Expressions of Creative Passion: Introduction

Expressions of Creative Passion is a study of five musical artists. I have chosen them not for their ‘fame and fortune’. In fact, I have chosen them because at times in their careers, they had to wrestle with challenges to those most sought after goals. Instead, I chose them because, to me, they embody riches far greater than ‘fame and fortune’. I chose them for their extraordinary embodiments of creative passion.

Three are male and two are female. One was born in the 1910’s, one in the 1930’s and three are alive today. In fact, one only started singing within the last decade. One is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Another is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Under recognized creative genius
Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Gayle Wald

 

Expressions of Creative Passion: Part One

PERSEVERANCE
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY
SISTER ROSETTA THARPE

Sister Rosetta has come to be known as the ‘Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll. She invented styles of singing and guitar pickin’ that were adopted by later, greater artists who got the credit. She was never inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame despite fervent attempts. She is remembered only by the most erudite of Rock ‘n’ Roll students.

creative genius behind Little Anthony & the Imperials
Clarence Collins



Expressions of Creative Passion: Part Two

HEART & SOUL
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY CLARENCE COLLINS AND
ARETHA FRANKLIN

Clarence Collins was the founder and a member of ‘Little Anthony & The Imperials’. The guys met and became famous as teenagers from Boys High School in Brooklyn, NY.

creative genius, prolific songrwriter, wonderful singer and teen movie idol
Teddy Randazzo

 

Expressions of Creative Passion: Part Three

TIMELESSNESS
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY TEDDY RANDAZZO

Teddy Randazzo, like Sister Rosetta Tharpe showed musical prowess as a child. He played the accordion so well that even his ‘hard to please’ father agreed he had talent. His songs were big successes with Little Anthony & The Imperials and sung by cross generational stars.

Keith Galliher Jr. Music
Keith Galliher Jr. Music

 

Expressions of Creative Passion: Part Four

SERENDIPITY
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY KEITH GALLIHER JR. MUSIC

Thanks to Keith Galliher, Jr. Teddy’s music is experiencing a long overdue revival and recognition. It is a great joy and will become so for many people.

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The Doo Wop Revival

Doo Wop music was popular when I was a young teenager

So the revival of Doo Wop is really special and precious to me. In case you did not know there is a revival of Doo Wop music or even know what Doo Wop music is, this blog post will educate, enlighten and entertain. I promise.

Without going into great depth, this Doo Wop post will focus on three pivotal people and one musical group involved in this revival. To focus on more would become encyclopedic. The four focal points will start with, Little Anthony & The Imperials.

Doo Wop Revival
Little Anthony & The Imperials

Next is Clarence Collins who has the distinct honor of being not only the founder of this musical group but had a history with another group. When Anthony (nicknamed ‘Little Anthony’) came into the picture, the Imperials were born. Here’s Clarence’s own words about his story as only he can tell it.

Clarence Collins, Founder of Little Anthony & The Imperials

Doo Wop Revival
Doo Wop Revival Clarence Collins, founder of Little Anthony & The Imperials and singer

Keith Galliher Jr. Singer and King of the Doo Wop Revival
Keith Galliher Jr. is, in my opinion, the king of the revival of Doo Wop Music. His radio show, Two Paths, on America Matters Media reintroduced me to Doo Wop and resulted in my falling in love with Doo Wop all over again. He is also responsible for tying all of the above together. Without going into too much detail here, let me just say that Keith is an attorney. At some point in his career, he realized he could sing. He decided to take his talent seriously. He chose one of the most famous Little Anthony and the Imperials songs to record, Shimmy Shimmy Koko Bop.

doo wop
Keith Galliher Jr. Music, photo from Keith Galliher Jr. Music website

As an attorney, Keith Galliher had met Clarence Collins, singer and founder of Little Anthony & The Imperials. The rest is history. Clarence became Keith’s music producer. They make music magic together. The videos on this blog show samples of original tunes as well as an example of something Keith has recorded with Clarence’s guidance. Many more can be found through a Google search.

Doo wop
Keith Galliher and Clarence Collins, Photo from Keith Galliher Jr. Music website

Below is a video interview made by Doo Wop historian, Tom Meros. Clarence Collins, founder and member of Little Anthony & The Imperials is interviewed about the history of Little Anthony & The Imperials as well as Clarence’s own, very entertaining story starting off in Brooklyn, NY as a butcher!

Tom Meros, Music Historian
Almost nothing is known about Tom Meros except for his copious collection of videos and interviews with musicians from this general time period, referred to as the rock ‘n roll universe. Here is the collection on YouTube. He also has a Google+ page which is also a collection of music videos.

Doo Wop Revival
Tom Meros, Music historian, on Facebook

Doo Wop After Note
I had the honor of speaking with Keith Galliher Jr. who informed me that Clarence Collins is not partial to the term ‘Doo Wop’ to describe their music. So in deference to him, I am adding the fact that Clarence prefers the description R&B or rhythm and blues. That sounds good to me.

I hope he will forgive my calling this blog post ‘The Doo Wop Revival’ rather than ‘The R&B Revival’. Therefore, I will end this blog post with a website which will most likely be the topic of a future blog post, The Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

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