Despite their failure to attain the commercial success of rivals just like the Drifters, the Flamingos, or the Clovers, the Harptones demand consideration in virtually any significant discussion of the truly immortal acts from the doo wop era. Although non-e of the singles cracked the very best 40, attempts like …

California woman group the Honeys was formed in 1961 by siblings Marilyn, Diane, and Barbara Rovell; originally dubbed the Rovell Sisters, the trio cut their tooth on the neighborhood amateur skill circuit, and with time Barbara was changed by their cousin Sandra Glantz, who used the stage name Ginger Blake. …

Producer/engineer Bone fragments Howe had large hits using the 5th Sizing, the Association, as well as the Turtles, and he recorded Tom Waits’ highly acclaimed albums from the ’70s and ’80s. He gained the nickname “Bone fragments” due to his thinness. Given birth to Dayton Howe in 1933 in Minneapolis, …

Drummer Kenney Jones is a person in two of England’s most beloved and influential rock and roll rings — the Encounters as well as the Who (even though second option he was an associate of only briefly, and good after their primary). Born Sept 16, 1948 and elevated within the …

Perhaps most widely known for penning the Elvis Presley hit “THE SWEETNESS of You,” Baker Knight ranks being among the most prolific songwriters from the rock & roll era, authoring more than one thousand songs in a number of musical idioms. Given birth to Thomas Baker Knight, Jr. in Birmingham, …

The Magic-Tones were one of the myriad Baltimore/D.C. doo wop clothes to emerge within the wake of regional heroes and R&B symbols the Orioles. Based on the profile at Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks site, business lead tenor Joe “Grain” Reed, 1st tenor Arthur “Boxy” Williams, second tenor/guitarist Gene Hawkins, and …

Among the great spirit performers, Gladys Knight was a performer from her child years years, forming the Pips with her sibling Merald along with a few cousins. They produced the very best Ten in 1961 using the greatly doo wop-influenced “Every Defeat of My Center,” and documented some fine, today …

The Sons from the Pioneers were the foremost vocal and instrumental group in western music, as well as the definitive group focusing on cowboy songs, setting the typical for each group which has come since. These were also among the longest-surviving nation music vocal groupings in existence, entering their seventh …

An excellent stylist from the trumpet, Eugene “Snooky” Teen was the absolute professional from the plunger mute, an immediately recognizable superstar with whomever he played. He was known to make his horn speak, shout, growl, and sigh along with his mutes, while generally swinging irresistibly. Yet Teen made his popularity …

In 1980, Patti LuPone received her 1st Tony Award for best actress inside a musical on her behalf portrayal of Eva Peron, the ambitious, doomed wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita. In 2008, LuPone earned her second Tony as Mama Rose, the …