#vocal groups

The Duprees: “You Belong to Me” / “Why Don’t You Believe Me” (1962)

Doo-wop groups didn’t come any more “whitebread” than Jersey City’s own The Duprees, who formed out of high school in 1960, and soon drew the attention of former big band leader and Coed Records impresario George Paxton.

The group’s very first single, ‘62’s “You Belong to Me” (originally cut a decade earlier by Jo Stafford) was a big-ass hit, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard charts, and enjoying countless future revisions by easy listening stars like Patsy Cline, Bing Crosby, and others.

Much of The Duprees’ success can be attributed to the song’s Glenn Miller-style big band backing, commissioned by Paxton and A&R man Fred Weismantel, who, ironically, also wrote the bawdy “Big Ten Inch Record,” made famous by Bullmoose Jackson and, later, Aerosmith.

But this conservative, straight-laced approach sounds positively flat to my ears, lacking any of the earthy, soulful grit and raw, untutored innocence found that gave so much classic doo-wop its irresistible vitality.

And this single’s B-Side, “Why Don’t You Believe Me,” was just as sappy, and less infectious, to boot (it too had been a hit a decade earlier, for Joni James), though it also managed to crack the Top 40 in 1963.

All of which signaled a somewhat limited commercial shelf-life for The Duprees, who rarely troubled the charts again with their invariably schmaltzy remakes of female vocal singles from the 1950s.

Before long, they had joined the oldies circuit with an eternally revolving cast of musicians, each more faceless than the last, backing up lead singer Joey Canzone, until The Duprees were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, in 2006.

Revisiting the Boswell Sisters

Imagine my surprise when I picked up Donald Fagen’s book Eminent Hipsters to find that this co-founder of the popular 70s band Steely Dan was heavily influenced by The Boswell Sisters, and even devotes his first chapter of his book to this remarkable vocal group, whose roots are in New Orleans. New England Public Radio re-visits the music of the Boswell Sisters in this fine tribute.

-Scott Wenzel

Remember that group from the early 1970s, the group with style and harmony with songs like: 1 Have You Seen Her 2 Oh Girl 3 Letter to Myself

Soulful Gospel

Vocal Groups

Vol.1

1. Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies/Harps of The Coast

2. Up A Little Higher/Harps of The Coast

3. I Trust In God/Chambers Brothers

4. Just A Little More Faith/Chambers Brothers

5. Jesus Showed Us The Way/Morning Echoes

6. I'm Singing, Lord/Morning Echoes

7. Come On/Sensational Saints of Ohio

8. Ain't That A Shame/Sensational Saints of Ohio

9. Jordan River/Sensational Jubilettes

10. Judgement Day/Sensational Jubilettes

11. He Woke Me Up This Morning/Gospel Five

12. Race, Creed and Color/Gospel Five

13. Lord, I've Done You Wrong/Original Soul Revivers

14. Lord, Don't Turn Me Away/Original Soul Revivers

15. You Ought To Pray Sometime/Bonner Bros. Spiritual Quartette

16. Walking Thru The Streets/Bonner Bros. Spiritual Quartette

17. Save Me/Clefs of Calvary

18. God's Love/Clefs of Calvary

19. It's A Blessing/Prodigal Sons

20. I Found The Lord/Prodigal Sons

21. Rock Of Ages - Pt. 1/Divine Travelers

22. Rock Of Ages - Pt. 2/Divine Travelers

23. You Need The Lord/Jollyaires

24. The Lord's Been Good To Me/Jollyaires

25. Milky White Way/Zion Travelers