Aronoff Center Presents THE ULTIMATE DOO-WOP SHOW Tonight

The record-breaking PBS-TV music specials, 50 Years of Doo-Wop, were so well received that they created a new showcase and new audiences for veteran Doo-Wop artists. Now these original artists, whose combined sales number over 200 million records, are back on the road performing live, and will dance into the Aronoff Center’s Procter & Gamble Hall with The Ultimate Doo-Wop Show tonight, November 16, 2012 at 8:00 PM. The family-friendly show will treat concertgoers to the songs they danced to at sock hops, while allowing younger audiences to discover that Doo-Wop is feel-good music no matter what your age.

Tickets are on sale now at www.CincinnatiArts.org, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], or the Aronoff Center Ticket Office. Group discounts are available by calling (513) 977-4157.

The impressive list of those original artists who will be part of the Cincinnati Ultimate Doo-Wop Show are: Jimmy Beaumont & The Skyliners (Since I Don’t Have You, Pennies from Heaven, This I Swear, It Happened Today), The Marcels (Blue Moon, Heartaches, Summertime),The Edsels (Rama Lama Ding Dong, Love is True, Diamonds & Pearls), The Volumes (I Love You, Gotta Give Her Love), Stormy Weather (Street Corner Serenade), The Blue Suede Orchestra (Buzz, Buzz, Buzz), and very special guests, The Motown Experience, a world class group assembled from members of The Contours, The Miracles and former members of The Temptations (Do You Love Me?, Oo Baby Baby, My Girl).

The name Doo-Wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and areas of greater Los Angeles, including El Monte and Compton. Built upon vocal harmony, Doo-Wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the time.

As a musical genre, Doo-Wop is a type of vocal group harmony with the musical qualities of many vocal parts, nonsense syllables, a simple beat, little or no instrumentation, and simple music and lyrics. It is ensemble singing with single artists appearing with a backing group. Solo billing usually implies that the individual is more prominent in the musical arrangement.

African-American vocal groups such as The Ink Spots and The Mills Brothers, both from Cincinnati, had record hits during the years of World War II that set important precedents for the genre. The Ink Spots had a string of record successes in 1939-40, both in the USA and in Britain, with "My Prayer," "Bless You," and "Whispering Grass," and The Mills Brothers followed suit in 1943-44 with "Paper Doll," "You Always Hurt The One You Love," and "Till Then."

These were generally slow songs in swing time with simple instrumentation and close four-part harmony reminiscent of the barbershop quartet – which The Mills Brothers once had been. The subject of the lyrics was generally love and relationships.

The term "doo-wop" is first known to have appeared in print in 1961 in the Chicago Defender, when fans of the music coined the term during the height of a vocal harmony resurgence. The phrase has been attributed to the radio disc jockey Gus Gossert, but Gossert himself said that "doo-wop was already being used [before me] to categorize the music in California.”

WHAT: The Ultimate Doo-Wop Show
WHEN: Friday, November 16, 2012 • 8:00 PM
WHERE: Aronoff Center for the Arts – Procter & Gamble Hall
PRICES: $67.50 • $56 • $45 • $35

TICKET INFORMATION – on sale now
· www.CincinnatiArts.org
· (513) 621-ARTS [2787]
· Aronoff Center Ticket Office
· Group sales (10 or more): (513) 977-4157

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