Although American Black music is derived from one root, some people have a difficult time connecting doo-wop, bebop, and hip-hop.
Both doo-wop and hip-hop were started in urban cities, particularly in New York, by Black youth. It was their way of releasing creative energy that roared within their being. It was this organic creativity that defied instruments, or taking formal music lessons. For doo-wop and hip-hop, they used their vocal instruments and wrote their own lyrics.
In Harlem, while Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Charlie Christian and Max Roach were incubating bebop at Minton’s, neighborhood teenagers were singing acapella on street corners, apartments stoops, project staircases, and in high school bathrooms—adjusting their acoustics for background harmony to accompany the falsetto leaders.
Hip-hop bum-rushed the scene some 30-40 years after bebop, but its fast-paced tempo, improvisation, and harmonic structure was similar. These three genres were entertaining, but for the artists it was their way of expressing perspectives on an elitist anti-human rights society.
Two former doo wop singers—Joseph “Joe” Rivers and Barbara Jean English—found time to discuss their early days as doo-wop stars in Harlem. Rivers was a member of the duo Johnnie & Joe, best known for their 1957 hit “Over the Mountain Across the Sea” which climbed to #3 on the R&B chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rivers moved to New York City with his parents and nine siblings from Ridgeville, S.C. in 1950. They lived in Harlem, in a one room apartment on 126th Street and 7th Avenue. They eventually moved to a larger apartment on 122nd Street where Rivers met his next-door neighbor, Rex Garvin, who was a singer, songwriter, and pianist. He had just formed an all-girls group, The Hearts, that was managed by another neighbor Zelma “Zell” Sanders. At the time, she was one of the very few women who owned a record label, J & S Records, located in the Bronx on Nelson Avenue. Johnnie Mae Sanders was Zell’s daughter, who was teamed with Rivers for the duo. “I was attending Cooper J.H.S. in Harlem, when we began studying and practicing with Rex,” said Rivers. “He had to teach me about diction because I had that strong southern accent. It took a year to get my diction right.” Rivers shared that Rex had written the duo’s soon-to-be hit song in the bathroom.
“Over the Mountain Across the Sea” was released in 1957 and became an instant hit. “A lot of people in the service loved the song,” said Rivers. “New York City disc jockeys like Alan Freed and Murray the K were playing the record constantly. We started performing at the Brooklyn Paramount and we performed so much at the Apollo Theatre, I thought we had stock. When it was time to go on our first tour at age 15, my mother had to give me permission.” They often appeared on the Dick Clark Show but said there was no dancing with white girls.
Touring doing one-nighters was very difficult for the young duo once they hit the south. “In some places, the band had to play behind a sheet so the audience couldn’t see they were white playing with Black singers,” explained Rivers. “Sometimes [pop singer] Paul Anka would go into restaurants to get food for us. We played in a lot of places that refused to pay us. We ate at Elvis Presley’s house and he told us how much he liked the song, he had ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ out at the time.” When Rivers graduated from Cooper J.H.S. his mom asked if he wanted to attend high school or continue touring. He decided to stay on the road. He said, “I made $100 touring cities and I sent $75 to my mom and kept $25. It was important for me to help my family.” While touring, they met B.B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Roy Hamilton, Pearl Bailey (before her fame), Harvey and the Moonglows, and Big Mae Bell.
Like many young doo-wop singers of that era, including Frankie Lymon, they weren’t paid for the actual song. Rivers said, “I was given one check and not a penny afterwards.” Rivers later went to acting school and actually auditioned for a role in the film “Blackboard Jungle” that starred Sidney Poitier.
Sanders and Rivers resumed their professional partnership later in the 1960s. “Johnnie and I were like peas in a pod during the 1970s and ‘80s. We performed in oldies concerts, the Desert Storm Review, traveled to England to perform for Queen Elizabeth and recorded the album, ‘Kingdom of Love,’ in 1982.” Johnnie Sanders died in 1987. In the 1990s, Rivers began singing with Barbara Toomer, a former member of The Toys (“A Lover’s Concerto”). “I love jazz but I am a ballad singer and I always sang off key,” said Rivers.
Barbara Jean English began singing on the Lower East Side and attended Yorkville High School. “Everybody in school sang, especially in the bathrooms. I wrote a song ‘But Not for Me’ and needed back-up singers. I found some girls who liked my song and the four of us started a group. We went uptown where all the music people hung out at 1650 Broadway and met Zell Sanders. We auditioned in the back seat of her car; she liked us and agreed to be our manager,” said English. “She changed our name to the Clickettes. She also managed the Hearts and Johnnie & Joe.”
The group won “Amateur Night” at the Apollo and started performing there regularly where English became friends with Johnnie and Joe. “We rehearsed five days per week and there was no hanging out with other groups. As a girl group, we had to be disciplined but we saw lots of groups on the road like the Cadillacs, Coasters, Skyliners and Frankie Lymon.”
The Clickettes worked regularly but their pay did not reflect their many successful performances. “We were cheated out of a lot of funds by our manager, considering we worked at the Apollo six days per week for barely nothing,” explained English. “I wrote five hit songs for the group but they paid me per song. After a long legal battle, I finally received my first royalty check last year. Fortunately, today young musicians understand the business of music.”
English eventually became a solo artist making the transition from doo-wop singer to song stylist and jazz singer. “I was never an acapella singer during those days, that was mostly the boy groups,” she said. English maintained her singing career as a cabaret singer performing on cruise ships and at Atlantic City. In 1999, the Clickettes convened for a 50-year reunion. “We worked the east coast circuit doing doo-wop shows. The only time I am happy is singing and I have no regrets. We have a legacy with this music and I am still working.” More than likely, you may catch English performing in Harlem at one of Berta Alloway’s jazz concerts.
Rivers can be found on Sundays in Harlem, where I interviewed him, at Christian Parish for Spiritual Renewal Church, pastored by Rev. Ronald Sullivan, on 122nd Street (2044 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. He has been a faithful member of this congregation for over 30 years. He isn’t in the choir but is often called upon to rouse the congregation as a guest singer.