THE TOKENS
Brooklyn
turned out so many great group harmony legends its hard to name them all.
And one of the great innovative groups were the Tokens. They touched
so many songs and artists it would take pages to cover them all.
They stand out as one of the most prolific groups of all time. Coming
out of Abraham Lincoln High School in the Brighton Beach section, it all
started in 1955 when a senior named Neil Sedaka (yup - THE Neil Sedaka)
asked a junior named Jay Siegel to join his singing group - then called
the Linc-Tones. The Linc-Tones were Sedaka, Eddie Rabkin, Cynthia
Zolotin and Hank Medress. Siegel replaced Rabkin. Its
Neil Sedaka singing on the Tokens record While I Dream for Morty Craft's
Melba Records. Siegel would join the group to sing on subsequent
Sedaka-Tokens' records like Lover Lips and Right or Wrong. The group
did some performance including doing Lover Lips on the Ted Steele television
program. Jay recalls being so scared that he "almost turned
white."
Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn at Lincoln, two brothers were getting interested in music. It was a move that would change not only the history of the Tokens but all of doo-wop and rock and roll as well. As Phil Margo recalls, it was his second year of high school at Lincoln when his music teacher approached him about singing in boys chorus. Phil's interest in music blossomed from there. Phil's first public performance was with his younger brother Mitch singing an acappella duet of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by the Everely Brothers. It was that first perfomance before a live audience that hooked Phil and Mitch on singing.
Phil graduated
from Lincoln in 1959 and during the summer of that year he worked in the
Catskills as a piano player. At summer's end, he and Mitch
met up with Jay Siegel who was looking to put together a new group.
For the rest of 1959 and into early 1960, Phil, Mitch, Jay and Hank sang
together and wrote some songs, one of which was Tonight I Fell in Love.
They tried pitching the record to Roulette but it passed. After working
on their sound a bit more, they approached Morty Craft who had a new label
- Warwick. Craft liked what he heard and, in 1960, he took them into
the studio to record Tonight I Fell in Love. The group needed
a name to put on the record and originally planned on being called Those
Guys. Craft didn't like that and remembered the old Tokens name and
suggested it. The Tokens name was added to the record and it was
released. It became a Top 20 hit in 1961. The incredible thing
is that Phil was 18 and Mitch just 13 when the record was recorded.
The song, all of 1:39, was popular among DJs because it could be programmed
in between commercials. The group subsequently appeared on American
Bandstand and started touring. However, they made little royalty
money off the record and subsequently they got out of their contract with
Warwick and moved to RCA in June 1961.
The group
then joined RCA to record three records. The first two were
When I Go To Sleep At Night and Sincerely - classic group harmony style
recordings. The group then took a shot at recording an African-style
folk song entitled "Mbube." It was a song that was developed by a
tribe in South Africa. A group known as the Weavers recorded
it as "Wimoweh." The group adapted it to become the Lion Sleeps Tonight
with Jay on lead, Hank as first tenor, Mitch as second tenor and Phil as
bass. Its easily one of the most recognizable songs of the 1960's
era of music. When they first recorded it, Phil Margo recalls, they
knew they had something special but they were almost affraid to release
it because it was so unique. This is because, at a time the records
being released were, as Phil describes it, "I love you, you love me" types,
and "this record would not find its way." They actually told RCA
they did not want to release the record and RCA sent them home. Happily,
they were wrong and the record hit #1 in late 1961 and propelled the Tokens
to superstar status. It was debuted by Dick Smith on WORC, Worchester,
Mass. It went to number 1 on the station and soon there were calls
for 10,000 copies from Boston record stores. While the group made
little or nothing off the record, including being ignored for their original
contributions to the changes to melody of the song, Phil Margo remarks
that he is honored to have been a part of the recording. Its a beautiful
song and lullabye. So much better, says Phil, than "rockabye baby"
which ends with the baby falling out of the cradle. With the Lion
Sleeps Tonight, everything is okay - the lion is sleeping and everyone
is safe. The National Endowment for the Arts and the RIAA included
Lion as one of the 300 greatest songs of the 20th century (#159 actually).
Considering all the talent that recorded during those 100 years of music
- that is quite an honor.
Three
additional records for RCA followed - B'Wa Nina, La Bamba and Hear the
Bells. The group started dabbling in the producing field working
for Capitol Records. They were given a budget of $12,000.
This produced the Revlons' Dry Your Eyes. The group had written and
recorded it themselves for RCA. The Revlons followed with Moonlight
Angel and You Don't Love Me - both produced by the Tokens. At that
point, they found their budget running out but they wanted to produce another
record. An unknown female group - the Chiffons
- walked in the door and the guys wanted to record them. So, being
a self contained group, they played the instruments themselves behind the
ladies. After shopping the song around to 12 different record companies,
Laurie Records finally bit and the record was released with the Chiffons
singing and the Tokens playing behind them (that's actually Phil Margo
on the drums). The record, of course, was He's So Fine - a #1 hit.
Its a record because the Tokens became the first group to not only have
their own million selling record (Lion) but also to produce a million seller
for another group. Hard to believe that such an incredible
record, that hit with some much popularity, took such a long road to be
released. The follow-up record for the Chiffons - One Fine Day -
was a song written by Carole King, who was a friend of Tokens. King
had sent over a demo of the song with her on piano and Little Eva singing
the vocal. They took the demo, replaced Little Eva's vocal
with the Chiffons, added the bass and sax solo and released it. The
result - a top 5 hit for the Chiffons. Carole King's original piano
work from the demo can be heard on the actual released version of the record!
After leaving
Capitol, the group produced such other superstar artists as Tony Orlando
and Dawn (Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Candida, and the #1 - Knock Three Times),
the Happenings (the #1 - I Got Rhythm), and Randy and the Rainbows (Denise).
When I Got Rhythm came out, Jay recalls, the radio stations thought it
was the Tokens under a new name. But Jay says that its really Bobby
Miranda and the Happenings terrific voices on that record.
In fact, the Tokens were responsible for 12 gold records including Robert
John scoring a hit with a remake of Lion in 1970!
On the recording side, being talented musicians and song writers, the group later formed its own record label - B.T. Puppy Records (a take off on RCA's label with Nipper the dog) and they recorded He's In Town and I Hear Trumpets Blow. They also recorded as the Four Winds doing Dear Judy and Arlene - two great Tokenesque tunes. Jay remarks that Judy was his wife's name and Arlene was an old girlfriend of Hank. They subsequently recorded for Warner Brothers doing Portrait of My Love, Its a Happening World and then for Buddah doing She Lets Her Hair Down and Don't Worry Baby. Jay remarks that it wasn't easy getting a hit like Portrait of My Love in 1967 during a time when everyone was looking for British groups. They even later recorded for A.T.C.O. as "Cross Country." The group also found itself highly sought after to write, perform and produce commercials for such products and companies as Wendy's, Dr. Pepper, Ford, and Sears. Safe to say - anyone alive in the 60's and 70's has heard a jingle written and/or performed by the Tokens.
The group amicably went their separate ways in the 1970's and today Jay and the Margos each have actively performing Tokens groups (and web sites). The Margos continue to produce original music with B.T. Puppy Records. They recently released Tonight the Lion Dances - a wonderful CD with a latin flavor. They are working on a new CD - the Tokens Unfurled - a CD of great patriotic tunes including a rousing version of the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, it was the Margos' Tokens that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records when they travelled to every Major League Baseball stadium in 1998 to perform our national anthem. Beginning in April and finishing up at Camden Yards in Baltimore (on the night Cal Ripken's streak ended) - just a short distance from where the song was composed at Fort McKinley - the group wowed hundreds of thousands of baseball fans with their acappella performance.
Jay Siegel's
Tokens are also very active on the doo-wop circuit. People ask Jay
if he gets bored singing the Lion Sleeps Tonight and he responds "absolutely
not - every time its a new experience for a new audience." Singing
with Jay in his current group are Bill Reed and Ed Razonico. They
do a number of shows every year and are an exciting group to catch any
time. The two groups came together for a reunion on Doo-Wop 51 - a great
site to see 3 of the original 4 members (Jay, Phil and Mitch) together
again singing the songs we all know and love. More great entertainment
from one of the most entertaining and creative group of guys ever assembled.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Click here for the Tokens web sites: Jay Siegel and the Tokens
Click here to purchase the 3 CD set of Tokens music & commercials: Doo-Wop Shop