Earth Angel
Earth Angel was the most successful doo-wop title of all time, sung by the Penguins in 1954 . The recording is one of the first crossover of the Rhythm & Blues from an independent record label that reached the pop charts.
History of origin
Discovered by the later Platters manager Buck Ram , the Penguins began test recordings in the summer of 1954 for the tiny independent record label Dootone Records , named after its owner Walter "Dootsie" Williams. Ted Brinson, the uncle of band member Cleveland "Cleve" Duncan, owned a home-made recording studio in a garage behind his house at 2190 West 30th Street in southern Los Angeles. Recorded with a single-track Ampex tape machine, some demonstration recordings were made under the production management of label boss Williams, including Earth Angel . Dootone Records decided to first release the single No There Ain't No News Today / When I Am Gone (Dootone # 345) in August 1954 from the repertoire of demo recordings. The record had no particular public response.
In September 1954 it was decided to bring Hey Senorita / Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) (Dootone # 348) on the market. The lead singer on Hey Senorita , which was selected as the A-side, was the first tenor Curtis Williams. With Earth Angel Cleve Duncan (tenor) sang lead and Dexter Tisby (second tenor) with the second song bridge ; the piano chords are from Curtis Williams. The song is based on chord changes as heard in the Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart composition Blue Moon (first recorded on November 16, 1934 by the Casa Loma Orchestra ). Seven or eight takes were made because the recording had to be interrupted again and again due to disturbing outside noises.
After publication, the A-side received the most airplay . But then in October 1954 the radio stations concentrated on the B-side Earth Angel and sparked a wave of buying. Dootone Records could hardly meet the increasing demand with the record production in the press shop. When the printing basis for the red label ran out during the mass pressing, the pressing continued in blue. On December 18, the record was listed for the first time in the Rhythm & Blues charts, where it reached first place on January 5, 1955 for three weeks. On December 25th, the song also made it into the pop charts, where it was able to advance to eighth place.
success
By 1957, the song sold almost four million copies. The great success of the single was hard to cope with the small label and almost drove it to ruin. The record company had to ensure a steady supply of plates from the press shop, while the record wholesaler did not pay immediately. By 1983 an alleged sales of ten million copies should have been achieved worldwide. Despite the enormous sales success, Dootone Records refused to pay the Penguins the royalties they were entitled to . The constant disputes over this caused their manager Buck Ram to negotiate with Mercury Records . There they were delighted at the prospect of being able to include this group in the catalog. However, this only succeeded because a change to Mercury was to take place on the condition that the previously unsuccessful Platters also had to be taken over. The first recordings of the Penguins for Mercury Records took place on February 1, 1955, and the record contract was postponed until it was confirmed by the Guardianship Court in April 1955.
Copyright dispute
The authorship of Earth Angel has long been controversial. Initially, the lead singer of the group, Curtis Williams, was specified as the composer when the song was first published. When then in May 1955 Jesse Belvin and Carl Green claimed in the copyright lawsuit to be the composers of Earth Angel , Gaynel Hodge / Jesse Belvin / Curtis Williams were registered with the BMI . There was now agreement among experts that parts of the song came from Jesse Belvin's Dream Girl (Specialty # 447, recorded on November 12, 1952), because the chord changes in both songs are very similar. This song reached second place on the Rhythm & Blues hit parade. The final clarification came only in May 1957. The court ruled that the publishing rights were retained by Dootone Records and that Jesse Belvin was the sole author of the song.
Also in May 1955, Dootone Records sued the Penguins manager Buck Ram and the record label Mercury Records that both had persuaded the Penguins to change labels . It turned out that the record deal with Dootone was void because the group members were minors. At Mercury, the once successful Penguins could not prevail, while the previously unsuccessful Platters there delivered one million sellers after the other.
Cover versions
As soon as the Penguins were in the charts on the road to success, the first cover version of the white Crew Cuts appeared on Mercury Records in January 1955 , which made it to third place on the pop hit parade. In the same month, a version by Gloria Mann was also released, which was listed at number 18 on the pop charts. Over the years, versions appeared again and again, for example by Johnny Tillotson (April 1960), The Vogues (April 1969) or The New Edition (August 1986); Also because of the many versions over the years, Earth Angel is one of the most constant classics in all of pop music. A total of 26 cover versions are counted.
The title is number 151 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. In March 2004 the song was selected as one of 50 recordings annually that were assigned to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. This archive collects culturally, historically or aesthetically significant recordings that reflect life in the USA. Earth Angel received a BMI award.
Individual evidence
- ↑ founded in 1951
- ^ A b Jay Warner, American Singing Groups , 2006, p. 273.
- ↑ no relationship with the label boss
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 85.
- ↑ Jay Warner, American Singing Groups , 2006, p. 274.
- ↑ Curtis Williams was still a minor
- ↑ BMI entry for Earth Angel ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cover info about Earth Angel
- ^ Entry of the National Recording Registry
