Danny & the Juniors
| Danny & the Juniors | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States |
| Genres | Doo-wop, rock and roll |
| Years active | 1955-present |
| Labels | Swan, ABC, Guyden, Mercury, Capitol |
| Website |
www |
| Members |
Joe Terry Frank Maffei Bobby Maffei |
| Past members |
Danny Rapp David White |
Danny & the Juniors are a doo-wop and rock and roll vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania originally consisting of Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova. Formed in 1955, they are most widely recognized for their 1958 hit single "At the Hop", recorded the previous year in 1957.
The 1950s
Danny Rapp (lead), Frank Maffei (2nd tenor), Joe Terranova (baritone) (aka Joe Terry), and Dave White Tricker (1st tenor) (aka Dave White) met at John Bartram High School and started singing together in the mid 1950s. Known as the Juvenaires at the time, they sang at school parties and other local events. Local record producer John Madara took notice of them and introduced them to local DJ's Larry Brown and Artie Singer, who had a record label known as Singular Records. In 1957, they recorded a John Madara and Dave White penned song "Do the Bop", and Singer took it to a fellow DJ named Dick Clark. Clark liked it and suggested changing their name to the Juniors and renaming their song.[1] Changing "Let's all do the Bop" to "Let's go to the Hop" proved to be successful, and it became a local hit in June 1957. In December 1957, they received a call from Dick Clark to be a last minute substitution for a no-show band on American Bandstand, and they performed it for a national audience.[1] The song became a nationwide hit after ABC Paramount bought the master recording and issued it in January 1958. They soon appeared on The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, and other national TV shows. Soon after, they recorded "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here To Stay" and "Dottie", both of which charted.
The 1960s
In 1960, the band was signed to Dick Clark's Swan Records label, and they released one more record, "Twistin' USA". It made it into the Top 40, and became their final hit single. They went on to release several more singles, but were not able to repeat their earlier successes.
White left the group in the early 1960s to concentrate on writing and production. He was very successful in this venture, composing a number of hits, including "You Don't Own Me" for Lesley Gore, and "1-2-3" and "Like a Baby" for Len Barry.
Through the rest of the 1960s, the Juniors also appeared on Guyden Records, Mercury Records, and Luv Records (a subsidiary of Bell Records), where they re-recorded "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here To Stay" in 1968. In 1973 they re-recorded At The Hop for Crunch Records, which was owned by the same company that owned their ABC-Paramount Records master recordings.
The 1970s to the present
In 1976, "At the Hop" was re-issued, and it made its way into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The single was commercially used for the Canadian National Exhibition, changing the words to "Let's go to the Ex" rather than "Let's go to the hop." It was parodied by the band Dash Rip Rock with their single entitled "Let’s Go Smoke Some Pot", and by NRBQ during the 1973 energy crisis under the title, "Get That Gasoline".
After a few years, Rapp was found dead in a hotel in Arizona on April 5, 1983, of an apparent suicide.
Danny & the Juniors featuring Joe Terry currently tours, with Terranova singing lead, along with Maffei and Maffei's brother, Bobby Maffei.
Since September 2011, Frank Maffei and Terranova have presented an hour-long rock'n'roll radio special for London's Covent Garden Radio in the UK.
Members
- Danny Rapp (born Daniel Earl Rapp, May 9, 1941, Philadelphia–died April 5, 1983)— lead vocalist
- Joe Terry (born Joseph Terranova, January 30, 1941, Philadelphia)— lead/baritone vocalist
- Dave White (born Dave White Tricker, September 1, 1939, Philadelphia)— 1st tenor vocalist
- Frank Maffei (born December 15, 1939, Philadelphia)— baritone/2nd tenor vocalist
- Bobby Maffei— 1st tenor vocalist
Awards and recognition
Danny & the Juniors were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003, and the group was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame on November 22, 2013.
Singles
| Year | Title | US Hot 100 |
US R&B | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | "Do The Bop" / "Sometimes" | -- | -- | Singular |
| 1957 | "At the Hop" / "Sometimes" | -- | -- | Singular 711 |
| 1957 | "At the Hop" / "Sometimes (When I'm All Alone)" | 1 | 1 | ABC-Paramount 9871 |
| 1958 | "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay" / "School Boy Romance" | 19 | 16 | ABC-Paramount 9888 |
| 1958 | "Dottie" / "In The Meantime" | 39 | -- | ABC-Paramount 9926 |
| 1958 | "A Thief" / "Crazy Cave" | -- | -- | ABC-Paramount 9953 |
| 1958 | "Sassy Fran" / "I Feel So Lonely" | -- | -- | ABC-Paramount 9978 |
| 1959 | "Do You Love Me" / "Somehow I Can't Forget" | -- | -- | ABC-Paramount 10004 |
| 1959 | "Playing Hard To Get" / "Of Love" | -- | -- | ABC-Paramount 10052 |
| 1960 | "Twistin' U.S.A." / "A Thousand Miles Away" | 27 | -- | Swan 4060 |
| 1960 | "Candy Cane, Sugary Plum" / "Oh Holy Night" | -- | -- | Swan 4064 |
| 1961 | "Pony Express" / "Daydreamer" | 60 | -- | Swan 4068 |
| 1961 | "Cha Cha Go Go (Chicago Cha-Cha)" / "Mister Whisper" | -- | -- | Swan 4072 |
| 1961 | "Back To The Hop" / "The Charleston Fish" | 80 | -- | Swan 4082 |
| 1962 | "Twistin' All Night Long" (with Freddy Cannon) / "Some Kind Of Nut" | 68 | -- | Swan 4092 |
| 1962 | "Doin' The Continental Walk" / "(Do The) Mashed Potatoes" | 93 | -- | Swan 4100 |
| 1962 | "Funny" / "We Got Soul" | -- | -- | Swan 4113 |
| 1962 | "Oo-La-La-Limbo" / "Now And Then" | 99 | -- | Guyden 2076 |
| 1964 | "Sad Girl" / "Let's Go Ski-ing" | -- | -- | Mercury 72240 |
| 1968 | "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay" / "Sometimes (When I'm All Alone)" | -- | -- | Luv 252 |
| 1973 | "At The Hop" / "Let the Good Times Roll" | -- | -- | Crunch 018001 |
| 1973 | "At The Hop" / "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay" | -- | -- | Roulette |
| 1980 | "At The Hop" / "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay" | -- | -- | MCA |
Albums
Oddly, despite the sizable output released by Danny & The Juniors from the late 50's to early 60's, no albums were ever released during that time. The first compilation album was released in 1983: Rockin' With Danny and The Juniors on MCA; this was followed over the years by several other compilations on vinyl and CD.
References
External links
- Danny & The Juniors Official Website
- 'Danny and The Juniors' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
- Covent Garden Radio London
- Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia web page
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