The MY MUSIC series returns to its record-breaking roots with "Doo Wop Love Songs," an all-new salute to heartfelt harmonies that spotlights legendary acts from the 1950s and 1960s, many of whom haven’t performed together in decades.
Among the doo-wop pioneers who reunite in this historic special are the Tokens with their pair of 1961 smashes “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Tonight I Fell in Love.” Cleveland Still & the Dubs reprise their 1957 spine-tingler “Could This Be Magic,” and the Classics reminisce with the sweetly sentimental “Til Then.”
The Original Drifters, with founding singer Bill Pinkney, gather for the first time on public television to present the holiday favorite “White Christmas.” Sadly, this was among Pinkney’s final performances; he passed away on July 4, 2007.
Later group members, billed as Charlie Thomas’ Drifters, appear along with one of the group’s most famous singers, Ben E. King, for the iconic “Stand By Me.”
"Doo Wop Love Songs" also features musical memories from a beloved solo artist: Carol Connors, original lead singer for The Teddy Bears, wistfully sings the million-selling standard “To Know Him Is to Love Him” (1958).
Frankie Lymon’s Teenagers revive their most famous recording, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” along with “I Want You to Be My Girl.” The Students team with 13-year-old sensation Kid Kyle on “I’m So Young,” proving that doo wop isn’t just for baby boomers.
More ballads with a beat are heard from the Demensions, who offer the wistful evergreen “Over the Rainbow,” the Safaris with their evocative “Image of a Girl,” which charted top 10 in 1960, and the Mystics, who serenade softly with the lilting “Hushabye.”
"Doo Wop Love Songs" delivers a powerful punch of emotional, feel-good sounds from a simpler time and continues the intention of the MY MUSIC series to preserve vital American music legacies, exclusively on PBS.
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