Editing Doo-wop (section)

===Chicago===

The city of Chicago was outranked as a recording center in the United States only by New York City in the early years of the music [[music industry|recording industry]]. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, independent record labels gained control of the black record market from the major companies, and Chicago rose as one of the main centers for rhythm and blues music. This music was a vital source for the youth music called rock 'n' roll. In the mid-1950s, a number of rhythm and blues acts performing in the vocal ensemble style later known as ''doo-wop'' began to cross over from the R&B charts to mainstream rock 'n' roll.<ref name="Cateforis2019">{{cite book|author=Johnny Keys|editor=Theo Cateforis|title=The Rock History Reader|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nPmADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT20|date=15 January 2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-315-39480-0|page=20|chapter=Du-Wop}}</ref> The Chicago record companies took note of this trend and scouted for vocal groups from the city that they could sign to their labels.<ref name="Pruter19961">{{cite book|author=Robert Pruter|title=Doowop: The Chicago Scene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j06dhDdsgioC&pg=PA1|year=1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06506-4|page=1}}</ref> The [[record label]]s, record distributors, and nightclub owners of Chicago all had a part in developing the vocal potential of the doo-wop groups, but Chicago doo-wop was "created and nourished" on the street corners of the city's lower-class neighborhoods.<ref>Pruter 1996, pp. 2, 10</ref>

The Chicago doo-wop groups, like those in New York, started singing on street corners and practiced their harmonies in tiled bathrooms, hallways, and subways;<ref>Pruter 1996, pp. 2, 17</ref> however, because they came originally from the deep South, the home of gospel and blues music, their doo-wop sound was more influenced by gospel and blues.<ref name="GribinSchiff2000136a">{{cite book|author1=Anthony J. Gribin|author2=Matthew M. Schiff|title=The Complete Book of Doo-Wop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kEUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22gospel%20and%20blues%22|year=2000|publisher=Krause|isbn=978-0-87341-829-4|page=136}}</ref>

[[Vee-Jay Records]] and [[Chess Records]] were the main labels recording doo-wop groups in Chicago. Vee-Jay signed [[the Dells]], [[the El Dorados]], [[Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents|the Magnificents]], and the Spaniels, all of whom achieved national chart hits in the mid-1950s. Chess signed the Moonglows, who had the most commercial success (seven Top 40 R&B hits, six of those Top Ten<ref>[[Joel Whitburn|Whitburn, Joel]], ''The Billboard Book of TOP 40 R&B and Hip Hop Hits'', Billboard Books, New York 2006, p. 407</ref>) of the 1950s doo-wop groups,<ref name="Collis1998">{{cite book|author=John Collis|title=The Story of Chess Records|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZASIpS00zv8C&pg=PA106|date=15 October 1998|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|isbn=978-1-58234-005-0|page=106}}</ref> and the Flamingos, who had national hits as well.<ref name="Halker2004">{{cite web |author1=Clark "Bucky" Halker |title=Rock Music |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1084.html |website=www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |access-date=9 October 2020 |date=2004}}</ref>