He was a part of "The Teenagers," a group of five boys from Washington Heights who made magic out of their tunes. Subsequently, "The Teenagers" followed up with more hit tracks from to Lymon made history as the first black teenage pop star who tasted fame at 13 and embarked on a series of world tours, TV appearances, and stage performances, all of which influenced the music industry.
At 14, Lymon was not different from many teenagers who feel licensed to express their anxiety, excitement, and other behaviors tagged as teenage angst. He was already popular at the time, and the tabloids ran stories of his relationship with an older lady, Zola Berry, a lead vocalist of the 50's chart-topping band "Platters.
The young star also dated older women like Elizabeth Waters and Emira Eagle. Before his death, he married all three women and never fully divorced them. Lymon was a teenager with incredible success, as his group topped the Billboard charts and made a lot of money. You can trace doo-wop back to the Psalms, hear it bubble up in the a cappella harmonies of Gregorian chant, or, by way of Africa and the Caribbean, from gospel quartets.
Doo-wop was among the inheritors, a thousand street-corner groups and a thousand one-hit wonders. In the s, every high school stairwell in this country was loud with four-part singing.
Doo-wop was group music. Frankie was a heroin addict at 15 years old. He tried to kick, tried again and again and got straight for a while. Then his mother died, and he fell hard. Heroin was everywhere in New York by then, and methadone clinics run by the city were springing up in neighborhoods all over town. The failure rate was heartbreaking. My only concern was in getting relief. You know, an addict is the most pathetic creature on earth. God must have been watching over me. It was poorer then, sure, like the rest of New York City, and in the age before earbuds and headphones it was surely louder.
You heard music in the streets. The whole block smells of solvent, sharp and clean. Young as he was, Lymon had three wives. He married them in quick succession, and there was plenty of confusion about the paperwork. He may have been married to more than one at a time, or not entirely married to one of the three at all.
One of them may have still been married to someone else. Depends whom you ask. He was only 25 years old. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Do you find this information helpful? A small donation would help us keep this accessible to all. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone! Waters was already married when she married Lymon; she had separated from her first husband, but their divorce was finalized in , after she had married Lymon.
The first decision was made in Waters' favor; Eagle appealed, and in , the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court reversed the original decision and awarded Lymon's estate to Eagle.
However, the details of the case brought about another issue: whether Morris Levy was deserving of the songwriting co-credit on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Lymon was never paid his songwriting royalties during his lifetime; one result of Emira Eagle's legal victory was that Lymon's estate would finally begin receiving monetary compensation from his hit song's success.
However, in the ruling was reversed by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on the basis of the statute of limitations : copyright cases must be brought before a court within three years of the alleged civil violation, and Merchant and Santiago's lawsuit was not filed until 30 years later.
Lymon's music and story were re-introduced to modern audiences with Why Do Fools Fall in Love , a biographical film directed by Gregory Nava , also the director of the Selena biopic. Why Do Fools Fall in Love tells a comedic, fictionalized version of Lymon's story from the points of view of his three wives as they battle in court for the rights to his estate. In , Lymon became known to a slightly younger generation than before with the release of American Graffiti , which included "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" on its soundtrack.
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