A neighbor’s love letters, five kids from Harlem, and a 13-year-old lead singer. The story behind a 1956 doo-wop classic.
In 1955, a group of teenage boys used to sing harmony together in the hallways and on the stoops of their neighborhood in upper Manhattan. One day a neighbor handed them a bundle of love letters his girlfriend had written to him in verse, hoping they might find a song in them.
Two of the boys, Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, turned one of those letters into a song about birds. A little later it got a new title: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.”
A 13-Year-Old Lead Singer
The group had a new member, a kid from down the street named Frankie Lymon. When they auditioned for a record company, Frankie stepped up to sing lead. He was just 13 years old.
The record came out in January 1956. It went to No. 1 on the R&B chart and into the pop top 10, and the boys, now billed as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, became one of the first teenage rock and roll acts to become stars.
Why It Still Matters
Decades later, Diana Ross took the song back into the top 10 in 1981. But for many people, nothing beats the bright, joyful voice of a 13-year-old singing it for the first time.
Could you hit those high notes back in the day? Tell us in the comments on Facebook. We read every one.