The Teenagers
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The Teenagers are an American doo wop group.
The group formed in 1955 with members Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant, Herman Santiago, Sherman Garnes, and Joe Negroni. They were one of the first "kiddie lead" groups, and were known for both their harmony and choreography.
They had their biggest hit in 1956 with Why Do Fools Fall In Love?. Other popular songs included I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent and ABCs of Love.
By 1957, Frankie was pushed to the front. The group was billed as "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers". This caused in-fighting, which ultimately led to Frankie leaving to do solo work by the end of the year.
The group continued recording, bringing in new lead Billy Lobrano. Lobrano, as the group's first white member, made them even more racially mixed, now with two black, two hispanic, and one white member. The group had little success with Lobrano, he left around mid-1958.
Merchant, Santiago, Garnes, and Negroni continued as a quartet, but still weren't able to find success in any new recordings. They tried a quintet lineup again in 1960, with new lead Johnny Houston, but to no avail. They continued mainly as an "oldies circuit" group from this point on. Female vocalists sang Frankie's part throughout the 1970s.
The group lost half of its members in the late 1970s, when Sherman Garnes died in 1977, and Joe Negroni in 1978. Their replacements were Bobby Jay and Frankie's brother Lewis Lymon, respectively.
By 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 lineup appeared on the PBS sepcial, Doo Wop 51, in 2000.
Lewis Lymon left to join Beary Hobbs' Drifters around 2003. The group's current lineup is Jimmy Merchant, Herman Santiago, Bobby Jay, Timothy Wilson, and Dickie Harmon. They are often billed as Frankie Lymon's Teenagers.
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