The Tokens Biography 2
Brooklyn became known as an exceptional borough�one that produced numerous
successes:
Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Barbra Streisand, and the Tokens among others. Who knows�maybe it was something in the water? The man who would become the lead singer of the Tokens,
Jay Siegel, tells of being a junior at Lincoln High School when he got a call from senior Neil Sedaka. He jumped at the offer to come practice with the Linc-Tones, which at that time were Neil,
Cynthia Zolotin and Hank Medress. Even then, Sedaka was writing original songs with partner Howie Greenfield. �Both of them wrote every hit in the �60s you know, and that�s how the Tokens started, right back then in Lincoln High School,� he told me. �We had a few songs recorded with Neil and those were great days and great memories that came out of Brighton Beach, back then in the late �50s.�
Thanks to the generosity of a woman who gave the group $300 to go into the studio to record �Tonight I Fell In Love�, the Tokens were on their way when the song became a Top 20 hit in early 1961. Appearances on Dick
Clark�s American Bandstand followed, as did record hops around the country. Did the quartet of teenagers ever give serious thought to careers in music? Apparently not. Hank, Phil and Jay all enrolled in Brooklyn College, and Mitch was still in junior high! Once the record charted, however, Medress gave up thoughts of becoming a teacher and dropped out during his junior year. Phil worked in a brokerage firm while in school, and, after transferring to New York City Community College, Jay graduated with a degree in market research after which he married and began working for a retail chain.
During this time, the Tokens left the Warwick label, and signed a three-record deal with RCA. Their first two releases went nowhere fast, failing to chart. After huddling with execs about their final offering, the group mentioned an African-style folk melody they�d adopted in their own style. The original title was �Mbube,� also known as �Wimoweh� which RCA loved. English lyrics were added, and the new version recorded. �The Lion Sleeps Tonight� returned them to the charts, eventually becoming a #1 hit around the world, and Siegel, disregarding everyone�s advice except his attorney�s, quit his �day� job.
On both televised and personal appearances, the four would lip-synch to their records, as was done by artists in those days. However, the huge success of that particular song made that difficult, since there�s no instrumental introduction on �The Lion Sleeps Tonight.� Jay recalls he kept his head down and lips covered until he heard the first note and then he looked up and continued. The group had three more hits on RCA, �B�Wa Nina (Pretty Girl),� �La Bamba,� and �Hear the Bells.�
Since the Tokens had always played major roles in producing their own records, it was a natural progression for them to write and produce for others while they continued to record. With some solid business acumen, the quartet formed Bright Tunes Music, their own publishing firm, and B.T. Puppy Records on which they had hits with �He�s In Town,� and �I Hear Trumpets Blow.� �Portrait Of My Love� and �It�s A Happening World� were for Warner Brothers. �She Lets Her Hair Down (Early In The Morning),�and �Don�t Worry Baby,� came out on the Buddah label, while their version of
Wilson Pickett�s �In The Midnight Hour� was released on ATCO [ed. Note: that�s A-T-C-O] in 1973. On the latter, the group called themselves
Cross Country, and toured with such artists as Anne Murray, B.J.
Thomas, and others.�
While their songs weren�t charting as well as they would have liked, the Tokens had their hands in many pies at this time. They found jingle work very lucrative; in fact, �She Lets Her Hair Down� was originally a one-minute commercial for a Clairol product. Jay explains, �Back in the �60s there was a year we had about thirty radio and TV commercial on. We did things from Dentyne Gum, to United and American airlines, to cigarettes, beer, deodorants and toothpaste. We used to write and produce them. We were very, very involved in the jingle business. That was us on �Pan Am Makes The Going Great,� the Wendy�s spot to the tune of the
Platters� �Only You� (�Only Wendy�s), and we were the ones telling everyone �Ban won�t off as the day goes on.� �
As for producing other groups, the Tokens were the driving force behind some mega-hit groups and recordings. In their travels, the group ran into
Tony Orlando, who had had some success as a solo artist on �Bless You,� and �Halfway To Paradise.� His career on the decline, he left the studio and went into the publishing end of the business. His return is quite an amazing story. According to Jay, �We recorded `Candida.� We made the track in the background with a fellow named
Frankie Parris. We brought it to Bell Records at the time, and the president of the company loved the record, loved the track, but didn�t like the lead singer. So our very good friend Tony Orlando was working as a publishing executive. We asked him if he could just come over to the studio for a half hour and just put his voice on this song. He said no, he wasn�t recording anymore. However, we convinced him to come in and help us out. There were two girls, the writer of the song,
Toni Wine, and someone who did a lot of jingle singing, Leslie
Miller. The three of us were the original group Dawn! The reason Tony�s name wasn�t on the label was because he didn�t want to lose his job�didn�t want anyone to know he was moonlighting. So we had to come up with a name, and Dawn is my oldest daughter�s middle name. That�s how Tony Orlando and Dawn got started.�
Another group under the Tokens� wing was the Chiffons, with whom they made history. When �He�s So Fine� went to #1, the Tokens became the first recording group to produce a #1hit for another group. As for the unique sound in the intro of the song, Jay recalls, �I always give credit where credit is due. The record did not start out with �doo-lang, doo-lang.� It started with �He�s So Fine.� We were in the studio, doing a bunch of takes, and the engineer, his name was Johnny Q, was the Capitol Records engineer. He suggested starting out with �doo-lang�, and that was how it remained.� The ladies went on to have a dozen chart hits, including �One Fine Day,� and �Sweet Talkin� Guy.�
So was that it? Nope! It was Jay who taught Bob Miranda of the Happenings to sing falsetto on �See You In September,� and �I Got Rhythm.� �We made the Happenings a whole bunch of hit records,� recalls Siegel. � Now, in retrospect, we should have made those records ourselves, because we could have had at least $300 more net today!!�
Randy & The Rainbows also had a hit under the Tokens� leadership. � �Denise� was written by an old friends of ours,
Neil Levinson, and written for a friend named Denise LeFrak. Neil found this Randy & The Rainbows group, we brought them into the studio, and we made this record. We all played the instruments on the record, we produced it, and we did the vocal arrangements. When we came out of the studio I wasn�t too thrilled. I didn�t think anything would happen with it. It just didn�t sound like a hit record to me. But I was pleasantly surprised,� Jay remembers.
Another wonderful surprise for the guys was when �The Lion Sleeps Tonight� found its way back onto the charts following the huge success of �The Lion King� on film and Broadway in 1994. Years earlier, the Tokens had produced a remake of their hit with
Robert John.
Where did all the guys wind up after the group finally split amicably in the early �70s?�
Hank Medress pursued his own production interests, and wound up as a record executive. In 1996, he started Bottom Line Records, and is taking life easy now. Initially, the Margo brothers and Jay Siegel signed a production deal with
Don Kirshner. However Mitch and Phil moved to California and formed a Tokens group out there. They�re often heard singing the National Anthem before sports events, and in 1998, paid their own way in an �Anthem Tour� in which they sang the song before games in all 30 major league ball parks, setting a record for a recording group.
Phil Margo went on to manage actor Robert Guillaume, and write and produce television movies. Today he, Mitch and their sister run the resurrected B.T. Puppy label.�
Jay Siegel remained in-house music producer with Kirshner for seven years before joining ATV Music, which owned the copyrights to the
Beatles music. He then managed a Manhattan recording studio until the owners closed it. He, too, put together a Tokens group, which remains mainly on the East Coast. They�ve become so busy that running the group has become Siegel�s full-time business. His son, Jared, now an executive with
Clive Davis� new label, J, was Musical Director of his dad�s group through the years, when time permitted.�
Most recently, Jay�s current group and the Margos were featured on the PBS special
Doo Wop @ 51. Jay suggests buying the video, since they performed two more numbers than appeared on the televised special!
Through it all, the lion continues to sleep!
-- Claire Stevens
- - - - - _ - - - -
Build Your Web Site
