THE DOVELLS
The Dovells were an American music group, formed at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1957. The Dovells first national hit was “Bristol Stomp”, a dance song. “Bristol Stomp” sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. This was followed by the similar hit “Do the New Continental” (featured in the John Waters movie Hairspray for a minute). They appeared performing both songs in the Chubby Checker movie Don’t Knock The Twist in 1961. They released a series of singles over the next few years that included “You Can’t Sit Down”, a top hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. The Dovells released “If You Wanna Be Happy” on the album You Can’t Sit Down in 1963. The song was previously released by Jimmy Soul earlier that year and based on the song “Ugly Woman” by Roaring Lion. The Dovells have performed 3 times, both for and with President Bill Clinton, a major highlight of their career. (More from Wikipedia)
The flip side of the hit single “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors was the David White song “Sometimes (When I’m All Alone)”; according to Wikipedia (as taken from the article on David White): “‘Sometimes (When I’m All Alone)’ became a favorite of a lot of street corner groups just starting out who later became successful, including the Capris, the Chimes, the Cleftones, the Young Rascals, the Del Satins, the Dovells, the Elegants, the Impalas, the Earls, Randy and the Rainbows, the Tokens. the Vogues, and Vito and the Salutations among others.”
David White and John Madara had a second #2 hit song in 1965 with “1-2-3” by Len Barry, who had been the lead singer of the Dovells, one of my favorite early rock and roll groups.
(August 2015)
