Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon (1956) @ 320

 

Franklin Joseph Lymon

"Frankie" Lymon (September 30, 1942 Harlem, New York – February 27, 1968) was an American Rock and Roll / Rhythm & Blues singer and songwriter.

He was best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll group, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and those of the Teenagers fell into decline. At age 25, he was found dead in his grandmother's bathroom from a heroin overdose. Lymon is buried in New York at the St. Raymond's Cemetery/ Bronx. He has a second tombstone, which was payed through benefit concerts organise by the United in Group Harmony Association, represented by Ronnie Italiano. Due legal rights the tombstone on his grave ist placed by his widow Emira Lymon-Eagle. So the tombstone by the UGHA is now displayed at the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. His life inspired the 1998 film, Why Do Fools Fall In Love?. 

The Teenagers 

The Teenagers had their origins in the Earth Angels, a group founded at Edward W. Stitt Junior High School in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan by second tenor Jimmy Merchant and bass Sherman Garnes.[3] Eventually, Garnes and Merchant had added lead singer Herman Santiago and baritone Joe Negroni to their lineup and evolved into The Coupe De Villes.In 1954, 12-year-old Frankie Lymon joined the Coupe De Villes, who changed their name to first the Ermines and later the Premiers.

The same year Lymon joined the group, he helped Santiago and Merchant rewrite a song they had composed to create "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". The song got the Teenagers an audition with George Goldner's Gee Records, but Santiago was too sick to sing lead on the day of the audition. Lymon sang the lead on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" instead, and the group was signed to Gee as The Teenagers, with Lymon as lead singer.

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was the Teenagers' first and biggest hit. The group, known for both their harmony and choreography, also had hits with "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" and "The ABC's of Love".

By 1957, the group was being billed as "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers". This caused in-fighting, and by September, Goldner had pulled Lymon out of the group to record solo. Lymon had little success as a solo artist. He became a heroin addict at the age of 15 and his sales dropped quickly in the early 1960s. In 1966, he stopped using heroin after being forced to go to the army, but on February 27, 1968, he decided to celebrate his good fortune by taking heroin (he was planning to launch a comeback) and died of a heroin overdose at the age of 25 on the floor of his grandmother's bathroom. He had been clean since entering the army two years earlier. The Teenagers continued recording, bringing in a new lead. Billy Lobrano, as the group's first white member, made them more racially mixed, now with two black, one white, and two Hispanic members. The group had little success with Lobrano, and he left. Sherman Garnes died of a heart attack in 1977,[3] while Joe Negroni died a year later due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Their replacements were Bobby Jay and Frankie's brother Lewis Lymon, respectively.

In the 1980s, the Teenagers had resorted to using a female singer to imitate Lymon's prepubescent voice, and Pearl McKinnon joined the band. The members at that time were Jimmy Merchant, Herman Santiago, Eric Ward, and Pearl McKinnon.[3] By 1983, Ward had been replaced by Derek Ventura,[3] and in 1984 Phil Garrito took over for Ventura. Roz Morehead replaced McKinnon, and Marilyn Byers moved into Morehead's lead spot. Later in the 1980s the group had settled on a new lead, Jimmy Castor. Castor remained lead until the 1990s, when he was replaced by Timothy Wilson, former lead of Tiny Tim and the Hits. This line-up appeared on the PBS special Doo Wop 51 in 2000.[]

The group's line-up was Herman Santiago, Bobby Jay, Terry King and Terrance Farward. They were often billed as Frankie Lymon's Legendary Teenagers or The Legendary Teenagers

01. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Why Do Fools Fall In Love

02. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Please Be Mine

03. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Who Can Explain

04. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Share

05. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Love Is A Clown

06. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - I Promise To Remember

07. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - I Want You To Be My Girl

08. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - I'm Not A Know It All

09. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Baby, Baby

10. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - The ABC's Of Love

11. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - Am I Fooling Myself Again

12. The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon - I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent

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