The Marcels were an
American doo-wop group known for turning popular music songs into rock and roll. The group formed in
1959 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and signed to
Colpix Records, with lead
Cornelius Harp, bass
Fred Johnson,
Gene Bricker, Ron
Mundy, and
Richard Knauss. The group was named after a popular hair style of the day, the marcel wave, by Fred Johnson's younger sister
Priscilla.
In
1961 many were surprised to hear a new version of the ballad "
Blue Moon", that began with the bass singer saying, "bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip." The record sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It is featured in
The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame's
500 Songs that Shaped
Rock and Roll.
The disc went to number one in the
U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and
UK Singles Chart.[5] In the U.S., additional revivals in the same vein as "Blue Moon" -- "
Heartaches" and "
Melancholy Baby" -- were less successful, although "Heartaches" peaked at
No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over one million copies worldwide.
In
August 1961, due to problems encountered in the
Deep South while touring because of the group being bi-racial, the white members, Knauss and Bricker left and were replaced by
Allen Johnson (brother of
Fred) and
Walt Maddox. Mundy left soon after, leaving the group a quartet. In 1962, Harp and Allen Johnson left, and were replaced by
Richard Harris and
William Herndon. There was a brief reunion of the original members in
1973. The group made several recordings in
1975 with Harp back on lead.
Original member Gene Bricker died in
1983. Allen Johnson died in
1995.
By the early
1990s the group included
Johnson,
Maddox,
Harris, Jules Hopson, and Richard Merritt. The group split around 1995. Fred Johnson formed his own group with new members, while the other four members recruited new bassist
Ted Smith. Maddox won a lawsuit against
Sunny James Svetnic, the manager of Johnson's group, for trademark infringement in
1996. Johnson reunited with Harp, Mundy, and Knauss in
1999 for the
PBS special
Doo Wop 50.
The Marcels were inducted into the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in
2002.
In
Brazil, their greatest hit, "Blue Moon", was the opening theme from the soap opera production
O Beijo do Vampiro, from
TV Globo network, exhibited between 2002 and
2003.
Their original lead singer, Cornelius Harp, died in
2013.
- published: 15 Nov 2013
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