Saturday 29 December 2018

Jerry Summers born 29 December 1942


Jerry Summers (born Jerome David Gross) 29 December 1942 is a founder member and lead singer with the Dovells.

The Dovells were a rock vocal group formed in Philadelphia, PA, in 1957, as The Brooktones (taking their name from Overbrook High School, which all its members attended). The original members were lead singer Len Barry, Jerry Summers, Mike Freda, Arnie 
Satin, Jim Mealey and Mark Gordesky. They started to get dates singing at various school functions and every so often at a local record store owned by John Madara, who was also a songwriter (he co-wrote "At the Hop" for Danny and the Juniors). The group recorded a song called "No, No, No", which got some local play, but they remained little known outside the Philadelphia area and soon broke up.

While Summers and Freda formed another group, The Gems, Barry and the others negotiated with other producers and labels, including noted Philly producer Robert P. Marcucci and his Chancellor 
Len Barry, Arnie Silver, Jerry Summers, Mike Freda, Jim Meeley.
Records, which was the label to such rock stars as Frankie Avalon and Fabian. They also added William Skunkwiler and Jerry Sirlin to replace the departed Summers and Freda. In late 1960 they auditioned for Philly's Cameo/Parkway Records, which liked what
it heard and immediately signed them. Lead singer Barry asked Summers and Freda to rejoin the group, and they did. Cameo/Parkway co-owner Bernie Lowe told the group they needed a new name, and he suggested they rename themselves The 
Deauvilles (after a famous hotel in Miami Beach). The members liked the sound of the name but thought it would be too hard to spell, so they changed it to The Dovells.

Their first record was to be a cover of a 1957 ballad by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers called "Out in the Cold Again", but during production a Cameo promotions man came into the studio and told the producers about a new dance that kids at a dance hall in Bristol--a suburb of Philadelphia--were doing, called "The Stomp". He brought along a copy of a record cut by some students called "Every Day of the Week" and played it for 
them. The producers liked it, stopped the session, went home that night and the next day came back with a song called "The Bristol Stomp" ("Out in the Cold Again" became that record's "B" side). The song, released in late 1961, eventually got to #2 on the Billboard charts and later went to #1 on the CashBox and R&B charts. The group's follow-up songs, all dance tunes, made it to the charts, although not as successful as "Bristol Stomp".


                          

In January 1963 they released their second true smash, the driving "You Can't Sit Down", hitting the top 5 on both pop and R&B charts. The follow-up to that song, "Betty in Bermudas", however, only made it to #50. Not long after afterwards the band heard a tape of a song by an unknown English band that had been leased to a 
small US label, Swan Records (co-owned by Philadelphia personality Dick Clark). They liked the song and recorded it, but Cameo Records kept putting off its release and nothing ever came of it. The unknown English group, as it turns out, was The Beatles and the song was "She Loves You". The Dovells' version of it remains unreleased.

The group toured with some of the biggest acts of the day, including Fabian, Jackie Wilson and Chubby Checker, and worked as backup singers for several of Cameo's recording stars (they're the vocal group on Checker's "Let's Twist Again"). Eventually, however, the pressures of touring and tensions within the group resulted in Barry leaving in December of 1963.

Barry signed with Decca Records and in 1965 released his biggest solo hit, "1-2-3", which hit #2 on the Billboard charts. His two follow-up songs made it to the Top 40, but were not as successful as his first one. The group continued as a trio and recorded with 
varying degrees of success (they appeared in a low-budget rock film, Don't Knock the Twist (1962)), and in 1974  recorded a cover of "Dancin' in the Street," which had been a huge hit for Martha and the Vandellas ten years before in 1964, but their version -- for the Event label -- barely charted at number 105. They continued to perform until Satin gave notice that he, too, would be leaving the group. Stevens and Summers decided to continue, having band members filling in on vocals and developing a Dean Martin/Jerry 
Jerrry Summers  & Mark Stevens
Lewis-styled stage act to go with their million-selling hits. This approach enabled them to work for another 16 weeks a year in Las Vegas.

In 1991, Len Barry rejoined for two reunion performances. Summer and Stevens continue to perform nationally and internationally and have performed for former president Bill Clinton twice at inaugural balls. Summers also produces corporate events and runs an advertising agency when not performing with the Dovells.

(Edited from IMDb  mini bio)

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

FOR “The Dovells - Sharp As A Pistol! - All The Hits All The Time - 2 Complete Albums Plus Bonus Tracks”! GO HERE:

https://www.upload.ee/files/9361146/The_DOVELLS.rar.html

BRISTOL STOMP
1. BRISTOL STOMP
2. OUT IN THE COLD AGAIN
3. LITTLE GIRL OF MINE
4. DESERIE
5. FOOT STOMPIN'
6. THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN
7. MOPE-ITTY-MOPE
8. I REALLY LOVE YOU
9. CHANGE
10. NO NO NO
11. LET'S TWIST AGAIN
ALL THE HITS OF THE TEEN GROUPS
12. IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT
13. THERE GOES MY BABY
14. YOUR LAST CHANCE
15. TRICKLE TRICKLE
16. THE CLOCK
17. TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
18. BRISTOL TWISTIN' ANNIE
19. WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE?
20. TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT
21. LITTLE BITTY PRETTY ONE
22. I WANT YOU TO BE MY GIRL
23. OH WHAT A NIGHT
BONUS TRACKS
24. HULLY GULLY BABY
25. THE JITTERBUG
26. KISSIN' IN THE KITCHEN
27. STOMPIN' EVERYWHERE
28. CHEAT
29. DO THE NEW CONTINENTAL
30. WHY NOT YOU
31. LETTERS OF LOVE
32. THE ACTOR

Although primarily remembered as a blue eyed soul outfit with a predilection for dance craze records, The Dovells were a serious white doo wop group who were heavily influenced by the vocal groups who emerged from New York during the late 1950s.This great 32 track set features the two complete albums Bristol Stomp and All the Hits of the Teen Groups plus bonus tracks.

Includes the hits 'Bristol Stomp', 'Bristol Twistin' Annie', 'Hully Gully Baby' and more. This set is a must for fans of groups such as The Four Seasons, The Crests or The Belmonts etc. and just doo wop fans in general.