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"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and first recorded in 1939 by Solomon Linda [2] under the title "Mbube", [3] through South African Gallo Record Company. In 1961, a version adapted into English by the doo-wop group the Tokens became a number-one hit in the United States.
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. [1] The group has had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", which borrowed heavily from the 1939 song "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda.
Solomon Popoli Linda OIG (1909 [1] – 8 September 1962), also known as Solomon Ntsele ("Linda" was his clan name), [2] was a South African musician, singer and composer best known as the composer of the song "Mbube", which later became the pop music success "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and gave its name to the Mbube style of isicathamiya a cappella later popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Darian also sang the female soprano portion on The Tokens' 1961 #1 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". [3] Her high counterpoint to the lead and backup singers was an astounding merging of her operatic training. As late as 2012, she was featured in concerts honoring the Great American Songbook. [4]
A few notable songs she can be heard in are The Tokens' rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and the Disney Parks song "Grim Grinning Ghosts". (Wikipedia articles on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" say that it was Anita Darian on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight.") Norman voiced Penelope Pinfeather in Melody and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.
The band used "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as the B-side to this song in the U.S. The song was released on R.E.M.'s 1992 album, Automatic for the People , and was later released as a single in February 1993, reaching number one in Iceland, number 13 in Ireland, number 17 in the United Kingdom, and number 29 in New Zealand.
The Nylons appeared in Season 3 of the show on the "Treasure Island" episode, singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". These songs appeared on the band's albums Seamless (1984) and Rockapella (1989). During this era, the band also gained exposure from the mid-1980s syndicated sitcom Throb by singing (with the show's lead actress Diana Canova ) the ...
Philip Frederick Margo (April 1, 1942 – November 13, 2021) was an American musician and author who was a longtime member of The Tokens, along with his brother Mitch. [1] ...