J.P. Richardson began working at Beaumont, TX radio station KTRM in 1949. The disc jockey hosted a sock hop, where he saw college kids doing a dance called the Bop. It inspired Richardson to adopt the name The Big Bopper.

Enjoy this excerpt from the new mini-book New York Rock & Roll History: The 1950s.

In the 1950s, the street corners of cities across the US were the rehearsal halls for nascent doo wop groups perfecting their harmonies. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Chips were among thousands of teens who honed their vocal skills under a streetlamp, dreaming of success.

Carl Perkins released “Blue Suede Shoes” in early 1956. The early rockabilly tune reached №2. Elvis Presley released his uptempo version in September 1956, a №20 hit. While varying accounts exist, Perkins described the song’s inspiration on NPR in 1996.

Robert Klein’s debut album, 1973’s Child of the 50’s, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy Album. The album was recorded live at New York’s Bitter End.

Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps recorded “Be-Bop-a-Lula” in 1956. Like many songs of the era, there are several versions of how “Be-Bop-A-Lula” was written. “I started composing ‘Be-Bop’ when I was in the Navy, and on my final trip back to the US,” Vincent told Disc magazine in 1959.

In The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney said he considered writing an “answering song” to “Forget Him.” “John and I wrote ‘She Loves You’ together. There was a Bobby Rydell song out at the time and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another.”

Bob Dylan said, “Everything you need to know about love is in ‘A Teenager in Love’” in the liner notes of Dion’s album, Blues with Friends.

Billboard magazine called Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” the №1 single of 1967. Critics have disputed The King’s contribution to the song, though Presley and Otis Blackwell are listed as its songwriters.

“At the Hop” was a №1 hit for Danny & the Juniors: Danny Rapp, David White, Frank Maffei, and Joe “Terry” Terranova. White and singer John Madara, who signed with Prep Records, originally wrote the song as “Do the Bop.”

Jackie Gleason was born February 26, 1916. Gleason’s formative years were spent in Brooklyn. where he grew up, went to school and honed his comedic skills in the borough’s bars and vaudeville theaters. Enjoy this excerpt, the introduction of the eBook The REAL Brooklyn of Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners.

The Eternals were a doo wop group that formed in New York’s South Bronx. “Sometimes when we would sing in theaters they would say, ‘The Eternals, the only Hispanic, all-Puerto Rican group in the history of doo wop.’ And that made us proud,” lead singer Charlie Girona told NBC News.

It was 1956. Drummer Tom Austin and keyboardist Bob Gaudio were talented New Jersey teenagers who recruited guitarist Billy Dalton and saxophonist Billy Crandall to form a band, the Royals. Austin and Gaudio teamed to write “Short Shorts,” a number three hit in 1958 for the newly named Royal Teens.

“Audrey as Alice was probably the first women’s libber on television,” Jackie Gleason told the San Rafael (CA) Independent Journal in 1976. “She always gave as good as she got. Many times, she had the last word.”

I had 18 sides, 9 bomb records before “Who’s Sorry Now.” So I didn’t think it was going to come. “Who’s Sorry Now” was going to be my last record for MGM. Of course, when Dick Clark played it, it became a hit.

The Drifters would place nine records in the R&B Top 10, including the greatest holiday song ever put on vinyl: “White Christmas.”

Things came to a head when one of the Drifters, who had been drinking, argued and cursed at Dr. Jive and Apollo owner Frank Schiffman. Treadwell fired the entire group backstage and offered four of the Five Crowns the opportunity to become the new lineup of the Drifters.