Tag Archives: Joanne and the Heartaches

Searching for the Echo-Book and Film Shine Light on 1960s Street Corner Acappella Groups

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By Sally Deering

Acappella groups – four or five guys singing harmonies with no back-up band – bridged the gap between 1950s Doo-Wop and 1960s rock and roll, but until now, little has been written about that time in music history when teenagers harmonized on street corners, inside subways and underneath train trestles searching for the echo that gave them their sound.

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Abraham Santiago and Steven Dunham author's preserving a music genre of the 1960s

Abraham Santiago grew up in Jersey City and remembers the days he sang tenor in The Concepts,concepts a street corner acappella group of fellow students from Ferris High School in Jersey City. Santiago, who now resides in Chicago, took his memories of those days and collaborated on a book and documentary about the acappella era with Steve Dunham, an acappella enthusiast and music producer in Las Vegas with a mammoth acappella record collection and a passion for singing street harmonies.

 “Acappella Street Corner Vocal Groups:  A Brief History and Discography of 1960s Singing Groups,” (Mellow Sound Press, Chicago,167 pgs;) chronicles every street corner acappella group ever recorded from that time like  heartaches-cover-of-albumJoanne and the Heartaches, the Royal Counts royal-countsthe-persuassionsand the Persuasions; and the record companies that produced their songs, like Snowflake, Relic and Catamount. The documentary, “Street Corner Harmony: The Missing Link in Rock and Roll History,” narrated by record producer Wayne Stierle delves deeper into the singers’ lives and the genre of acappella music. Both the book and the documentary are touchstones to a bygone era, the time between the 1950s and 1960s, when musical tastes shifted to British rockers like The Beatles and short-haired teens singing acappella became as old-hat as the Hi-Fi record players that spun their songs.         Continue reading Searching for the Echo-Book and Film Shine Light on 1960s Street Corner Acappella Groups

DO YOU WANNA ROCK? The Sons of Saint Rocco-Music Interview -Phil Granito

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Debut CD from The Sons of Saint Rocco
is a roots of Rhythm & Blues explosion

http://sonsofsaintrocco.com

The River View Observer sat down with Phil Granito and talked about his debut album, The Sons of Saint Rocco, which “drops” this week, to talk about the tracks, life, and whatever comes up.

RVO : I have to say the record sounds like fun from beginning to end.

Phil: I was doing it for fun. I brought in a lot of friends to work with me. Bobby Jay and Angel Risoffs both came in and helped me out with the vocals. Bobby sang bass on all the tracks and Angel performed the background vocals on BOOT ‘EM UP. Just terrific, and very humbling, the caliber of players who came together for me. These guys have played with Chuck Berry, Darlene Love and Bo Diddely, just to name a very few. It’s not about name-dropping, you know, it’s about heritage. They’ve been at the center of the scene for the last quarter century and they feel the same way about this music as I do.

RVO: Yes, it’s obvious from listening to the performances that there’s a deep knowledge here, but also a very authentic passion. Continue reading DO YOU WANNA ROCK? The Sons of Saint Rocco-Music Interview -Phil Granito

Street Corner Harmony Trailer-The Urban Sounds of the City

Back in the 60s before the tall buildings in Downtown Jersey City, the sidewalks echoed with the sound of Street Corner Harmony- Acappella Groups sang on every corner and under the trestles of the embankments
The trailer you are about to see is for a documentary being released next year and featuring groups from the 60s -Pioneer Acappella Groups
that paved the way for future performers and genres of music.

The Concepts- The Persuassions- - Joanne and the Heartaches -The Royal Counts- The Savoys and hundreds and hundred of street corner vocal groups that were formed in every major city and sang all up and down the Eastern Seaboard.