“The vocal group
sound is an American art form that is becoming a forgotten part of our
heritage”, wrote Jay Warner in the preface to his 1992 edition of ‘The
Billboard Book of American Singing Groups’. As a UK collectors group that has
tracked and documented the career of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons it
seems totally appropriate for us to continue Jay’s good work and to devote blog
space to preserving and informing re other great ‘harmony’ groups from the 60s.
Frankie Valli wrote the ‘Foreword’ to that book and said…”
Of course, vocal groups hold a special place in my heart, but I believe that
anyone who’s ever sung with a friend or two, or just enjoyed listening to an
act that happened to be a singing group, can appreciate the unique feeling that
harmony brings to all forms of music……Behind all these harmonies and styles are
stories of human interest. Each and every group had something to contribute to
music history even if they didn’t become big successes …Maybe that’s what makes
vocal groups fascinating. The big acts are always interesting, but lesser known
groups ( who often contributed future solo artists) made their mark as well…...I
remember the struggles and fears, the one-nighters and grueling tours, the
frustration and exhilaration of recording sessions, the elation of hitting the
charts, the good and the bad performance venues, the TV show turmoils, the
extremely hard work and rehearsals, the light moments and the good times, the
ironies, the coincidences, and the transient nature of vocal groups that often
required one to keep a score card. I remember these thing’s, not only about my
own group but about all the groups we met, performed with, grew up with, or
watched retire before us…It’s gratifying to see the groups getting some
long-overdue recognition”
Jay Warner certainly provided a “momentous encyclopedia” of
vocal groups. So as archivists and music detectives we will expand this blog
and dedicate it to preserving and informing re many of the groups in Jay Warner’s
excellent book.. With the internet now providing access to previously un-valuable
archive information and ‘lost tracks’ either previously un-issued or little
known, we can point the collector at the CD sources and capture maybe some of the ‘human interest’
stories filling in some of the gaps via this blog and the UK
Newsletter.
Our first research project involves the Happenings Later
Years 1969-77 so watch this blog for our next research….and contact us if you
believe a vocal group deserves to have their ‘human interest’ stories recorded
or their ‘lost tracks’ preserved. We
will do what we can. And maybe it will encourage the record companies to make
the tracks available in best quality sound. Contact [email protected] if
you want us to publish a tribute to your favourite ‘harmony’ vocal group..
Casey Chameleon
The Happenings had success with ‘old hits’ re-worked and by
1968 they had enjoyed 2 years of consistent hits. But by 1969 the harmony
groups started to struggle as ‘rock’ became established and ‘pop’ became ‘adult
contemporary’ music.
