David White (musician)

David White (born November 26, 1939, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), was Tenor of the Doo-Wop groups are Danny & the Juniors and The Bel-Juniors, toured the country with his parents prior to attending school in their acrobatic/hand-balancing act called Barry and Brenda and Company.

In 1955, he formed a vocal group that he named The Juvenaires of which he was a member singing first tenor. The other original members were: Danny Rapp (lead singer), Joe "Terry" Terranova (Baritone) and Frank Maffei (second tenor).

In 1957, David and John Madara wrote "Do the Bop"[1] for the group and John, who had a chart record at the time called "Be My Girl", on Prep Records under the name of Johnny Madara, took The Juvenaires to his vocal coach/record producer, Artie Singer for an audition. Artie liked what he heard and scheduled a recording session at Reco-Art Studios in Philly, to record "Do the Bop" and a ballad that David White had written called, "Sometimes (When I'm All Alone)".

At the recording session, The Juvenaires were told that they would be singing back-up for John, who needed a follow-up record. They complied but as it turned out, John's record company turned it down. Artie Singer took it to Dick Clark, who suggested that they call it "At the Hop" since the dance called the Bop was on the way out and the hops were what was happening. Artie took his advice and changed some of the lyrics to fit the new idea becoming a co-writer on the song with David and John. A new recording session was scheduled at Reco-Art Studios with recording engineer/owner, Emile Corsen. The talented trio of musicians consisted of: Walt Gates on grand piano, Artie Singer on upright bass and Jack O'Brian on drums. This time, The Juvenaires recorded the two songs while John Madara was in the control room overseeing the session.

The Juvenaires were renamed, Danny and the Juniors since it was a more contemporary name and "At the Hop", backed with "Sometimes (When I'm All Alone)", was released on Singular Records; Artie Singer's label with partner DJ, Larry Brown. Payola was not illegal at the time and Artie reluctantly gave Dick Clark half the publishing of "At the Hop," which Dick later sold prior to the payola hearings in 1960.

David was now attending Temple University on a full gymnastics scholarship, but when Dick Clark started playing the record, David hookied college, never to return, going over to Danny's house every week-day to watch American Bandstand. "At the Hop" skyrocketed to number one on the Billboard Chart where it remained in the number one position for seven weeks, breaking a record for vocal group chart position. It was also number one on the r&b chart for five weeks and top forty for eighteen weeks. "At the Hop" is featured in the award-winning motion pictures, American Graffiti and Woodstock among others.

Singular Records could not handle the distribution of such a hot record so Artie sold the master to ABC Paramount Records. Danny and the Juniors' follow-up record was "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay", which only went to number nineteen on the Billboard Chart but has since become a rock and roll anthem, featured in the award-winning motion picture, Grease, performed by Sha Na Na and it is also included in John Carpenter’s classic motion picture thriller, Christine among others.

David White had several other hits while with the group including "Dottie" (#39 in Billboard), "Twistin' USA" (#27 in Billboard), "Pony Express" (#60 in Billboard), "Twistin' All Night Long" (#68 in Billboard), "Back to the Hop" (#80 in Billboard), "Doin' the Continental Walk" (#93 in Billboard) and "OO-La-La-Limbo" (#99 in Billboard).

In 1959, at the age of nineteen, he married sixteen year old, Joanne "Dee" Rody. The marriage lasted twelve years and produced three children: Wendy, Linda and Jody.

White left the group in the early 1960s, but continued to appear and record with them occasionally til the early 1970s. In 1960, he teamed up with John Madara, forming Madara and White Productions. One of their first efforts was producing the musical track and writing "The Fly" (#7 in Billboard) for Chubby Checker.

In an independent production deal with Mercury Records, David and John composed "You Don't Own Me" for Lesley Gore (#2 in Billboard). This song was covered by Dusty Springfield and Joan Jett among others and is featured in several movies including the Academy Award winning motion picture Dirty Dancing, the award-winning motion picture, The First Wives Club performed by Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton and Hairspray. David White's songs are featured in forty-six motion pictures to date.

Moving on to Decca Records, David and John produced "1-2-3” (#2 in Billboard), co-writing it with Len Barry. This song is also featured in several movies including Mr. Holland's Opus. Also at Decca, White, John Madara and DJ Ray Gilmore formed and became members of The Spokesmen. Madara and White co-produced "Dawn of Correction" (#36 in Billboard) for them, co-writing the song with Ray. The Spokesmen recorded an album and made appearances on The Mike Douglas Show, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shindig! Shindig! ], Shivaree, Where the Action Is and Hollywood-A-Go-Go among others. David and John along with Ray also wrote “Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)”, recorded by Johnny Farnham, which became a number one record in Australia.

Some other hits that Madara and White co-wrote and co-produced are: "Birthday Party" (#40 in Billboard), "442 Glenwood Avenue" (#56 in Billboard) and "Cold Cold Winter" (#79 in Billboard) all for The Pixies Three; "Pop-Pop-Pop-Pie" (#35 in Billboard) for The Sherrys and "The Boy Next Door" (#18 in Billboard) for The Secrets to name a few.

David has appeared with Danny and the Juniors in the Columbia motion picture, Let's Rock and while touring with them he had the pleasure of appearing at The New York Paramount with Alan Freed and The Apollo in Harlem with "Jocko” Henderson. Some other appearances with the group include, Patti Page's The Big Record, Merv Griffin's Saturday Night Prom and The Pat Boone Chevy Show. His songs have been performed on scores of TV shows from American Bandstand to American Idol. David has arranged and performed background vocals for Debby Boone and Bernadette Peters, appearing with Bernadette on The Tonight Show and The Tim Conway Show. His compositions have also aired on network commercials and are featured in On and Off-Broadway shows including Dirty Dancing, Grease, Suds, Beehive, The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Fabulous Singlettes, Good Rockin' Tonight and Shout, (The Mod Musical).

David then wrote and co-produced “The Thought of Loving You”, for The Crystal Mansion, of which he was a member. It was covered by, Cher, The Manhattan Transfer, Astrud Gilberto, Lou Christie, The Spiral Starecase and Wayne Newton. In 1971, White recorded a solo album for Bell Records titled Pastel, Paint, Pencil and Ink under the name of David White Tricker (Tricker being his family name).

In 1992, he and his group, Danny and the Juniors were inducted into The Hall of Fame and Walk of Fame in his hometown by The Philadelphia Music Alliance. In 2003, He and his group were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania. His piano was donated to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

David White's songs have also been recorded and/or performed by: David White's song, "Sometimes (When I'm All Alone)" (the B-side of "At the Hop") was a favorite of and sung by many famous vocal groups including: The Capris, The Chimes, The Cleftones, The Rascals, The Del Satins, The Dovells, The Elegants, The Impalas, The Earls, Randy and the Rainbows, The Tokens, The Vogues, and Vito and the Salutations among others.
 * Elvis Presley
 * Chuck Berry
 * Jerry Lee Lewis
 * The Rolling Stones
 * Bob Dylan
 * Bruce Springsteen
 * Robert Downey Jr.
 * Ewan McGregor
 * Joe Pesci
 * Joey Heatherton
 * George Michael
 * Sir Cliff Richard
 * Cilla Black
 * Tracy Ullman
 * David McCallum
 * Jan and Dean
 * Michelle Branch
 * Nicole Scherzinger
 * Sonny and Cher
 * Donny and Marie
 * The Osmonds
 * Penny Marshall
 * Cindy Williams
 * Michael McKean
 * David Lander
 * Jimmy and Kristy McNichol
 * Frankie Avalon
 * Fabian
 * Bobby Rydell
 * Frankie Valli
 * Bobby Vinton
 * Peggy March
 * Tiny Tim
 * Charlie Gracie
 * Klaus Nomi
 * Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids
 * Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
 * Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
 * Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
 * Ray Brown & The Whispers
 * Blow Monkeys
 * Dash Rip Rock
 * Darlene Love
 * Rosie O'Donnell
 * Linda Lavin
 * Jasmine Guy
 * Five Star
 * Al Stewart
 * Robert Lamm
 * Uriah Heep
 * Richard Clayderman
 * Jive Bunny
 * Cindy Scott
 * John Zacherle
 * The Orlons
 * The Tymes
 * Gene Anthony Ray
 * Perry Como
 * Sarah Vaughan
 * Jack Jones
 * Jane Morgan
 * Wynton Marsalis
 * Ramsey Lewis
 * Jimmy Smith
 * Willie Bobo
 * Richard "Groove" Holmes
 * Herbie Mann
 * Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra
 * The London Theatre Orchestra
 * The Brosdway Theater Players
 * Joey Welz
 * Bones Howe
 * Richard Maltby[disambiguation needed]
 * Lawrence Welk
 * Percy Faith
 * Floyd Cramer
 * Homer and Jethro
 * Brian Dennehy
 * Pat Morita
 * Gabe Kaplan
 * Bo Diddley
 * Brian Hyland
 * Gary Puckett
 * Johnny Tillotson
 * Jack Scott
 * Gary U.S. Bonds
 * Paul and Paula
 * Jerry Butler
 * Betty Everett
 * The Flamingos
 * The Heartbeats
 * The Essex
 * The Avalons
 * The Jaguars
 * The Fiestas
 * The Marvelous Wonderettes
 * The Fabulous Singlettes
 * Fat Larry's Band
 * Maureen Gray
 * Bunny Sigler
 * Crystal Mansion
 * Billy and the Essentials
 * Anthony and the Sophomores
 * The Sweet Three
 * Les Bihanki
 * The Bunnies
 * Marci and the Cookies
 * Simone Jackson
 * Nella Bellero
 * Dalida
 * Michelle Richard
 * Annee
 * Ginette Reno
 * The Muppets
 * The California Raisins

He has lectured at a community college and studied film scoring and orchestration at UCLA Extension. In 1998, David married Sandra Simone. He and Sandra are actively engaged in writing, producing and discovering new talent. Their music, old and new is available on their web-site.

[edit] References

 * 1) ^ "The Golden Age of American Rock 'n Roll: Reelin' & rockin' : 1956-1959 - Lee Cotten - Google Boeken". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?ei=d7iNTsGPOo7MsQL1jPG9AQ&ct=result&id=ZSHaAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22David+White%22+Juvenaires&q=%22David+White%22#search_anchor. Retrieved 2012-06-13.

[edit] External links

 * Fansitunder biography - accessed January 2008
 * David White discography at Discogs