Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop

Book excerpt: Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s digs back through the catalogue of popular music and brings to life the solo artists, duos, and groups whose music once filled the airwaves and turntables with rock & roll and doo-wop. The Doctor of Doo-Wop, J.C. De Ladurantey, brings his expertise, honed by hosting a weekly radio show, “Making Your Memories,” to his revelation of the backstories of these trendsetting artists. Until the British Invasion in mid 1963 changed the direction of American music, the sounds created by the artists profiled in Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop shaped the entertainment soundtrack of a generation. This music history shares the little-known details of the lives of these artists, the history of the period, the distinctiveness of the music, and the power and influence of the songs’ lyrics. Making Your Memories with Rock & Roll and Doo-Wop: The Music and Artists of the 1950s and Early 1960s will leave echoes of the time’s memorable songs in your mind’s ear and their lyrics on the tip of your tongue. You’ll discover a fresh desire to find the recordings and give them another “spin” on your “record player,” even if your digital music lives in the cloud.