From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri May 10, 2002  2:01 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Danny Rapp
 
DANNY RAPP

Born 10 May 1941, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 5 April 1983, Parker, Arizona

Danny Rapp was the lead singer of Danny and the Juniors, a vocal
group formed in Philadelphia in 1955 as the Juvenairs. Apart from
Rapp the group consisted of Joe Terranova (b 30 Jan. '41), Frank
Mattei (b Nov. '40) and Dave White (b Sep. '40); a latter-day sideman
was saxophonist Lenny Baker, who later co-founded Sha Na Na.
They were discovered by Artie Singer, who owned a small independent
record label, Singular Records. Singer became their vocal coach and
teamed up with Dave White and songwriter John Medora to write a
song called "Do The Bop". The group recorded it as a demo and Singer
brought it to Dick Clark (of "American Bandstand") to see what he
thought of it. Clark thought it was a good song, but the bop was on the
way out as a dance craze and the song needed new lyrics. Clark suggested
"At The Hop" as the new title. The group went back into the studio and,
helped by strong "Bandstand" exposure, "At The Hop" spent seven weeks
at the top of the Billboard charts at the beginning of 1958. The record is a
good example of how the established record industry had succeeded in
diluting rock 'n' roll excitement into harmless dance music. The follow-up,
"Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay", went to # 19 and the group continued
to place records on the Hot 100 until early 1963. By 1960 they had moved
from ABC-Paramount to the Swan label. Dave White made a solo LP for
Bell in 1971 under his real name, David White Tricker.
Danny Rapp committed suicide in an Arizona hotel room in April 1983.

Website (not much info there): http://www.dannyandthejuniors.com
CD: Golden Classics Edition (Collectables, 20 tracks)