The Chicago Tribune's Bill Dahl praised Robert Pruter's Doowop for "vividly describ ing] an enchanting time on the local music scene, when a handful of teenagers could taste rock 'n' roll stardom with harmonies they cooked up on a street corner." Pruter foraged sources from fanzines to the Chicago Defender and conducted extensive interviews in cooking up Doowop, which chronicles the careers of such legendary 1950s groups as the Flamingos, the Moonglows, the Spaniels, and the El Dorados, along with virtually every other Chicago doowop group that contributed to that era.

In Doo-Wop Acappella: A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies, scholar and musician Lawrence Pitilli details this too-little-explored area of 1950’s - early 60’s American culture. As Kenny Vance and the Planotones suggested in their classic song “Looking for an Echo,” every doo-wop acapella group’s mission—the search “for a sound, a place to be in harmony, a place we almost found”—was more than the story of street kids seeking recording glory. It is the tale of urban change, mass migrations, ethnic acculturation, a changing radio and recording industry, and the dynamics of cultural change in the “sounds”—sonic and linguistic—that every generation seeks to make and re-make for itself. In his study of this neglected period, Pitilli uncovers a rich musical tradition practiced largely by amateurs in an almost mythologized urban America. Although most of these practitioners were musically untrained, their lack of formal music education and financial support neither diluted their passion for singing or their quest for possible fame and fortune. In this engagingly written and celebratory work, Pitilli further demonstrates that doo-wop acappella was closely tied to broader issues, including the self-invented individual, gender roles, ethnicity, race, and class.

With abundant background and enticing images, this work covers more than just the gorgeous harmonies of the unforgettable doo wop groups. The landmark volume traces the development of the music, politics, art, architecture, and popular culture of the 1950s.

Essays on the history of Doo-wop and Doo-wop songography, with over 25,000 songs listed by artist, title, label and album number.

A school janitor teaches children to sing and have confidence in themselves.

Provides an extensive history of doo-wop from 1950 through the early 1970s and gives definitions and illustrations of the music that falls between rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll. It also features 150 photos, 64 sheet-music covers and prices for 1000 top doo-wop records.

Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s digs back through the catalogue of popular music and brings to life the solo artists, duos, and groups whose music once filled the airwaves and turntables with rock & roll and doo-wop. The Doctor of Doo-Wop, J.C. De Ladurantey, brings his expertise, honed by hosting a weekly radio show, “Making Your Memories,” to his revelation of the backstories of these trendsetting artists. Until the British Invasion in mid 1963 changed the direction of American music, the sounds created by the artists profiled in Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop shaped the entertainment soundtrack of a generation. This music history shares the little-known details of the lives of these artists, the history of the period, the distinctiveness of the music, and the power and influence of the songs’ lyrics. Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s will leave echoes of the time’s memorable songs in your mind’s ear and their lyrics on the tip of your tongue. You’ll discover a fresh desire to find the recordings and give them another “spin” on your “record player,” even if your digital music lives in the cloud.