Barbie Gaye

about

"My Boy Lollipop" (originally written as "My Boy Lollypop") is a song written in the mid-1950s by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and usually credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. It was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye. A cover version, recorded eight years later by Jamaican teenager Millie Small, with very similar rhythm, became one of the top selling ska songs of all time. Record company executive Morris Levy agreed to purchase the song from Spencer. Although not involved in writing the song, Levy and alleged gangster, Johnny Roberts listed themselves as the song's authors. In an effort to avoid sharing any royalties with Spencer, Levy removed Spencer from the original writing credits, later claiming that Robert Spencer was his pseudonym. The song caught the attention of one of Levy's partners, alleged mobster and music mogul, Gaetano Vastola, aka "Corky." Vastola had recently discovered 14-year-old singer Barbie Gaye after hearing her sing on a street corner in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Vastola was so impressed that he immediately took her to meet legendary DJ Alan Freed. Gaye sang a few songs for them and Freed was equally impressed. Vastola became Barbie Gaye's manager and within days, he acquired the sheet music and lyrics for "My Girl Lollypop" from Levy and gave them to Gaye, with no specific instructions except to be ready to perform it by the following week. Barbie Gaye brought the music to her singing coach who pl

top songs

albums

▥

Golden Decade - Music Of My Life

▥

Songs Before Other Acts Made Them Famous

▥

Jumping The Shuffle Blues: Jamaican Sound System Classics 1946-1960

▥

You Heard it Here First

▥

Gaz's Rockin Blues Club Classics

▥

You Heard It Here First!

▥

My Boy Lollypop / Say You Understand

▥

Early Girls Volume 2

▥

Birth of Ska Vol. 2 / Jamaica Farewell

The Roots Of Mod

▥

Before They Were Hits or We Did It First: vol. 1

▥

My Boy Lollipop

similar artists