The Marcels - Blue Moon 1961 (LP CP-416)- .wmv video

Personnel : Cornelius "Nini" Harp (Lead and Guitar) Ronald "Bingo" Mundy (First Tenor) Gene Bricker (Second Tenor) & after Walt Maddox (Second Tenor) Richard Knauss (Baritone) & after Allen Johnson (Baritone) Fred Johnson (Bass) The group was named by Fred Johnson's younger sister Priscilla, after a popular hair style of the day (the Marcell wave). In 1961 many were shocked to hear a new version of the ballad, "Blue Moon" that began with the bass singer saying, "bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip." Still, the record sold a million copies and is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The disc climbed all the way to number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. In their US homeland, additional revivals in the same vein as "Blue Moon" - "Heartaches" and "Melancholy Baby" - were less successful, although the former peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over one million copies worldwide. The group had two other singles that hit No. 78 and No. 58 on the same chart. In August 1961, due to problems encountered in the Deep South while touring because of the group being bi-racial, the white members, Knauss and Bricker left and were replaced by Allen Johnson (brother of Fred) and Walt Maddox. Mundy left soon after, leaving the group a quartet. In 1962, Harp and Allen Johnson left, and were replaced by Richard Harris and William Herndon. There was a brief reunion of the original members in 1973. The group ...