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The Dovells in 1962. The Dovells were an American doo-wop group, formed at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia in 1957, under the name 'The Brooktones'. [1] The original members were Arnie Silver, Len Borisoff, Jerry Gross (alias Summers), Mike Freda, and Jim Mealey (alias Danny Brooks). Their first single "No, No, No" was a local hit for The ...
In 1962, the Dovells' fellow Cameo-Parkway artist Chubby Checker released his rendition of "Bristol Stomp" on the soundtrack album for the Columbia Pictures movie Don't Knock the Twist. Checker performs lead vocals with the Dovells providing backup. Though not as instrumentally polished as the Dovells' original, this take added more pep.
Barry also made film appearances with the Dovells in films such as Don't Knock the Twist and toured the UK with the Motown Revue. Barry also had guest appearances on US television on Bandstand and later American Bandstand, Shindig, and Hullabaloo. Soon after leaving the group, Barry recorded his first solo single, "Lip Sync". [4]
Among the types of music released were doo-wop, dance hits, popular/rock, rockabilly, big band, garage rock, soul and novelty records. Until 1962, Cameo was also the parent company name for both labels, and Parkway was a subsidiary. In 1962, the parent company was renamed from Cameo to Cameo-Parkway, to give both labels equal status.
The band included Gene Barge (sax), Ron "Junior" Farley (bass), Willie Burnell (piano), Leonard Barks (trombone), and Emmet Shields (drums). In 1961, the Dovells reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a song called "The Bristol Stomp", which refers to Bristol, Pennsylvania, and includes the line "We ponied and twisted and we rocked with Daddy ...
The Dovells added dance themed lyrics and vocals to their cover of the song and it was released in 1963 on their album of the same name. Although unrelated to specifically describing the much later music genre of the same name the song has the first known instance of the phrase "hip hop" in a recording, the lyric "...you gotta slop, bop, flip flop, hip hop, never stop".
Appell went on to become the leader of Cameo-Parkway's house band, backing such artists as Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, The Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and The Orlons. In the cases of the aforementioned act's records Appell also arranged and, in many instances, produced, and even co-wrote with Kal Mann, songs such as " Let's Twist Again ...
A high school friend, Dovells lead singer Len Barry, encouraged them to audition for Cameo-Parkway Records at the turn of the decade. [3] The group took his advice in the fall of 1961, but were rejected at first, although the record label signed the group after two more auditions.