Moonglows get ‘Sincerely’ rewarded in hall of fame

Monday, March 6, 2000 | 9:16 a.m.

Harvey Fuqua and the Moonglows were doo-wop before doo-wop was doo-wop.

They didn't put the bomp in the bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp or the ram in the ram-a- lang-a-ding-dong -- that was Barry Mann (1961).

But they did set high standards for the generally a cappella, four-man harmonies with contrasting bass and high falsetto tones that became a dominant music style of the '50s and early '60s -- a style that didn't even have a name until the '70s and began making a major comeback in the '90s.

Their contemporaries included such classic doo-woppers as the Flamingos ("Golden Teardrops," "I Only Have Eyes for You"), Dion and The Belmonts ("I Wonder Why"), Ben E. King and the Drifters ("There Goes My Baby") and Danny and the Juniors ("At the Hop").

For their musical contributions to rock and roll, the Moonglows will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the 15th annual induction ceremony to be held tonight at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Other inductees will include Eric Clapton, Earth Wind and Fire, Lovin' Spoonful, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the sale of their first record. The first ceremony was held in 1986.

"I am very pleased, honored and grateful," Fuqua said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Concord, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte. "But what took them so long?"

The humor was obvious in the resonant tones of the voice that made "Sincerely" the signature song of the Moonglows in 1954, a song that also became closely associated with the McGuire Sisters a year later. Fuqua plans on meeting the legendary singing trio for the first time in Las Vegas in April. A meeting planned in January during the McGuires' run at the Orleans was canceled because Fuqua was ill and had to tend to family matters.

"Sincerely" is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that changed rock 'n' roll.

Fuqua said he wrote "Sincerely," alone, but he shares writing credit with the late Alan Freed. He shares royalties with the heirs of Freed, the disc jockey who coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll."

Although Fuqua may have been bothered at one time by the historical sour note, in his 70th year he is more mellow. "Those were the times. Most people were exploited. If Freed hadn't been in on it I would have had 100 percent of nothing instead of 50 percent of something. He took credit for a lot of things, as did Dick Clark. But I'm not bitter about it, not at this state because it actually helped me," he said.

Fuqua is the nephew of the late Charlie Fuqua, a founding member of the Ink Spots in 1932 who was generally credited with being the first of the doo-wop-type groups.

Kansas City disc jockey Pete Chaston, who has a weekly two-hour doo-wop show, writes on his website that by 1956 doo-wop music was the dominant American music style. It lasted until 1964, when the Beatles arrived.

The term "doo-wop" evolved slowly during the '70s and '80s and became an accepted term only in about 1990 to differentiate it from all the other musical forms, according to Chaston. "Doo-wop. It was just what we said. There was a lot of doo-wopping going on," Fuqua noted.

Fuqua didn't break into the music business with the help of his famous Uncle Charlie. He said he didn't really know the man. "He was just a name. He lived in one city, I lived in another," he said.

Fuqua's inspiration, he said, came from the Ravens, an early rhythm and blues group that formed in New York in 1945 and had a number of hits through 1952, among them "Write Me a Letter," (1947); "White Christmas," (1948); and "Count Every Star" (1952).

According to Chaston, "Count Every Star" was the "virtual definition of doo-wop, with a full range of vocal backing highlighted by wordless vocal bass lines and high falsetto."

"From childhood I was singing and trying to make it," Fuqua said. "I wanted to be on stage. I didn't care about the money."

He was about 17 years old when he formed his first group in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. The group sang locally for a short time until Fuqua was drafted into the service. When he was discharged 18 months later he moved to Cleveland -- where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was organized in 1983 -- and formed a quartet called the Crazy Sounds. Crazy Sounds became the Moonglows.

The group included Fuqua, Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes. It played at local clubs and hotels until Freed heard them. Freed had a radio show in Cleveland at the time.

"He said, 'I love you guys. Let's make some records,' " Fuqua recalled. Their first record was "I Just Can't Tell No Lie," which was released in 1952.

During the heyday of doo-wop, one of Fuqua's favorite groups was the Flamingos. He also liked the Dells ("Oh, What a Night"). But he didn't have a lot of respect for the musical ability of most of the doo-woppers. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of doo-wop groups during that period.

"There were a lot of mediocre groups at the time. By mediocre I mean in musical terms. Though they were popular and their music would sell, they didn't have the same talent as the handful of the best. They were straight singers who sounded close to everybody else," Fuqua said.

He added that the Moonglows were a cut above most of the groups in terms of talent and singularity. "Our harmony was different," Fuqua said. "I had some jazz mixtures. When I was coming up I listened to James Moody and Lionel Hampton, jazz guys like that. I used the jazz voicing for the group. It was very distinguishable, different from the other guys."

Fuqua was with the Moonglows until about 1960, he said, when he decided to become a producer as well as singer, writer and finder of new talent. The group disbanded, although new members occasionally get together to play nostalgia gigs in the wake of the resurging doo-wop popularity. Fuqua sometimes joins in, but is so busy these days with projects that he rarely has the time.

After leaving the Moonglows, Fuqua founded both the Harvey and Tri-Phi labels, uncovering such acts as the Spinners, Junior Walker, Shorty Long and Marvin Gaye, who at one time had been a member of the Moonglows.

In 1963 Fuqua closed his labels and became an executive with Motown, where he created the company's Artist Development department and worked with such talents as Maurice King, Cholly Atkins and Maxine Powell.

"I would observe the acts, critique them and come up with ideas on how to improve the presentation," he said. "The one who really took the lessons to heart and worked the hardest was Diana Ross. Marvin Gaye -- he had it naturally. You didn't have to do much with him. Same with the Four Tops and Gladys Knight and the Pips."

In the early '70s Fuqua left Mowtown and struck a production deal with RCA, working with New Birth and other acts. Today he has a new company -- Resurging Artist Records, Ltd. -- that will produce records under several labels.

"I'm going to record all the people the major people won't deal with," Fuqua said. "Today the labels are going after hip hop. I'm going to be recording all those people from my era -- starting with myself."

His first album under the Resurging Artist label is entitled "T.V.O.X." (The Voice of Experience). His second album, "Moonglows 2000," will be released in conjunction with the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Fuqua said that he expects to produce religious and contemporary music, as well as other genres, through his new company. (His records will be sold on the Web at www.harveyfuqua.com. Fans who would like to e-mail Fuqua can do so at mrquaz@earthlink.net.)

Although Fuqua admits that today's hip hop music is "an art form," it is not one with which he is completely comfortable. "I don't mean to be derogatory, but I'm just a lover of love songs," he said. "I'm a love song writer and a love song lover. And I think that is coming back."

Fuqua said that groups come and go so quickly today that it is hard to keep track of them, but he is fond of such harmonizing groups as 'N Sync, Boyz II Men and Backstreet Boys.

He said generally, much of today's more popular music is crass and full of anger.

" 'N Sync and Boyz II Men, they're a little more like our style," Fuqua said, "the world of romance."

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