DooWop … Street Corner Harmony… the sounds of the 50’s and 60’s … Northside Pittsburgh! DooWop harmony was sweeping the Nation … every street corner in every major city had their favorite street corner singers. Pittsburgh was full of street corner singers but especially the Northside of Pittsburgh where I grew up. Groups like the Marcels, Dynamics, Chapelaires, Blenders, which became the Blanders and yours truly Johnny Angel and the Halos. One of the hot spots on the Northside was the Woods Run area where the Marcels began and the same area was taken over by Johnny Angel and the Halos after the Marcels had the number one song in the nation… “Blue Moon”. Years later some of those same guys came together to form a Pittsburgh DooWop group made up of members of the Marcels and Halos … pictured above …left to right … Dick Knauss (Original Marcels), Johnny Angel (Halos), Gary “Bubba” Daley (Halos) … seated left to right … Kenny Mitchell (Marcels/Halos) and Fred “Bluemoon” Johnson (Original Marcels). The new group formed to do a benefit concert for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania and continued to perform in popular venues like Tara, the Emerald Room and especially on DooWop Nights at my restaurant (Atria’s) at PNC Park (Home of the Pittsburgh Pirates). Atrias would soon be known for its Thursday night DooWop Nights. Many of the well-known Pittsburgh groups and vocalists showed up every week to sing a cappella … names like Jimmy Beaumont of the Skyliners, Frankie Avery of the La Rells, the Four Dots, the ElRays, William Dell and the Wee Jams, the Marcels, Chuck Blasko of the original Vouges and the Halos. The singing would begin on the tiny stage performing for a sold-out crowd every week. After nearly three straight hours of street corner harmony, many for the street corner crooners would stick around after Atria’s closed and sing for the crowd that refused to leave. Many of my old friends are now gone and I’m certain that they are still singing at a cool spot in Rock and Roll Heaven. One of my promises is to keep the memories and the music alive. I have a cool spot on the Northside of Pittsburgh called, Johnny Angel’s Ginchy Stuff and Museum… and those who are still with us meet and reminisce about the good old days and every now and then we still break out in song. And every Sunday night at 8:00 PM I still spin the records on my Johnny Angel’s Heavenly Soul Show on jukinoldies.com (which you can download the app and tune in). My last hour of the show is nuttin’ but the ballads and street corner harmony. It all started on a street corner on the Northside of Pittsburgh!