The Five Boroughs are a truly unique contemporary doo-wop group.  If you look at today's doo-wop groups, you usually have original doo-wop groups performing under their original names with a few of their original members.  Or you have new groups of singers who were not around in the original days of doo-wop but who perform the music nonetheless.  The Five Boroughs, on the other hand, are a new group comprised of original members of great doo-wop groups.  A terrific blending of some of the best doo-wop talent from the five boroughs of New York (thus the name).  Since their inception around 1986, the Five Boroughs have counted such great original doo-wopers as Tony Passalaqua (the Fascinators), Jimmy Gallagher (the Passions), Frank Iovino (the Bob Knight Four), and Charlie Notabartolo (The Casual Airs), among their membership.  The current members of the group are as follows:

Dave Strum - The Excellents - "Coney Island Baby"
Frank Iovino - The Bob Knight Four - "Good-Good Bye"
Steve Ward
Johnny Sorrentino
Jimmy DellaRosa - Street Corner Memories
Bruce Goldie - The Dreamers - "Because of You"
Charlie Notabartolo - The Casual Airs - "At the Dance"

Frank Iovino was the force behind the formation of the group which occurred around 1985-86.  As Frank tells it, he had moved down to Florida in the early 1970's and was working and living down there.  In the mid 1980's, he started seeing more and more interest in doo-wop.  Eventually, he found other original doo-wopers that had also moved to the Florida area and that lead to a weekly get together at a struggling recording studio.  The guys (over 10 at that time ) were all original doo-wopers or at least guys that grew up during that era, in and around the New York City area and loved the sound.  They would get together at the studio, listen to music, sing and hang out together.

Frank and some of the original group members finally decided in 1986 to form a group called Bits and Pieces and to record some tracks.  That lead to an EP being recorded for the Telemedia label featuring Gloria (with Tony P. on leads) and Don't Say Goodnight (with Jimmy Gallagher).  Great stuff!  The recording was a success and the group started doing the club circuit.  The next years, 1987-88, they recorded for Avenue D Records doing some great accapella tracks.  The Five Boroughs were starting to attract attention from a lot of the big name doo-wop groups.  Frank explains that the big name groups would come down to Florida to perform and many times just the lead singer would come and would be in need of backup singers.  That's where the versatility and talent of the Five Boroughs would come in.  The group backed up such big name acts as Dion, Carl Gardner (the Coasters) and Rudy West (the Five Keys).

In 1990, as a well established contemporary doo-wop recording artist, the Five Boroughs were honored by being the first non-original doo-wop group to record for the great doo-wop revival label Classic Artists.  The group's CD entitled Count Every Star is really great (hear the cuts below).  The special thing about it is that it features different doo-wop cuts, and not the usual cuts attempted by other groups.  This fact demonstrates the many talents of the Five Boroughs' personnel.  In 1996, the group performed some cuts for Steve Propes great Christmas CD - Have a Merry Doo-Wop Christmas (hear the cuts below) once again as the only non-original doo-wop group to be selected for that recording.

Currently, the group is performing regularly (click here to see their upcoming dates on our Calendar of Upcoming Events) and the have a new CD coming out soon.  As for Frank, he continues to be one of the hardest working and nicest people you will meet in the world of doo-wop, and the Five Boroughs continue to be a force in the world of contemporary doo-wop!

Current Information

Click here for the Five Boroughs' own web page and for information on how to purchase their new CD or to book them for a doo-wop show:   Five Boroughs