Doo-Wop Regains the Ears of American Listeners

Of all the roots in the headwaters of rock 'n' roll, it is by far the most basic:

A blend of voices, a tune, a rhythm.

Rap may need only a turntable and a microphone, but doo-wop needs only a microphone.

Named after the nonsense words that often formed the backing vocals ("wop" being prominent in Dion's "I Wonder Why"), doo-wop grew out of the black vocal-harmony groups of the late 1940s.

It flourished commercially at the end of the '50s and early '60s before the electric guitar, Motown and, especially, the British invasion wiped it off the charts.

Cherished by collectors and die-hard fans, doo-wop never quite went away. But it's never returned with the impact it has today, either.

Rhino Records' first "Doo-Wop" boxed set, released in 1994, was its first set to go gold in sales, with more than half a million sold. Rhino followed its success with a second set in 1996 that was nearly as successful, and "Doo-Wop, Box III" (Rhino, four discs, $69.95) has just been unleashed.

Doo-wop's biggest boost recently came from the TV special "Doo-Wop 50," produced by WQED television in Pittsburgh. In what may be the most influential TV special since "Motown 25," "Doo-Wop 50" became the most lucrative fund-raiser in public television history, drawing more than $20 million in pledges.

Richard Nader, the man who created the oldies concert format in New York more than 30 years ago, credits the PBS special for doo-wop mania.

"Nobody had seen any of these acts on TV since Dick Clark played them in 1960, '61 and '62," he says. "And it was perfectly suited for the PBS demographic, [people] in their 40s, 50s and 60s."

The program brought some groups together that had not sung in years and revived careers in a way they never thought possible.

"Every one of the acts--the Skyliners, Penguins, Dubs, Chantels' Arlene Smith--reported that they had increased bookings and increased demand in places they thought they'd never work," Nader says. "It meant a whole rejuvenation of their careers."

It also meant new markets for the kind of doo-wop revivals Nader has been putting together in mostly the New York area for decades.

The era is ready for a doo-wop revival because the baby boomers who enjoyed the original sounds are at the perfect age to be reflective of those days, Nader says.

And for them, "the slow songs of the late '50s and early '60s are more in tune with their physical movements and capacities and memories than the fast songs."