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Frankie Lymon | |
|---|---|
 Lymon in 1956 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Frankie Lymon |
| Born | Franklin Joseph Lymon (1942-09-30)September 30, 1942 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 27, 1968(1968-02-27) (aged 25)[1][2][3][4] New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1954–1968 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | The Teenagers |
Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an Americanrock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, dancer and composer best known as theboy soprano lead singer of theNew York City-based earlyrock and rolldoo-wop groupthe Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid-teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, anintegrated group, included three African-American members, Lymon,Jimmy Merchant, andSherman Garnes; and twoPuerto Rican members,Joe Negroni andHerman Santiago. The Teenagers' first single, 1956's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", was also their biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and that of the Teenagers fell into decline. In 1968, Lymon was found dead at age 25 from aheroin overdose.[5] He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of the Teenagers. Lymon's life was dramatized in the 1998 filmWhy Do Fools Fall in Love.
Franklin Joseph Lymon was born inWashington Heights, New York City,[6] on September 30, 1942,[7][8] to Jeanette and Howard Lymon. Howard was a truck driver and Jeanette was a maid. Both also sang in the gospel group the Harlemaires; Frankie and his brothers, Lewis and Howie, sang with the Harlemaire Juniors (a fourth brother, Timmy, was also a singer, though not with the Harlemaire Juniors), Frankie's height was 5 ft 3 inches (1.60 cm)
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At age 12 in 1954, Lymon heard a localdoo-wop group known as the Coupe De Villes at a school talent show. He became friends with the lead singerHerman Santiago, and eventually became a member of the group, now calling itself both the Ermines and the Premiers. One day in 1955, a neighbor gave the Premiers several love letters that had been written to him by his girlfriend, hoping to give the boys inspiration to write their own songs.Jimmy Merchant and Santiago adapted one of the letters into a song called "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". The Premiers, now calling themselves the Teenagers, got their first shot at fame after impressingRichard Barrett, a singer withthe Valentines. Barrett, in turn, got the group an audition with record producerGeorge Goldner. On the day of the group's audition, original lead singer Santiago was late. Lymon stepped up and told Goldner that he knew the part since he helped write the song. The disc jockeys always called them "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers".
Goldner signed the group toGee Records, and "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" became its first single in January 1956. The single peaked at No. 6 on theBillboardpop singles chart, and topped theBillboardR&B singles chart for five weeks. Four other top 10 R&B singles followed over the next year or so: "I Want You to Be My Girl", "I Promise to Remember", "Who Can Explain?" (the B side of "I Promise to Remember" but which charted on its own), "The ABC's of Love", and "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent". "I Want You To Be My Girl" gave the band its second pop hit, reaching No. 13 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Goody Goody" (written by Matty Malneck and Johnny Mercer and originally performed by Benny Goodman) was a No. 20 pop hit but did not appear on the R&B chart. The Teenagers placed two other singles in the lower half of the pop chart. With the release of "I Want You To Be My Girl", the group's second single, the Teenagers became Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. However, the album that mostly compiled the singles released in 1956 came out under the older name:The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon.
In early 1957, Lymon and the Teenagers broke up while on a tour in Europe. During an engagement at theLondon Palladium, Goldner began pushing Lymon as a solo act, giving him solo spots in the show. Lymon began performing with backing from pre-recorded tapes. The group's last single, "Goody Goody" backed with "Creation of Love," initially retained the "Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers" credit, but they were actually solo recordings (with backing by session singers). Lymon had officially departed from the group by September 1957; an in-progress studio album calledFrankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the London Palladium was instead issued as a Lymon solo release.
As a solo artist, Lymon was not nearly as successful as he had been with the Teenagers. Beginning with his second solo release, "My Girl", Lymon had moved toRoulette Records. On a July 19, 1957, episode ofAlan Freed's liveABC TV showThe Big Beat, Lymon began dancing with a white teenage girl while performing. His actions caused a scandal, particularly among Southern TV station owners, andThe Big Beat was subsequently canceled.[9][10]
Lymon's slowly declining sales fell sharply in the early 1960s. His highest-charting solo hit was a cover ofBobby Day's "Little Bitty Pretty One", which peaked at No. 58 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960 and which had been recorded in 1957. Addicted toheroin since he was 15, Lymon fell further into his habit and his performing career went into decline. According to Lymon in an interview withEbony magazine in 1967, he was introduced to heroin at age 15 by a woman twice his age.[11] In 1961, Roulette, now run byMorris Levy, ended their contract with Lymon and he entered adrug rehabilitation program. After losing Lymon, the Teenagers went through a string of replacement singers, the first of whom was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on "Tonight's the Night" with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston sang lead on two songs. The Teenagers, who had been moved by Morris Levy to End Records, were released from their contract in 1961. The Teenagers briefly reunited with Lymon in 1965, without success.
Over the next four years, Lymon struggled through short-lived deals with20th Century Fox Records andColumbia Records.
Lymon appeared at the Apollo as part of a revue, adding an extended tap dance number. He recorded several live performances (such as "Melinda" in 1959), but none rose on the charts. Lymon's final television performance was onHollywood a Go-Go in 1965, where the 22-year-oldlip-synched to the recording of his 13-year-old self singing "Why Do Fools Fall in Love".[citation needed]
Following an arrest for heroin use in 1966, Lymon joined theUnited States Army in lieu of a jail sentence. However, he repeatedly wentAWOL to secure gigs at small Southern clubs. Traveling to New York in 1968, Lymon was signed by manager Sam Bray to his Big Apple label, and the singer returned to recording.[citation needed]
Roulette Records expressed interest in releasing Lymon's records in conjunction with Big Apple and scheduled a recording session for February 28. A major promotion had been arranged with CHO Associates, owned by radio personalities Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett, and Eddie O'Jay. Lymon, staying at his grandmother's apartment inHarlem, where he had grown up, celebrated his good fortune by relapsing into his addiction by takingheroin. Lymon had remained clean since entering the Army two years earlier.[citation needed]
In the early 1960s, Lymon began a relationship with Elizabeth "Mickey" Waters, whom he later married in 1964 inAlexandria, Virginia, and gave birth to his only child, a daughter named Francine who died two days after birth at Lenox Hill Hospital.[12] Lymon's marriage to Waters was not legal because she was still married to her first husband, Charles Phillips, at the time.[13][14] After the marriage failed, Lymon moved toLos Angeles in the mid-1960s, where he began a romantic relationship withZola Taylor, a member of the Platters.[citation needed]
Taylor claimed to have married Lymon inMexico in 1965[15] although their relationship ended several months later, purportedly because of Lymon's drug habits. However, Lymon was known to say that their marriage was a publicity stunt, and Taylor could produce no legal documentation of their marriage, however, it was reported that the couple married inLas Vegas.[16] In Major Robinson's gossip column of June 6, 1966, Zola said the whole thing was a joke that she went along with at the time (October 1965).[17]
While in Augusta, Georgia, following sentencing for heroin use, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary in Augusta. The two were wed in June 1967,[18] and Lymon repeatedly wentAWOL to secure gigs at small Southern clubs.Dishonorably discharged from the Army, Lymon moved into his wife's home and continued to perform sporadically.
On June 21, 1966, Lymon was arrested on a heroin charge and was drafted into theUnited States Army in lieu of a jail sentence.[19] He reported toFort Gordon, Georgia, nearAugusta, Georgia, for training, though was eventually dishonorably discharged.
On February 27, 1968, Lymon was found dead on the floor of his grandmother's bathroom from aheroin overdose with a syringe by his side; Lymon was only 25 years old. The overdose was a result from "acute intravenous narcotism," according to his death certificate.[20][21][22][23] Lymon, aBaptist, was buried atSaint Raymond's Cemetery in theThroggs Neck section ofthe Bronx, New York City.
In addition to his burial, Lymon has a second tombstone, exhibited at the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in the Historical Museum of Bay County,Bay City. Initially, it was located at the backyard of Pam Nardella inElmwood Park, New Jersey. The tombstone is made ofgranite, 33 inches (84 cm) high, 27 inches (69 cm) wide, 8 inches (20 cm) deep, and weighs more than 1,000 pounds (450 kg), due to the granite base.[24][25][26] The tombstone also emphasizes with a cross and flowers.
Later, Scott and Michael Rullis from Monroe Monuments brought the tombstone to the museum at Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame on January 14, 2021, becoming the first artifact that arrived at the Historical Museum of Bay County. In addition to the tombstone becoming the first artifact, severalSerenus Johnson crew members worked variety of construction projects at the museum while being shut down and brought the crate containing the tombstone that remained for several months. According to Mike Bacigalupo, the tombstone is "a big tell-tale story" and that people would relate with the tombstone based on its origin. The walls and floor of the gallery was repainted and the tombstone was relocated to the second floor.[26][24]
"I'm Sorry" and "Seabreeze" are the two songs that Lymon had recorded for Big Apple before his death, and they wereposthumously released later in 1969.[27] Apart from the posthumous releases of these songs, Lymon's troubles extended to others. AfterDiana Ross returned "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" to the Top Ten in 1981, a major controversy concerning Lymon's estate ensued. Having neglected to divorce any of them and each claiming to be Frankie Lymon's rightful widow,Zola Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Emira Eagle approached Morris Levy, the music impresario who retained possession of Lymon's copyrights and his royalties. The complex issue resulted in lawsuits and counter-lawsuits, and in 1986 the first of several court cases concerning the ownership of Lymon's estate began.
Trying to determine who was indeed the lawful Mrs. Frankie Lymon was complicated by more issues. Waters was already married when she married Lymon; she had separated from her first husband, but their divorce was finalized in 1965, after she had married Lymon.[28] Taylor claimed to have married Lymon in Mexico in 1965, but could produce no acceptable evidence of their union.[15][29] Lymon's marriage to Eagle, on the other hand, was properly documented as having taken place at Beulah Grove Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, in 1967; however, the singer was still apparently twice-married and never divorced when he married Eagle. The first decision was made in Waters' favor; Eagle appealed, and in 1989, the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court reversed the original decision and awarded Lymon's estate to Eagle.[30][31]
However, the details of the case brought about another issue: whether mobster Morris Levy was deserving of the songwriting co-credit on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Although early single releases of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" credit Frankie Lymon,Herman Santiago, and Jimmy Merchant as co-writers, later releases and cover versions were attributed to Lymon and George Goldner. When Goldner sold his music companies to Morris Levy in 1959, Levy's name began appearing as co-writer of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" in place of Goldner's. 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. In 1987, Herman Santiago and Jimmy Merchant, both by then poor, sued Morris Levy's estate for their songwriting credits. In December 1992, theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Santiago and Merchant were co-authors of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love".[32] However, in 1996 the ruling was reversed by theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on the basis of thestatute of limitations: copyright cases must be brought before a court within three years of the alleged civil violation while Merchant and Santiago's lawsuit was not filed until 30 years later.[33] Authorship of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" currently remains in the names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy.[citation needed]
Although their period of success was brief, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' string of hits were highly influential on the rock and R&B performers who followed them. Lymon's high-voiced sound is said to be a direct predecessor of thegirl group sound, and the list of performers who name him as an influence includeMichael Jackson,Ronnie Spector,Diana Ross,the Chantels,the Temptations,George Clinton,Smokey Robinson,Len Barry,the Beach Boys andBilly Joel, among others.[34][35] The performers most inspired by and derivative of Lymon and the Teenagers' style arethe Jackson 5 and their lead singer and future superstarMichael Jackson.Motown founderBerry Gordy based much of the Jackson 5's sound on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' recordings,[35] and the Teenagers are believed to be the original model for many of the other Motown groups he cultivated.[36]
In 1993, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame[37] and into theVocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.[38]
Lymon's music and story were eventually re-introduced to modern audiences withWhy Do Fools Fall in Love, a 1998 biographical film directed byGregory Nava, also the director of theSelena 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. The film starsLarenz Tate as Frankie Lymon,Halle Berry as Zola Taylor,Vivica A. Fox as Elizabeth Waters andLela Rochon as Emira Eagle.Why Do Fools Fall in Love was not a commercial success and met with mixed reviews;[39] the film grossed a total of $12,461,773 during its original theatrical run.[40]
The song "Harlem Roulette" bythe Mountain Goats, off its 2012 albumTranscendental Youth, contains references to Frankie Lymon, to the song "Seabreeze", and to Roulette Records. Frontman John Darnielle has stated that the song is about the last night of Lymon's life.[41]
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