Doo Wop Music
Some of the doo wop music groups come out of the rhythm and blues and jazz world. Such is the case with The Tune Weavers, who came to national attention with their song “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” in 1957. It has been a golden oldies music and juke box favorite ever since.
The song “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” was written by group members Margo Sylvia and Gilbert Lopez. Margo’s boyfriend had just broken up with her, and she wrote it from her heartache because she didn’t want it to be so. (Her boyfriend had been Donald Clements of the group The Sophomores.) There is a wonderful melancholy feeling to the song as the singer reflects on the loss on what should be a happy occasion (that is, a birthday). In 1957, the song went to #1 on the R&B Chart and #5 on the Billboard Pop Chart. The B-Side was a version of “Ol’ Man River.”
The Tune Weavers, who were originally called The Tone Weavers, formed in Woburn, Massachussetts around 1956. They consisted of brother and sister Margo Sylvia, who was born Margo Lopez, and her brother Gilbert “Gil’ Lopez. Other members were Margo’s husband John Sylvia and her cousin Charlotte Davis. Margo and Gil had sung together as a jazz and pop duo previously. The group was promoted by Dick Clark as well as Chess Records in Chicago who picked up the song from Casa Grande records. The Tune Weavers’ song “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” came out on Checker Records, which was a subsidiary of Chess. They toured with many other groups of the time, including The Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran, The Clovers, Paul Anka, and Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
3 Comments
Love listening to music from my teen years.
What a sad song. I love doo wop.
Really like the doo wop, street corner harmonies, what ever you call that music. Genuine singers, harmony and instruments. Total contrast to what is passed off as “music” today.