‘Legends’ Concerts to Sing Praises of L.A. Doo-Woppers

You want to know what’s happening right now in music? Check out Los Angeles’ inner-city high schools. That’s where kids with musical dreams get together to work on their songs, maybe put something on tape and get it to a record producer. A few get to make records, and some of them have hits-- big hits with songs that are immediate and vital.

That’s how rap happens today, with names like Tone Loc and N.W.A capturing the moment of the black-teen mind-set. Thirty-five years ago, such L.A. groups as the Penguins, the Robins and the Meadowlarks served the same role. But the music wasn’t rap. It was doo-wop.

“You could actually start writing a song, call the record company while you were writing it, sing it to them on the phone, go over and record it before the week was out and the song could be on the radio within the next few hours,” recalled Gaynell Hodge, who first sang on a hit record in 1952, while he was still a student at Jefferson High School. Among the hits Hodge either wrote, sang, played on or produced were “Earth Angel” (a Top 10 hit for the Penguins in 1954) and “Alley-Oop” (No. 1 for the Hollywood Argyles in 1960).

“I remember wanting to take a girl to the prom, but being asked to record that night with the Hollywood Flames,” Hodge recalled. “I ran by her house, gave her a corsage and then ran over in my tux to the studio and did the record. They promised that we’d be done by 9, but I was still there doing vocals till 11 or 12. I think I ruined that girl’s life.”

Hodge is one of four L.A. doo-wop figures who will perform in a tribute to the great L.A. vocal groups as part of the “Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll” concerts tonight and Saturday at the Greek Theatre. The show’s headliners include the Four Preps, Dick & Dee Dee, Santo & Johnny and Jimmie Rodgers.

Joining Hodge in the doo-wop segment will be Richard Berry (best known for writing “Louie Louie”), Don Julian (of the ‘50s Meadowlarks and later the Larks, who hit the Top 10 in 1964 with “The Jerk”) and singer-writer Tony Allen (“Night Owl” by the Chimes).

Like rap today, doo-wop is generally associated with New York’s street corners. But also like rap, the fact is that L.A. is equally productive in the field.

“L.A.’s always been a music center, but people bypass it when they speak of it,” Hodge, 52, said from Phoenix, where he has lived since 1974. Today, he presents an oldies-but-goodies show six nights a week at a Scottsdale nightclub.

“I think L.A. had more record companies than any other city, and it still seems that way. A lot were underground and fly-by-night and when it came time to pay they would disappear. . . . Everybody was sweating it on a shoestring.”

Historians also tend to overlook the long-range impact that scene had on the evolution of L.A. pop--and rock ‘n’ roll in general. Many of those who would go on to be part of Los Angeles’ explosive rock scene of the ‘60s started out either participating in or inspired by ‘50s R&B.;

Herb Alpert, who later co-founded A&M; Records, was a regular in the studios of the late ‘50s, and co-wrote Sam Cooke’s hit “Wonderful World.” Kim Fowley, an important behind-the-scenes figure through folk-rock and punk, was a part of the late ‘50s writing and studio scene, and co-wrote “Alley-Oop.” Phil Spector, too, honed his skills there.

Even eventual Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, who describes himself as the “most Republican white guy you ever talked to in rock ‘n’ roll,” was determined as a teen to be part of the mostly black L.A. music world.

That world, as described by Johnston, was a universe away from the good-times pop he became associated with when he joined the Beach Boys in the mid-’60s. At the time, Johnston was in a band that also included Spector and drummer Sandy Nelson, best known for his 1959 pre-surf instrumental “Teen Beat.”

“Sandy was poking around sessions and started bringing me,” Johnston said. “And I was getting older and curious and went down to all these wonderful black clubs. I made a demo around then and we took it to (rock entrepreneur) John Dolphin’s office. The door was locked and there was another guy waiting for Dolphin, and when we were let in, this guy pushed past us, got into an argument with Dolphin and pulled out a gun and killed him. That was my first day in recording.”

So even the violence sometimes associated with the world that produces rap today existed in the doo-wop world of the ‘50s. But one thing, Gaynell Hodge noted, is quite different: the money. Hodge estimated that he has made a total of no more than $70,000 for co-writing “Earth Angel.” (It took a mid-’70s lawsuit to establish his rights to the song in the first place.)

Said Hodge: “Today, they make that much in the first royalty check.”