Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1986 - (page 212)

1962 would also see the beginning of the hugely successful trio of Americans in composer Burt Bacharach, lyricist Hal David, and the still amazingly talented singer Dionne Warwick. Bacharach would discover Warwick while she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce".

Born Dionne Warrwick, the label spelled her surname incorrectly on the printing of her first single, and she was quite upset and angry when it happened. However, she began using the new spelling both professionally and personally afterwards after her grandfather convinced her to use it as her stage name. Her minister grandfather also originally got her into singing by putting her on the spot to sing in front of his church congregation cold, and the positive reception she received set her on that vocal path.

This song title originated when Warwick snapped the phrase at producers Bacharach and David in anger. This song is a Grammy Hall of Fame recording and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, and more importantly, #21 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It would start Dionne down the road of bridging the welcome and needed crossover for a black female artist into popular music, that certainly wasn't present prior.

"Don't Make Me Over" - Dionne Warwick
 
Last edited:
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
1962 would also see the beginning of the hugely successful trio of Americans in composer Burt Bacharach, lyricist Hal David, and the still amazingly talented singer Dionne Warwick. Bacharach would discover Warwick while she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce".

Born Dionne Warrwick, the label spelled her surname incorrectly on the printing of her first single, and she was quite upset and angry when it happened. However, she began using the new spelling both professionally and personally afterwards after her grandfather convinced her to use it as her stage name. Her minister grandfather also originally got her into singing by putting her on the spot to sing in front of his church congregation cold, and the positive reception she received set her on that vocal path.

This song title originated when Warwick snapped the phrase at producers Bacharach and David in anger. This song is a Grammy Hall of Fame recording and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, and more importantly, #21 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It would start Dionne down the road of bridging the welcome and needed crossover for a black female artist into popular music, that certainly wasn't present prior.

"Don't Make Me Over" - Dionne Warwick
Click to expand...

A fantastic addition to the '62 story B&W. I imagine Bacharach and David and Warwick will continue to figure as we move forward. Connecting back to Sam Cooke, there was barely a black artist who didn't benefit from his influence or support and Warwick was no different. She was a backing singer on a tour of the southern states with Cooke. After one gig, local police boarded the tour bus to arrest Warwick for being rude to a white waitress :-( Cooke used his greater celebrity to face down the officers and remove them from the bus.
 
threespires said:
Though I'm happy enough to have used my novelty choice on Bernard Cribbins I've just noticed that Monster Mash was 1962 as well.
Click to expand...
Adding it in because I have a great memory of my Dad singing it to my kids at a Halloween party we had. He used a comedy voice and had them giggling.

Also, we're having mash for tea tonight!
 
Some random thoughts as I listen to the '62 playlist

  • Overall very listenable, helps that I'm not that rock focused of course
  • Strikes me that Love Me Do is one of the weaker songs on the Please Please Me album.
  • It is physically intellectually, ideologically (and any other 'ology' you can think of) impossible for Green Onions to grow old
  • Any list of the greatest songwriters that doesn't feature Carole King is fatally flawed
  • A side by side comparison reveals that Acker Bilk's tone is somewhat better than mine - I've explained to the kids it's the reeds I'm using that are the problem but the little gits don't seem convinced :-)
  • I should probably listen to more surf rock
  • Prompted me to listened to the Isley Brother's Tiny Desk concert from not that long ago - Ron and Ernie have still got it
  • Not sure which version of Lover Please I'm familiar with but it's not this one and this one is better
 
As well as talking about the artists and songs, I think it's also good to talk about where these songs were written and recorded.

@KS55 contacted me and asked if he could write a short piece on a significant building. So I'll let him introduce the subject and tell us a bit about it. Hopefully this will be the first in a series of one-off pieces to complement our regular write-ups, so if anybody wants to write about a significant event or place, just let me know.
 
THE BRILL BUILDING

The Brill Building at 1619 Broadway housed a music hub in which composers, lyricists, music publishers, musicians, arrangers, record companies and others, co-operated and competed with each other to produce hit records. The hub was first launched before WW2 and catered for big bands who wanted new material. Its heyday, however, was in pop music production from the mid fifties to the mid sixties.
50 Songwriters participated in the enterprise including Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, Phil Spector. 20 or more performers included Bobby Darin, Ben E King, Connie Francis, Gene Pitney, The Ronettes, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Dionne Warwick
Among the hundreds of hits written by this group were “Then He Kissed Me” (Barry-Greenwich), "Yakety Yak" (Leiber-Stoller), "Save the Last Dance for Me" (Pomus-Shuman), "The Look of Love" (Bacharach-David), "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Sedaka-Greenfield), "Devil in Disguise" (Giant-Baum-Kaye), "The Loco-Motion" (Goffin-King), "Supernatural Thing" (Haras Fyre-Gwen Guthrie), "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (Mann-Weil), "River Deep, Mountain High" (Spector-Greenwich-Barry), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (Gaudio-Crewe), and "Working My Way Back to You" (Linzer-Randell).
About 100 studio musicians were part of the hub and there was a recoding studio at 1650 Broadway, one of 4 locations the hub sprawled over. This facet enabled Phil Spector to develop his famous ‘Wall of Sound’ recording technique.
The most important publishing company of about 30 was Aldon Music co- founded by the music entrepreneur Don Kirshner who became the de facto leader of the whole enterprise. By 1962 the Brill Building hub contained 165 music businesses.
Carole King described the atmosphere: “Everyday, we squeezed into our cubby holes and wrote. Donny ( Kirshner) would play one songwriter against another demanding a new smash hit.”
Ellie Wakefield was less cynical about the hub, lauding its attachment to romance and praising the teamwork aspect.

Once a song was complete, it would be auditioned to the publishers and possibly taken forward to the production of a disc.The Brill Building in the early '60s was a classic model of vertical integration. There you could write a song or make the rounds of publishers until someone bought it. Then you could go to another floor and get a quick arrangement, lead sheet for $10, get some copies made at the duplication office; book an hour at a demo studio; hire some of the musicians and singers that hung around; and finally cut a demo of the song. Then you could take it around the building to the record companies, publishers, artist's managers or even the artists themselves. If you made a deal there were radio promoters available to sell the record.
This process gave rise to a new role, that of Record Producer who oversaw the whole creative process, bringing together all the participants needed to create the track.
The songs were unashamedly aimed at young teens and played to their romantic notions and youthful anxieties.
From the late fifties to the mid sixties the hit factory had hundreds of entries into the Billboard Hot 100.
As pop became more adult and sophisticated in the sixties, the Brill’s influence declined.
Overall, the Brill enterprise was a triumph for a professional, targeted approach to pop music but, like all winning formulas, its time was limited.
 
Last edited:
RobMCFC said:
As well as talking about the artists and songs, I think it's also good to talk about where these songs were written and recorded.

@KS55 contacted me and asked if he could write a short piece on a significant building. So I'll let him introduce the subject and tell us a bit about it. Hopefully this will be the first in a series of one-off pieces to complement our regular write-ups, so if anybody wants to write about a significant event or place, just let me know.
Click to expand...

If I ever get to retire I think I'll spend it visiting iconic music locations (subject to coming up with an appropriate sales strategy for Mrs Spires). Hoping KS55's building is one of those still standing so it can go on the long list.

Edit: not sure why I couldn't see KS55's post when I posted this, anyway the Brill Building is on the long list.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top