Doo Wop Pop
How about those low vibrations? “With a boom boom boom boom /And a dit dit ba boom boom bom.” The song pays tribute to those wonderful bass voices in the vocal harmony of so many 1950s and 1960s songs. The bass voice with “that certain something” on this record is Ronnie Bright, who sang with a number of artists, including The Valentines (e.g., “Lily Maebelle”), The Cadillacs, The Deep River Boys, and The Coasters. He also did session work with Barry Mann, Jackie Wilson, and Peter Gabriel. The song, written by Johnny Cymbal, was arranged and produced by Alan Lorber. “Mr. Bass Man” went to #16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the U.K .Singles chart in 1963.
Johnny Cymbal was born John Hendry Blair in Ochiltree, Scotland. Although this was one of Cymbal’s best known hits, he was a record producer and a prolific songwriter. His career spanned four decades, starting when he was fifteen. He wrote hits for Elvis Presley, David Cassidy, Gene Pitney, and Glen Campbell, among others.
