The Marcels
The Marcels were one of several doo-wop influenced American vocal groups to score success in the early '60s, despite the passing of the genre's golden age. Cornelius Nini Harp (lead singer), Ronald Bingo Mundy (tenor), Fred Johnson (bass), Gene Bricker (tenor) and Richard Knauss (baritone), all native to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA, achieved fame for their distinctive version of Richard Rodgers/ Lorenz Hart's classic Blue Moon, previously a UK Top 10 hit for Elvis Presley in 1956, which topped both the US and UK charts in 1961. Johnson's distinctive bass introduction to the song has remained as one of most enduring vocal phrases of the time. The quartet scored a further US Top 10 hit that year with Heartaches, but its personnel was unstable, with Allen Johnson replacing Knauss and Walt Maddox replacing Bricker. Mundy walked out on the group during this same period, and this did nothing to prepare them for the ever-changing trends prevalent during the early '60s, and, eventually undermined the Marcels’ long-term aspirations.