The Tokens
are an American male doo-wop vocal group from Brooklyn, New York. They are best-known for their chart-topping 1961 single, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (sample (help·info)).
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THE TOKENS TICKETS
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Career
The group was formed in
1955 at
Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School, and was known as the Linc-Tones. Originally featuring members
Neil Sedaka,
Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, Rabkin was replaced by
Jay Siegel in
1956, and the band
recorded its first single, "While I Dream" that same year. In
1957 Sedaka and Zolotin left the band, leaving only Jay and Hank, who would recruit two additional band members and record the single "Picture in my Wallet" as Darrell & the Oxfords. Finally establishing its most famous name and lineup, the band become known as The Tokens in 1960 after Jay and Hank recruited 13-year-old multi-instrumentalist and first tenor
Mitch Margo and his baritone brother
Phil Margo and guitarist
Joe Venneri.
In early
1961, The Tokens released a single for
Warwick Records entitled "Tonight I Fell In Love," which went to #15 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned them an opportunity to appear on
American Bandstand. The popularity that the band garnered as a result of this performance brought them new recording opportunities, culminating in their famous cover of
Solomon Linda's "
The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for the
RCA Victor. Jay Siegel's characteristic
lead vocals helped the
song rise to #1 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for three weeks.
From
1962 to
1970, the group released nine more songs that made it into the Top 100, including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" (1964) and "Portrait of My Love" (1967). Beginning in 1963, the Tokens also began serving as
producers for other artists, such as the Chiffons, Randy & the Rainbows, and the Happenings. In
1973, Medress left the group and Siegel teamed with the Margo Brothers to form the group
Cross Country, which would encounter some success with its
cover of "In the Midnight Hour." The Tokens would reunite in 1975 for occasional weeks as singing regulars on the
Adam Wade hosted game show
Musical Chairs
and in 1978 recorded a song for ABC's
Schoolhouse Rock
called "A Victim of Gravity".
[1]
Today, brothers
Mitch and
Philip Margo continue to perform with "new" members Jay Leslie, Mike Johnson and Noah Margo (one of Phil's sons) on drums.
Mitch's sons, Damien and
Ari Margo also make occasional guest performances with the band, exemplifying
Phil Margo's saying that "If you hang around long enough you can grow your own band."
Jay Siegel continues to perform with his own version of the Tokens as well, featuring bass singer Bill Reid and, more recently,
John "Jay" Traynor, the original lead singer (before Jay Black) of
Jay & the Americans and
The Mystics. Siegel's son is also in the group as keyboardist and occasional vocalist.
Jay Siegel's Tokens and the Margo brothers reunited in 2000 to perform on the PBS special,
Doo Wop 51. At the time, Siegel's Tokens were Siegel, Reid, and Eddy Rezzonico;
[2] Rezzonico had replaced Richie Grasso
[3] in the 1990s.
Legal Controversy
Decades after receiving no publishing credit for their specific original musical composition within "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", the band went to court in order to regain some of these publishing rights. However, the case was thrown out due to the "statute of limitations". To this day The Tokens claim that some of the original musical composition in the 1961 hit was created by them, even though they have not been awarded this status through their record label. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" remains one of the biggest hit singles ever recorded with all publishing rights still belonging to the original record label.
Album discography
- (1962) We, the Tokens, Sing Folk
- (1964) Wheels
- (1966) I Hear Trumpets Blow
- (1966) The Tokens Again
- (1967) Back to Back
- (1970) Greatest Moments [In a Girl's Life]
- (1971) Both Sides Now
- (1971) December 5th
- (1971) Intercourse
- (1973) Cross Country
1
- (1988) Re-Doo-Wopp
- (1993) Oldies Are Now
- (1995) Merry Merry
- (1996) Tonight The Lion Dances
- (1999) Unscrewed
1Cross Country was released by 3 members of The Tokens under the band name
Cross Country''.
Producing
As well as being performing and recording artists The Tokens became very successfulCategory:Articles with peacock terms record producers. Here are some of the records they produced:
- "He’s So Fine" by The Chiffons
- "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons
- "Denise" by Randy & The Rainbows
- "See You In September" by The Happenings
- "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings
- "Go Away Little Girl" by The Happenings
- "Candida" by Tony Orlando & Dawn
- "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando & Dawn
- "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" by Tony Orlando & Dawn
Awards & Recognition
The Tokens were inducted into The
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in
2004.
In
1998, The Tokens made it into the
Guinness Book of World Records for performing
The Star-Spangled Banner at all 30
Major League Baseball stadiums in the
United States and
Canada.
Band Members
Classic lineup
Original Tokens
- Jay Siegel - Lead Singer
- Mitch Margo
- Phil Margo
- Hank Medress
- Joe Venneri- Guitar
b.
19 november 1938 in
Brooklyn,
New York City - d.
19 June 2007)
Current Groups
;Jay Siegel's Tokens
- Jay Siegel (original lead vocalist)
- Bill Reid
- Jay Traynor
;The Margo Brothers' Tokens
- Mitch Margo - Lead Singer, Guitar
- Phil Margo - Vocals, Percussion
- Jay Leslie - Vocals, Horns
- Mike Johnson - Vocals, Keyboard
- Noah Margo - Drums
- Ari Margo - Guest Performer, Vocals
- Damien Margo - Guest Performer, Vocals, Drums
References
- DVD credits, ''Schoolhouse Rock!: Special 30th Anniversary Edition'',2002.
- http://books.google.com/books?id=i640hDvcqdQC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&source=bl&ots=oJPj0RlEWN&sig=xoxkfYsSxp
- http://www.myspace.com/theemeraldsjt