Reparata & the Delrons

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Reparata & the Delrons were an American girls group that was particularly successful in the 1960s.

Band history

Beginnings in Brooklyn

The Del-Rons - named after other successful Del bands like the Del-Vikings and the Del-Tones - began as a singing quartet in 1962 at St. Brendan's Catholic High School for Girls in Brooklyn , New York . Mary Aiese was the lead singer. The other founding members were her classmates Nanette Licari, Regina Gallagher and Anne Fitzgerald; together they sang in the school choir, and outside they tried their hand at a cappella hits by Peter, Paul & Mary or Dion DiMucci .

In 1964 the line-up had changed fundamentally; the Del-Rons were now a quintet consisting of Sheila Reilly, Carol Drobnicki, Marge McGuire and Kathy Romeo - only Mary Aiese, who still sang the leading voice, was still there from the founders. During a gig in Brooklyn they were discovered by record producers Bill and Steve Jerome, with whom they were allowed to audition.

First recordings, first hit

Romeo and McGuire left the group. The remaining trio signed the Jeromes as managers and producers and made the first recordings with the three 17-year-olds for Laurie Records , on which the single Your Big Mistake , an Ernie Maresca song, was released. This flop was followed by recordings in Pittsburgh for the label World Artists, the record company that otherwise only had the English folk duo Chad & Jeremy under contract. Another song among the recordings was a Maresca song, Whenever a Teenager Cries . As a single it should appear under a new band name, based on the already successful girl groups Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles or Martha & the Vandellas , the lead singer should be highlighted. Mary's first name was out of the question, and her middle name, Katherine, wasn't exciting enough either. Mary suggested her Confirmation name , which she had chosen after her favorite elementary school nun, the choirmaster Sister Mary Reparata, and the Del-Rons became Reparata & the Delrons .

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Whenever a teenager cries
  US 60 02/13/1965 (9 weeks)
Tommy
  US 92 05/15/1965 (3 weeks)
Captain of Your Ship
  UK 13 03/26/1968 (10 weeks)
Shoes (Reparata)
  US 92 08/02/1975 (3 weeks)
  UK 43 October 18, 1975 (2 weeks)

Under the new name, the single was released in late 1964 and a regional hit; In 1965 she made it into the US charts with a top spot at number 60. A long-playing record with the same title as the hit single was also released; On the twelve tracks, the Delrons received support from the then famous session band Patti Lace & the Petticoats; Ellie Greenwich sang along on some of the songs .

More successes, new line-up

The follow-up single Tommy (written by Chip Taylor ) was also a small hit and was listed at number 92; Tommy was from the English singer Twinkle in English and German version for the European market gecovert . Reparata & the Delrons toured twice with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars - accompanied by such well-known acts as Billy Stewart , Herman's Hermits , Bobby Vee , Little Anthony & the Imperials , The Detergents and Brenda Holloway  - and became known throughout the USA. But after Carol Drobnicki and Sheila Reillie missed one of the concerts, they were fired, and Reparata briefly became a solo singer.

1965 took RCA Records Reparata under contract , but wanted a band again; the former Del-Ron Licari and Lorraine Mazzola became the new Delrons. Several unsuccessful publications in a style similar to the Shangri-Las or the Ronettes followed, including Jeff Barry's song I'm Nobody's Baby Now (1966), a "sentimental portrait of a teenage love that has come to an end, full of sexual innuendo" that Dave Marsh shared with the Reason, this song marks "the end of girl groups in terms of sound and content", ranked 1000th of his 1001 biggest singles. The Jeromes produced the song on purpose to sound like Phil Spector's productions; the Delrons background singers were reinforced by session singers like Melba Moore and Reparata themselves - the producers created a wall of sound that Reparata broke through with her powerful lead voice. Forty years later, David A. Young writes in a review that Nobody's Baby is "a great piece of heaven that keeps giving me goose bumps literally every time I play it."

Success in Europe and separation

A little later the group changed the record company again, this time to Mala Records. In 1968 the single Captain of Your Ship was released, which missed the US charts but made it into the top 20 in the UK . In the spring of 1968 they went on a promotional tour in Europe; Among other things, they appeared twice in the British Top of the Pops and on April 27, 1968 in the Beat Club on German television. This was the final hit for Reparata & the Delrons. The success in Europe with concerts in front of sold out houses, interviews and parties exhausted the three young women mentally and physically. The return to the USA, where they were meanwhile "a nobody", depressed them. In 1970 the LP 1970 - Rock & Roll Revolution was released , for which Mary Aiese had recorded the lead vocals on some tracks. However, she left the group at that time. Despite the full-time job as a reparata, she had found time to graduate from school and then to do a teaching degree; she has been teaching since the early 1970s. She married and lived under her married name, Mary O'Leary.

Mary Aiese had initially left the band name to her colleague Lorraine Mazzola. In 1973 they released an album with cover versions of oldies in the girl group style of the 1960s in a new formation , but a little later Mazzola broke up the band. In 1974 she became the singer of Lady Flash, the backing band of Barry Manilow .

Reparata solo again

After a legal dispute with Mazzola, Mary Aiese secured the name Reparata again and released a few singles under this pseudonym (as in 1965 without the addition & the Delrons ), including Shoes (Johnny and Louise) , which became a smaller hit in 1975 (under other Top 10 in South Africa ) and one of the favorite titles of Smiths singer Morrissey . Shoes producers were still Steve and Bill Jerome (with Lou Guarino), who had remained loyal to Mary / Reparata (now married Mary O'Leary) over the years. Solo and with self-managed Delrons, Aiese also performed in the late 1980s and sang her teenage romances as a 40-year-old. In 1989 she told the journalist Charlotte Greig: “These songs are very important to us. Those were our teenage years. I just want to hear them sung properly, with love and care, and that's how we bring them. "

Remarkable

  • Reparata & the Delrons sang backing vocals on the Rolling Stones single Honky Tonk Women , which was recorded in London in the spring of 1969.
  • The song Captain of Your Ship by Ben Yardley and Kenny Young was used around 30 years later with modified text in a commercial for Müllerice by Müllermilch .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Charlotte Greig: Will you still love me tomorrow? Girl bands from the 50s to today. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1991, ISBN 3-499-18854-6 , p. 94
  2. ↑ Mick Patrick, Charlotte Greig: The Story of Reparata & The Delrons ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2012 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. at ChaChaCharming , accessed July 16, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chachacharming.com
  3. ↑ Charts UK Charts US
  4. ↑ US chart placements according to the All Music Guide
  5. ↑ Dave Marsh: The Heart of Rock & Soul - The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Plume / New American Library, New York 1989, ISBN 0-452-26305-0 , pp. 631f.
  6. ↑ quoted from Ray Otto: Review of the album The Best of Reparata & the Delrons Spectropop.com; Retrieved July 13, 2007
  7. ↑ Radio Bremen - broadcast list ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 13, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radiobremen.de
  8. ↑ Charlotte Greig: Will you still love me tomorrow? Girl bands from the 50s to today. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1991, p. 95; ISBN 3-499-18854-6
  9. ↑ according to South African Rock Lists
  10. ↑ According to his list for the NME of September 16, 1989, reproduced on the Morrissey Solo website, accessed July 12, 2007
  11. ↑ Charlotte Greig: Will you still love me tomorrow? Girl bands from the 50s to today. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1991, ISBN 3-499-18854-6 , p. 96
  12. ↑ According to Ian McPherson's Time Is On Our Side website, accessed July 13, 2007; also Felix Aeppli's Web Basis ( memento of the original from April 20, 2006 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. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mypage.bluewin.ch