Forever Doo-Wop: Race, Nostalgia, and Vocal Harmony

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T his book would not have been possible without the help of a constellation of teachers, advisers, colleagues, musicians, family, and friends, many of whom are listed below. My gratitude begins with heartfelt thanks to the faculty and staff of the New York University Department of Music who gave me the necessary institutional support to commence this endeavor and provided me with a community of empathic fellow academic travelers as I worked. For insight and support at early stages, I wish to thank Kyra Gaunt. Gage Averill and Mercedes DuJunco were enthusiastic and inspiring guides through my first encounters with ethnomusicology and fieldwork. My appreciation goes as well to Stanley Boorman, Mirjana Lausevic, Fred Moten, Steven Feld, Robert Moore, Adelaida Reyes-Schramm, Ana Maria Ochoa-Gautier, and Jason King for their invaluable insights and advice along the way. The symposium “Italian Americans and Early Rock and Roll” organized by Joseph Sciorra and sponsored by the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and the Catholic Center at Queens College in Flushing, New York, proved essential to my understanding of the interracial nature of doo-wop music making. My acknowledgments to the doo-wop community must begin with Earl “Speedo” Carroll, leader of the Cadillacs and the main informant in my research. His revelations about his own life and the life of the community are the heart and soul of this book. Bobby Phillips and Gary Lewis, the other two current members of the group, were also prime ethnographic informants and musical mentors. Beyond this core are past members of the Cadillacs Eddie Jones and Johnny Brown and past and current members of their band, Peter Millrose, Tass Filipos, Al Cohen, Randy Gilmore, Freddie Cash, Reggie Barnes, Jim Wacker, Bob DesJardins, Richard Ruiz, and Roger Byam. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Shirley Alston Reeves, former lead singer of the Shirelles, and the many members of her singing group and band, with whom I gained additional perspective on oldies circuit performance—singers Iris Lammers and Tanya Alexander and musicians ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xviii acknowledgments Greg Woods, Cleveland Freeman, Carl Vreeland, Anthony Vigliotti, Paul Page, and John DiGiulio. Other doo-wop community members who were essential to my research include Bobby Jay, Dave Somerville, Al “Diz” Russell , Vito Picone, Nick Santamaria, Richard and Deborah Nader, Rob Albanese , Pete Mastropaolo, and Andrea Seigel. Through interviews with, observation of, and interaction with these people and many others too numerous to mention, I was granted privileged inside access to this fascinating and dynamic music making community. I also offer special thanks to photographer Julius “Juice” Freeman for providing the wonderful concert pictures of the Cadillacs that illustrate this book and David Booth for archival photos of the group. My gratitude also goes out to my colleagues and friends in the academic community: Dan Neely, Melvin Butler, William Kingswood, Bernd Gottinger, Dana Richardson, Maria Rose, Tom Brett, Joyce Hughes, Talia Jimenez, Sean Mulhall, Scott Currie, Scott Spencer, Eric Usner, and Rena Mueller. Most special thanks go to the folks at UMass Press, especially senior editor Clark Dougan, managing editor and copy editor extraordinaire Carol Betsch, American Popular Music series editor and reader Jeffrey Melnick and reader Robert Pruter. My good friend Gwendolyn Corbette, who passed away in 2008, provided invaluable clerical support during all stages of this project, and I miss her dearly. My undying thanks I give to Ettore Toppi, Mike Vassaras, Kurt Gundersen, Dore and Elizabeth Abrams, Brendan Mee, David Rieth II, and Barry Smith for their long-standing and steadfast friendship and support . Mother Gale, father Victor and wife Linda, brother Mark and wife Cookie, brother Chris, sisters Victoria and Kyra, uncle Bill, cousin Ben and wife Jill, aunt Francoise, mother-in-law Zilma, brother-in-law David and wife Sandra, and godmother-in-law Beulah: Thank you for providing the loving familial foundation on which I stand. Finally, and most especially, my deepest gratitude goes to my wife Barbara . Without her steadfast encouragement, long-term vision, and editorial prowess, the writing of this book would have been mere fantasy. Throughout it all, she has just been there for me with her grace, spirit, and beauty, and it is with profound love and affection that I thank her. FOREVER DOO-WOP ...