Sons of Doo-Wop:
The Great Boy Groups of the Late 50’s and Early 60’s
In-Person – 1:10 pm – 2:50 pm
March 11, 18, 25, April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
We focus on the too-often overlooked American male harmony groups that combined elements of pop, rock, and Doo-Wop music to create a sound that defied easy categorization, and yet, proved extremely popular with teen and adult record buyers not necessarily interested in either Rockabilly, Surf Music, Soul Music or The British Invasion.
- Week 1: “White Bread” cover groups of the 50’s -The Crewcuts, The Four Preps
- Week 2: Crossovers of the late-50’s – Danny & The Juniors, Dion & The Belmonts
- Week 3: More Crossovers – Johnny Maestro, Little Anthony, The “New” Drifters
- Week 4: King of The Boy Groups – The Four Seasons
- Week 5: Boy Groups Rule! – The Tokens, Jay & The Americans, The Tymes
- Week 6: A mixed bag – The Lettermen, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, The Vogues
- Week 7: A very mixed bag – The Turtles, The Sandpipers, The Buckinghams
- Week 8: End of an era – The Happenings, Gary Puckett, Classics IV, The Association
Gary Carlson, retired Professor of English at Norwalk Community College, earned BS and MS degrees from SCSU, as well as an MFA from Warren Wilson College. He taught for 10 years at SCSU and 25 years at NCC (now CT State College Norwalk) and served as an adjunct professor at various local colleges. At NCC, Carlson created and taught courses on writing, literature, film and pop culture. A published writer of fiction, non-fiction, film and music criticism, he also hosted several local radio programs on music history and was the founder and host of NCC’s long-running “Movie-of-the-Month Film Series.”