Frankie Lymon
Overview
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
/rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, best known as the boy soprano
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
lead singer of a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based early rock and roll group, The Teenagers
The Teenagers
The Teenagers are an American integrated doo wop group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed...
. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, an integrated
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
group, included three African American members, Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant and Sherman Garnes, and two Puerto Rican members, Herman Santiago
Herman Santiago
Herman Santiago is a rock and roll pioneer and songwriter who claimed to have written the iconic hit "Why Do Fools Fall In Love".-Early years:Santiago was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Manhattan, New York...
and Joe Negroni
Joe Negroni
Joe Negroni was a rock and roll pioneer and founding member of the rock and roll group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.-Early years:...
.
The Teenagers' first single, 1956's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (song)
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a song that was originally a hit for early New York City-based rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers in 1956. It reached No. 1 on the R&B chart, No. 6 on Billboards Pop Singles chart, and number one on the UK Singles Chart...
", was also their biggest hit.
Unanswered Questions
