R&B

Sometimes when you’re in love, you’re very happy, because your baby is “so fine.” The Fiestas were an R&B group from Newark, New Jersey, who formed in 1958. The original group members included Tommy Bullock, Eddie Morris, Sam Ingalls, and Preston Lane. “So Fine,” written by Johnny Otis (initially uncredited due to some legal issues and eventually awarded), was their debut single. It was recorded on Hy Weiss’s Old Town Records. The story goes that he overheard them singing in the men’s room next to his office in Harlem. It’s a classic. There’s plenty of harmony present, but the group sings together without a lead falsetto or bass. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B Chart in 1959. The B-side was “Last Night I Dreamed,” another great cut. The group also produced soul music, with songs such as “You Could be My Girlfriend, “Anna,” and “Broken Heart.”

Here are the lyrics to “So Fine” by The Fiestas:

“So fine, so fine, so fine, yeah my baby’s so dog gone fine
She loves me, come rain, come shine oh oh yeah so fine

She thrills me, she thrills me, she thrills me, yeah
My baby thrills me all the time
She sends those chills up and down my spine

Oh oh yeah, so fine well I know she loves me so
Well I know, because my baby tells me so oh oh so fine
So, fine so fine, yeah, my baby’s so dog gone fine
She sends those chills up and down my spine oh oh yeah, so fine”

If you are interested in purchasing music by The Fiestas, please consider this: So Fine: Very Best Of Fiestas

Johnny Otis was born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes in Vallejo, California. He was a very important and versatile influence in R&B (known by some as the “Godfather of Rhythm & Blues) and rock and roll, acting as composer, singer, musician, arranger, talent scout, disc jockey, record producer, TV show host, artists, author, minister, and impresario. Artists including Big Mama Thornton, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, and Hank Ballard were among his discoveries.

For More Golden Oldies Music

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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