The Tokens—best known for their chart-topping 1961 single, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”—were formed in 1955 at Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School and were known first as The Linc-Tones. The group’s original members were Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin; Rabkin was replaced by Jay Siegel in 1956. The band recorded its first […]
Read MoreBrooklyn native Johnny Maestro began his career singing with a group from Manhattan called The Crests. Their first records (including “My Juanita” and “Sweetest One”) generated some regional response, but it was the breakthrough of “Sixteen Candles” that brought them national recognition. A string of hits followed, including “Trouble In Paradise,” “Step By Step,” “The […]
Read MoreLittle Anthony was born Jerome Anthony Gourdine in 1941 and grew up in Brooklyn. While in high school, he sang in a doo-wop group called The Duponts. After graduation, he joined another Brooklyn-based group called The Chesters, formed by his friend Clarence Collins; the band also featured Ernest Wright, Jr., Tracy Lord, and Nat Rogers. […]
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