Before Hip Hop, There was Doo Wop: A Tribute to Morris High School

Oct 18, 2014 @ 6:00pm

The Bronx played a significant role in the history of doo-wop. Before it was called that, it had been referred to as R&B, early rock –n- roll and vocal harmonizing. It developed in African-American communities in the 1940s before going mainstream in the 1950s and early 1960s. Though the term “doo-wop” had been used in songs during the 1950s, it is said the term was coined to describe the genre in 1961 when fans started using the term to refer to the music. Early rock-n-roll and doo-wop in the borough are oftentimes linked to the Italian- American community due to its association with performers like Dion & the Belmonts (Dion DiMucchi from the Italian neighborhood of Belmont) and Larry Chance & the Earls (Larry Figueiredo started the group the High Hatters in 1957 who became the Earls while hanging out at the Tecumseh Social Club)—both of whom helped make the genre popular with non-Black listeners. However, it is the African-American neighborhood of Morrisania which became the cradle of doo-wop in the late 1950s.
Groups like the Chords, Ravens, Orioles, Crickets, Mellows, Limelighters and the Chantels started their musical careers in the schools and on the streets of
Morrisania. At the center of this music scene was Morris High School. Scholar Philip Groia wrote, “After 3 o’clock, P.S. 99 and Morris High School became rehearsal halls
for the simplest of musical instruments, the human voice. Both schools were major forces in keeping young people off the streets.” At the corner of Boston Road and 166th Street looms the massive castle-like structure, the oldest public school (founded in 1897) in the Bronx with an auditorium that was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (the campus served as Morris High School until 2001, when it was divided into separate schools). The Chords were students at Morris. They are best known for the hit, “Sh-Boom.” “Boom” was a popular slang term on the streets of the Bronx at that time, used as a word of emphasis. One of the band’s songwriters thought to add the “Sh” in front of it because it sounded like an aerial bomb. “Sh-Boom” was the first crossover record and the first time a Black pop song had been played on White radio stations (Miller 1994). Members of the Mellows also met at Morris High School. In 1954 they met Lillian Leach, who was to become their lead singer; she had also performed at talent shows at Morris.
The Mellow’s biggest hit was with their 2nd release, “Smoke From A Cigarette” (1955). Lillian helped pave the way for later girl groups like the Chantels and the Shirelles and was the first woman to join a doo-wop group.
Then there were the Chantels, the first successful girl group of the rock –n- roll era. They attended St. Anthony of Padua School, down the street from Morris High School on Prospect and 166th. Their hit, “Maybe,” set the standard by which to judge all other girl groups (though The Shirelles of New Jersey were perhaps considered the most representative of the girl group sound whose 1961 song, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” was the first girl group song to go #1). The concept of “girl groups” was not something new; there were the Andrew Sisters in the 1930s–1940s and the McGuire Sisters in the 1940s-1950s. But the girl groups that emerged in the late 50s and early 60s had songs and performances which pushed the boundaries of that time with their innovative songwriting and compositions. In fact, Arlene Smith, the lead singer for the Chantels, was one of the first female rock –n- roll performers to write her own material.
Other neighborhoods in the Bronx also contributed to this early rock-n-roll and doo-wop sound. The Melrose Projects produced the Decoys, Little Bobby, Hemlock and the Elite Teens. The Chiffons formed in 1960 and attended Monroe High School. Most of them were 13 years old and their lead singer, Judy Craig, was 14, when they met Ronnie Mack who became their manager. They had a hit with “He’s So Fine” and their 1961 hit, “One Fine Day,” which added the non- sense vocables, “doo lang, doo lang” to the rock –n- roll vernacular, was written by Brill Building writers Carole King and Gerry Coffin.1 Another song by King and Coffin, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” which the Shirelles made famous, has recently been revived by the young Dominican singer from the Bronx, Leslie Grace, who recorded it as a bachata, a popular genre.
Morris High School remains at the center of the latest music trends. Members of the Dominican bachata group, Aventura, attended the school, and its most famous member Romeo Santos, who is from the neighborhood, recently played two sold out shows in Yankee Stadium. Morris High School’s musical legacy comes full circle.