that short period
of time accomplishment.

1204
01:14:24,503 --> 01:14:26,766
[Billy]  If I had to do it
all over again, I would.

1205
01:14:26,810 --> 01:14:29,508
I wouldn't change a thing.
I just would like to go back

1206
01:14:29,552 --> 01:14:31,205
and-- and do what we did.

1207
01:14:31,249 --> 01:14:35,166
If you're lucky enough to last
this long-- can you believe it?

1208
01:14:35,209 --> 01:14:39,692
To last this long and live this
long and still be able to sing

1209
01:14:40,911 --> 01:14:43,653
and have a band that can play
the music which it's--

1210
01:14:43,696 --> 01:14:46,046
it's all pretty extraordinary
when I think about it.

1211
01:14:46,090 --> 01:14:51,182
It was an opportunity
of a lifetime that a lot
of people will never know.

1212
01:14:51,225 --> 01:14:54,228
I felt really blessed
to have been a part
of that.

1213
01:14:55,534 --> 01:14:57,797
-[interviewer] You were there.
-I was there, man.

1214
01:14:57,841 --> 01:15:01,845
You talk about camaraderie,
we-- we had
the time of our lives.

1215
01:15:01,888 --> 01:15:05,065
We were brothers
and sisters of the same large.

1216
01:15:05,109 --> 01:15:09,896
When I say I had the time
of my life, I truly had
the time of my life.

1217
01:15:17,208 --> 01:15:20,603
[La La] When we were growing up
in Brooklyn,
you sang on the stoops.

1218
01:15:20,646 --> 01:15:23,214
That's where we started
from singing on the stoops.

1219
01:15:23,257 --> 01:15:27,218
The first song I recorded
with The Crystals
was "Uptown." I was a kid.

1220
01:15:29,916 --> 01:15:32,702
-Is that a working mic there?
-It does work.

1221
01:15:34,834 --> 01:15:39,012
I started working with Charlie
when I was like thirteen or fourteen years old on tours.

1222
01:15:42,581 --> 01:15:46,759
We did the amateur show.
That's how I first
came in touch,

1223
01:15:46,803 --> 01:15:49,588
really-- really up
with the stage at Apollo.

1224
01:15:49,632 --> 01:15:55,942
Me, Ben E. King, Al Berof, Doc
Green, and lover palace

1225
01:15:55,986 --> 01:15:57,857
and we tore
the audience up.

1226
01:16:01,208 --> 01:16:03,689
That's why I started
from singing
on the street corner.

1227
01:16:03,733 --> 01:16:06,562
Yeah, we started singing
on the stoop and we battle
each other, right?

1228
01:16:06,605 --> 01:16:08,825
You give me a pint of wine
I will sing anything with you.

1229
01:16:10,653 --> 01:16:13,046
-You know I love you, right?
-Yeah, we're good.

1230
01:16:14,961 --> 01:16:19,792
Thank you, baby. This guy has
known me since I was fourteen.

1231
01:16:19,836 --> 01:16:23,840
I used to take his money.
I used to hold his-- I used
to hold his money for him.

1232
01:16:23,883 --> 01:16:26,625
He used to gamble on the bus.
He used to always win,

1233
01:16:26,669 --> 01:16:28,671
but sometimes
after a while he started losing.

1234
01:16:28,714 --> 01:16:30,324
Losing a lot of money.

1235
01:16:30,368 --> 01:16:34,590
So, he said to me, "What I want
you to do is take this money

1236
01:16:34,633 --> 01:16:37,593
and whatever I ask you for it,
do not give it to me.

1237
01:16:37,636 --> 01:16:39,899
In a few hours of gambling,

1238
01:16:39,943 --> 01:16:43,120
he came back, "Could you give me
some money?" I said, "No."

1239
01:16:44,948 --> 01:16:46,732
I didn't give it to him
for about a day or so.

1240
01:16:46,776 --> 01:16:48,691
He was mad at me.
He was pissed with me.

1241
01:16:49,300 --> 01:16:50,301
My money.

1242
01:16:53,304 --> 01:16:56,742
You know, when you get backstage
and there were six or seven
groups out there working,

1243
01:16:56,786 --> 01:16:58,788
you get time to spend
amongst each other

1244
01:16:58,831 --> 01:17:01,355
and there's nothing
better than that.
This is a family.

1245
01:17:01,399 --> 01:17:04,837
-Oh, my God, it's VD.
-Ow, VD!

1246
01:17:04,881 --> 01:17:06,926
-Oh, my God!
-We gotta say goodbye

1247
01:17:06,970 --> 01:17:12,715
He nicknamed me VD, you know.
And when Hurricane Sandy hit,

1248
01:17:12,758 --> 01:17:15,761
first phone call I got was
from Charlie.

1249
01:17:15,805 --> 01:17:19,678
He said, "VD, you all right?
I see Staten Island,
they got hit hard, you know."

1250
01:17:19,722 --> 01:17:22,333
I don't know how many friends
I've got. Hundreds, thousands.
I don't know,

1251
01:17:22,376 --> 01:17:26,032
but that was the first call
I got. I'll never forget it.

1252
01:17:26,076 --> 01:17:28,121
-Hello everybody.
-[all] Hello.

1253
01:17:28,165 --> 01:17:29,645
-Hi.
-How are you doing?

1254
01:17:29,688 --> 01:17:31,647
-We're Straight No Chaser, man.
-All right, beautiful.

1255
01:17:31,690 --> 01:17:33,170
-How you doing guys?
-Pleasure.

1256
01:17:33,213 --> 01:17:35,172
They're beautiful,
they're beautiful, man.

1257
01:17:35,215 --> 01:17:37,261
We're were just a bunch of guys
that went
to Indiana University together.

1258
01:17:37,304 --> 01:17:39,742
Well that's sort of the beauty
of our story.

1259
01:17:39,785 --> 01:17:42,701
We didn't anticipate
that this was going to go
any further than college.

1260
01:17:42,745 --> 01:17:44,877
-[man] Nice to meet you.
-[La La] Same here.

1261
01:17:44,921 --> 01:17:49,142
So many guys. You guys
could all be models. My God!

1262
01:17:49,186 --> 01:17:51,797
Of course, I listened
to doo-wop growing up,
but I never thought

1263
01:17:51,841 --> 01:17:53,886
that I would come
into college, join a group

1264
01:17:53,930 --> 01:17:56,019
that I would be still doing
twenty years later.

1265
01:17:56,062 --> 01:17:58,717
[La La]  These guys here got
the real deal and which is good they're young.

1266
01:17:58,761 --> 01:18:00,850
They got good harmony,
you-- you know.

1267
01:18:00,893 --> 01:18:04,070
-Very good harmony. Very good.
-They got beautiful harmony
and they've been there

1268
01:18:04,114 --> 01:18:06,116
into the rhythm
and blues feel too

1269
01:18:06,159 --> 01:18:10,337
just like we are.
And they love just a song.
So, I'm happy about that.

1270
01:18:10,381 --> 01:18:13,079
One, two, three, and--

1271
01:18:21,218 --> 01:18:24,177
Doing Ben E. King's song today
and his music,

1272
01:18:24,221 --> 01:18:29,748
it's like, I wish
that I would have said
more things to him, you know.

1273
01:18:29,792 --> 01:18:32,708
-I feel Ben E. King
in every word.
-Oh, my god!

1274
01:18:32,751 --> 01:18:37,016
In every word that was
my friend. I feel Ben E. King
in every-- every word.

1275
01:18:37,060 --> 01:18:38,888
-Wishing he was here.
-Mmm-hm.

1276
01:18:38,931 --> 01:18:40,193
Just wishing he was here.

1277
01:18:48,898 --> 01:18:52,728
This is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to be able to sing
with some of the Greats.

1278
01:18:52,771 --> 01:18:55,774
This is your moment.
This is your moment.

1279
01:18:55,818 --> 01:18:58,342
And to hear their stories
and to be able
to sing along with them.

1280
01:18:58,385 --> 01:19:02,041
This is so fun.
I'm just like a kid-- a kid
in the candy store right now.

1281
01:19:02,085 --> 01:19:03,434
I'm in FAO Schwarz.

1282
01:19:05,088 --> 01:19:06,567
And I hope they'll, you know,
enjoy singing with us as well.

1283
01:19:06,611 --> 01:19:09,135
So it's gonna be fun.
We're excited, fingers crossed.

1284
01:19:10,093 --> 01:19:12,008
-[Charlie] I love you Laila.
-I love you too.

1285
01:19:12,051 --> 01:19:16,099
♪ So, darling, darling
Stand by me♪

1286
01:19:16,142 --> 01:19:18,057
It's perfect. Let's record it.

1287
01:19:29,460 --> 01:19:31,505
"Stand by me", Ben E. King.

1288
01:19:37,294 --> 01:19:40,950
♪ When the night has come♪

1289
01:19:43,082 --> 01:19:45,868
♪ And the land is dark♪

1290
01:19:45,911 --> 01:19:51,482
♪ And the moon
Is the only light we'll see♪

1291
01:19:54,093 --> 01:19:57,444
♪ No, I won't be afraid♪

1292
01:19:57,488 --> 01:20:01,448
♪ No, I won't be afraid♪

1293
01:20:02,319 --> 01:20:08,194
♪ Just as long as you stand
Stand by me♪

1294
01:20:09,065 --> 01:20:14,287
♪ So, darling, darling
Stand by me♪

1295
01:20:14,331 --> 01:20:18,509
♪ Oh, stand by me♪

1296
01:20:19,162 --> 01:20:25,298
♪ Oh, stand by me♪

1297
01:20:27,518 --> 01:20:31,478
♪ If the sky
That we look upon♪

1298
01:20:31,522 --> 01:20:35,178
♪ Oh, should tumble and fall♪

1299
01:20:36,005 --> 01:20:41,924
♪ Or the mountain
Should crumble to the sea♪

1300
01:20:41,967 --> 01:20:43,621
♪ Lord, have mercy♪

1301
01:20:44,361 --> 01:20:47,538
♪ I won't cry, I won't cry♪

1302
01:20:47,581 --> 01:20:52,195
♪ No, I won't shed a tear♪

1303
01:20:52,238 --> 01:20:58,549
♪ Just as long as you stand
You stand by me♪

1304
01:20:59,637 --> 01:21:04,337
♪ And darling, darling
Stand by me♪

1305
01:21:04,381 --> 01:21:08,428
♪ Oh, stand by me♪

1306
01:21:08,472 --> 01:21:13,477
♪ Stand by me
Stand by me, baby♪

1307
01:21:13,520 --> 01:21:15,261
♪ Stand by me♪

1308
01:21:16,262 --> 01:21:21,441
♪ So, darling, darling
Stand by me♪

1309
01:21:21,485 --> 01:21:25,228
♪ Oh, stand by me♪

1310
01:21:25,271 --> 01:21:29,972
♪ Oh, I want you to stand
Come on and stand♪

1311
01:21:30,015 --> 01:21:32,975
♪ Stand by me♪

1312
01:21:33,018 --> 01:21:38,197
♪ Whenever you're in trouble
Won't you stand by me♪

1313
01:21:38,241 --> 01:21:41,374
♪ I want you to stand
Stant by me♪

1314
01:21:41,418 --> 01:21:46,989
♪ Come on and stand
Stand by me, baby♪

1315
01:21:47,032 --> 01:21:50,035
♪ Stand by me♪

1316
01:21:50,079 --> 01:21:54,039
♪ Oh, oh, stand by me♪

1317
01:21:54,083 --> 01:21:57,956
♪ Oh, I want you to stand
Stand by me♪

1318
01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:01,307
♪ Come on, come on
Come on and stand♪

1319
01:22:01,351 --> 01:22:03,396
♪ Stand by me baby♪

1320
01:22:03,440 --> 01:22:05,964
♪ Stand by me♪

1321
01:22:06,008 --> 01:22:08,227
♪ One more time
Let's sing it♪

1322
01:22:08,271 --> 01:22:11,578
♪ Stand by me
Come on, come on♪

1323
01:22:11,622 --> 01:22:14,320
♪ Come on and stand♪

1324
01:22:14,364 --> 01:22:18,194
♪ Come on and stand♪

1325
01:22:18,237 --> 01:22:22,589
♪ Stand by--♪

1326
01:22:22,633 --> 01:22:27,029
♪ Ah, girl♪

1327
01:22:27,072 --> 01:22:30,989
♪ Won't you stand by me♪

1328
01:22:31,033 --> 01:22:37,430
♪ Me♪

1329
01:22:38,127 --> 01:22:44,307
-[singer] Yeah. Yes,
that's the take right there.
-[Charlie] Beautiful.

1330
01:22:45,656 --> 01:22:49,442
-[La La] You guys sound so good.
-[Charlie] Thanks gentlemen.
Thanks so much.

1331
01:22:50,095 --> 01:22:52,184
-[man]  I hear that.
-[Charlie]  Thank you.
God bless you

1332
01:22:52,228 --> 01:22:54,273
and I hope it turn out
to be something.

1333
01:22:54,317 --> 01:22:56,275
[Jerry] So, there you have it,
ladies and gentlemen,

1334
01:22:56,319 --> 01:22:58,103
Streetlight Harmonies,

1335
01:22:58,147 --> 01:22:59,670
the story of the music,

1336
01:22:59,713 --> 01:23:02,064
the love, the devotion,
and the memories

1337
01:23:02,107 --> 01:23:04,022
from all of these wonderful
artists

1338
01:23:04,066 --> 01:23:06,982
who made our lives
a little more enjoyable.

1339
01:23:07,025 --> 01:23:10,202
As all good things must come
to an end so must this show,

1340
01:23:10,246 --> 01:23:13,292
but remember as the Geator says
"You got to keep on rocking

1341
01:23:13,336 --> 01:23:16,295
cause you really only do,
rock once."