The Angels (American group)
| The Angels | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Starlets, The Halos |
| Origin | New Jersey, United States |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Labels | Caprice, Smash, RCA Victor, Polydor |
| Website | The Official Website |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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The Angels are an American girl group, best known for their 1963 No. 1 hit single, "My Boyfriend's Back".
The group originated in New Jersey as the Starlets which consisted of sisters, Barbara "Bibs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Lynda Malzone. They had some minor local hits and wound up doing back-up work in the studio. When Lynda Malzone left, Linda Jankowski (later Jansen) became the new lead singer. Their manager, Tom DeCillis, turned his focus to Bernadette Carroll and dropped the rest of the group. Carroll would find solo success in 1963 with her Laurie single "Party Girl." After a failed attempt at a record deal with producer Gerry Granahan, the Allbut sisters turned their focus to education. Phyllis Allbut was in teacher's college at the time and Barbara Allbut was accepted into the Juilliard School for her abilities as a musical arranger. Soon Granahan, who had previously rejected the group, suddenly saw hit potential in the song they had performed for him in their audition, a version of "Till," and wanted them to record it in the studio. "Till" became their first single under their new name, the Angels, and also their first hit (#14 US) released by Granahan's Caprice label in 1961. The song was followed up with a less-successful single, "Cry Baby Cry." The Angels had one album on Caprice, titled ...And the Angels Sing in 1962.
Jansen left the group in late 1962 to go solo and was replaced by Peggy Santiglia, formerly of The Delicates (with Denise Ferri and Arleen Lanzotti). Santiglia had sung jingles for WINS Radio, appeared on Broadway, and had songwriting experience. In 1963, the trio signed to Mercury Records' subsidiary label Smash Records and began working with the Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer songwriting team, who wrote "My Boyfriend's Back". The Angels' performance (with Santiglia on lead) was originally intended as a demo for The Shirelles' consideration, but the music publishers chose instead to release it as it stood. The song was a major hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, but no follow-up of comparable success was released. "My Boyfriend's Back" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up was the lower-charting "I Adore Him" (#25 US). The B-side "Thank You And Goodnight" was also favorable and charted at #84 US. During their Smash career, the Angels maintained a steady string of moderately successful singles which included "Wow Wow Wee (He's The Boy For Me)" (#41 US). Their album My Boyfriend's Back made the top forty, charting at #33 but their next, A Halo to You, didn't chart at all. The group left Smash in 1964 and signed with Congress Records.
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