Franklin Joseph "Frankie" Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and
songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early
rock and roll group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early
to mid teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, an integrated group, included three African
American members, Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant and Sherman Garnes, and two Puerto Rican members,
Herman Santiago and Joe Negroni. The Teenagers' first single, 1956's "Why Do
Fools Fall in Love", was also their biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both
his career and those of the Teenagers fell into decline. At age 25, he was found dead
in his grandmother's bathroom from a heroin overdose. His life was dramatized in the 1998
film Why Do Fools Fall In Love.
Early years: joining the Teenagers Frankie Lymon was born in Harlem to a truck
driver father and a mother who worked as a maid. Lymon's mother and father, Howard and
Jeanette Lymon, also sang in a gospel group known as the Harlemaires; Frankie Lymon and
his brothers Lewis and Howie sang with the Harlemaire Juniors. The Lymon family struggled
to make ends meet, and Lymon began working as a grocery boy at age ten.
At the age of 12 in 1954, Lymon heard a local doo-wop group known as the Coupe De Villes
at a school talent show. He befriended their lead singer, Herman Santiago, and he eventually
became a member of the group, now calling itself both The Ermines and The Premiers.
Dennis Jackson of Columbus, Georgia, was one of the main influences in Lymon's life. His
personal donation of $500 helped start Lymon's career.
One day in 1955, a neighbor gave The Premiers several love letters that had been written
to him by his girlfriend, with the hopes that he could give the boys inspiration to write
their own songs. Merchant and Santiago adapted one of the letters into a song called "Why
Do Fools Fall in Love". The Premiers, now calling themselves The Teenagers, got their
first shot at fame after impressing Richard Barrett, a singer with The Valentines. Barrett,
in turn, got the group an audition with record producer George Goldner. On the day of the
group's audition, Santiago, the original lead singer, was late. Lymon stepped up and told
Goldner that he knew the part because he helped write the song. The disc jockeys always called
them "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers". Life and career
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love": fame and success Goldner signed the quintet to Gee Records,
and "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" became their first single in January 1956. The single peaked
at #6 on the Billboard pop singles chart, and topped the Billboard R&B singles chart
for five weeks. Five other R&B top ten singles followed over
the next year or so: "I Want You To Be My Girl", "I Promise To Remember", "Who Can Explain?",
"Out in the Cold Again" and "The ABC's of Love". "I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent" and
"Baby Baby" were also popular Teenagers releases. "I Want You To Be My Girl" gave the band its
second pop hit, reaching #13 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Goody Goody" was
a #20 pop hit, but did not appear on the R&B chart. The Teenagers placed two other singles
in the lower half of the pop chart. With the release of "I Want You To Be My Girl",
the group's second single, The Teenagers became Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. An album, The
Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon, was issued in December 1956.
Going solo In early 1957, Lymon and the Teenagers broke
up while on a tour of Europe. During an engagement at the London Palladium, Goldner began pushing
Lymon as a solo act, giving him solo spots in the show. Lymon began performing with backing
from pre-recorded tapes. The group's last single, "Goody Goody" backed with "Creation
of Love," initially retained the "Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers" credit, but they were
actually solo recordings. Lymon had officially departed from the group by September 1957;
an in-progress studio album called Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the London Palladium
was instead issued as a Lymon solo release. As a solo artist, Lymon was not nearly as
successful as he had been with the Teenagers. Beginning with his second solo release, "My
Girl", Lymon had moved to Roulette Records. On a July 19, 1957, episode of Alan Freed's
live ABC TV show The Big Beat, Lymon began dancing with a white teenage girl while performing.
His actions caused a scandal, particularly among southern TV station owners, and The
Big Beat was subsequently canceled. Lymon's slowly declining sales fell sharply
after his voice changed and he lost his signature soprano voice. Adopting a falsetto, Lymon
carried on. His highest charting solo hit was a cover of Bobby Day's "Little Bitty Pretty
One", which peaked at number 58 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960, and which had actually
been recorded in 1957. Addicted to heroin since age 15, Lymon fell further into his
habit, and his performing career went into decline. According to Lymon in an interview
with Ebony magazine in 1967, he said that at the age of 15 he was first introduced to
heroin by a woman twice his age. In 1961, Roulette, now run by Morris Levy, ended their
contract with Lymon and the singer entered a drug rehabilitation program.
After losing Lymon, the Teenagers went through a string of replacement singers, the first
of whom was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on "Tonight's the Night"
with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston sang lead on two songs. The Teenagers,
who had been moved by Morris Levy to End Records, were released from their contract in 1961.
The Teenagers briefly reunited with Lymon in 1965, without success.
Later years Over the next four years, Lymon struggled
through short-lived deals with 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records. Lymon began
a relationship with Elizabeth Waters, who became his first wife in January 1964 and
the mother of his first and only child, a baby girl named Francine who died two days
after birth at Lenox Hill Hospital. Lymon's marriage to Waters was not legal, because
she was still married to her first husband. After the marriage failed, he moved to Los
Angeles in the mid-1960s, where he began a romantic relationship with Zola Taylor, a
member of the Platters. Taylor claimed to have married Lymon in Mexico in 1965, although
their relationship ended several months later, purportedly because of Lymon's drug habits.
Lymon, however, had been known to say that their marriage was a publicity stunt and Taylor
could produce no legal documentation of their marriage. In Major Robinson's gossip column
of June 6, 1966, Zola said the whole thing was a joke that she went along with at the
time. He appeared at the Apollo as part of a revue,
adding an extended tap dance number. Lymon recorded several live performances, but none
rose on the charts. His final television performance was on Hollywood a Go-Go in 1965, where the
then 22-year-old singer lip-synched to the recording of his 13-year-old self singing
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love." The same year, Lymon was drafted into the United States Army,
and reported to Fort Gordon, Georgia, near Augusta, Georgia, for training. While in the
Augusta area, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary
in Augusta. The two were wed in June 1967, and Lymon repeatedly went AWOL to secure gigs
at small Southern clubs. Dishonorably discharged from the Army, Lymon moved into his wife's
home and continued to perform sporadically. Traveling to New York in 1968, Lymon was signed
by manager Sam Bray to his Big Apple label, and the singer returned to recording. Roulette
Records expressed interest in releasing Lymon's records in conjunction with Big Apple and
scheduled a recording session for February 28. A major promotion had been arranged with
CHO Associates, owned by radio personalities Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett and Eddie O'Jay.
Lymon, staying at his grandmother's house in Harlem where he had grown up, celebrated
his good fortune by taking heroin; he had remained clean ever since entering the Army
three years earlier. Death
On February 27, 1968, Lymon was found dead of a heroin overdose at age 25 in his grandmother's
bathroom. Lymon, a Baptist, was buried at Catholic Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Throggs
Neck section of The Bronx, New York City, New York.
"I'm Sorry" and "Seabreeze", the two songs Lymon had recorded for Big Apple before his
death, were released later in 1968. Posthumous troubles
Lymon's troubles extended to others after his death. After R&B singer Diana Ross returned
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" to the Top Ten in 1981, a major controversy concerning Lymon's
estate ensued. Zola Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Emira Eagle each approached Morris Levy,
the music impresario who retained possession of Lymon's copyrights and his royalties, claiming
to be Lymon's rightful widow; Lymon had neglected to divorce both Taylor and Waters. The complex
issue resulted in lawsuits and counter-lawsuits, and in 1986, the first of several court cases
concerning the ownership of Lymon's estate began.
Trying to determine who was indeed the lawful Mrs. Frankie Lymon was complicated by more
issues. Waters was already married when she married Lymon; she had separated from her
first husband, but their divorce was finalized in 1965, after she had married Lymon. Taylor
claimed to have married Lymon in Mexico in 1965, but could produce no acceptable evidence
of their union. Lymon's marriage to Eagle, on the other hand, was properly documented
as having taken place at the Beulah Grove Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, in 1967;
however, the singer was still apparently twice-married and never divorced when he married Eagle.
The first decision was made in Waters' favor; Eagle appealed, and in 1989, the Appellate
Division of the New York State Supreme Court reversed the original decision and awarded
Lymon's estate to Eagle. However, the details of the case brought about
another issue: whether Morris Levy was deserving of the songwriting co-credit on "Why Do Fools
Fall in Love". Although early single releases of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" credit Frankie
Lymon, Herman Santiago, and Jimmy Merchant as co-writers, later releases and cover versions
were attributed to Lymon and George Goldner. When Goldner sold his music companies to Morris
Levy in 1959, Levy's name began appearing as co-writer of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"
in place of Goldner's. Lymon was never paid his songwriting royalties during his lifetime;
one result of Emira Eagle's legal victory was that Lymon's estate would finally begin
receiving monetary compensation from his hit song's success. In 1987, Herman Santiago and
Jimmy Merchant, both then poor, sued Morris Levy for their songwriting credits.
In December 1992, the United States federal courts ruled that Santiago and Merchant were
co-authors of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". However, in 1996 the ruling was reversed by
the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on the basis of the statute of limitations: copyright
cases must be brought before a court within three years of the alleged civil violation,
and Merchant and Santiago's lawsuit was not filed until 30 years later. Authorship of
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" currently remains in the names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy.
Legacy Although their period of success was brief,
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' string of hits were highly influential on the rock and R&B
performers who followed them. Lymon's high-voiced sound is said to be a direct predecessor of
the girl group sound, and the list of performers who name him as an influence include Michael
Jackson, Ronnie Spector, Diana Ross, The Chantels, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Len Barry,
and The Beach Boys, among others. The performers most inspired by and derivative of Lymon and
the Teenagers' style are The Jackson 5 and their lead singer and future superstar Michael
Jackson. Motown founder Berry Gordy based much of the Jackson 5's sound on Frankie Lymon
& the Teenagers' recordings, and the Teenagers are believed to be the original model for
many of the other Motown groups he cultivated. Lymon's music and story were re-introduced
to modern audiences with Why Do Fools Fall in Love, a 1998 biographical film directed
by Gregory Nava, also the director of the Selena biopic. Why Do Fools Fall in Love tells
a comedic, fictionalized version of Lymon's story from the points of view of his three
wives as they battle in court for the rights to his estate. The film stars Larenz Tate
as Frankie Lymon, Halle Berry as Zola Taylor, Vivica A. Fox as Elizabeth Waters, and Lela
Rochon as Elmira Eagle. Why Do Fools Fall in Love was not a commercial success and met
with mixed reviews; the film grossed a total of $12,461,773 during its original theatrical
run. In 1973, Lymon became known to a slightly
younger generation than before with the release of American Graffiti, which included "Why
Do Fools Fall in Love" on its soundtrack. The song "Harlem Roulette" by The Mountain
Goats off their 2012 album Transcendental Youth contains reference to Frankie Lymon
and has been stated by frontman John Darnielle to be about the last night of Lymon's life.
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993,
and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. Discography
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers discography Singles
Gee releases 1956-01: [Gee 1002] "Why Do Fools Fall in
Love" / "Please Be Mine" 1 1956-04: [Gee 1012] "I Want You to Be My Girl"
/ "I'm Not a Know-It-All" 2 1956-07: [Gee 1018] "I Promise to Remember"
/ "Who Can Explain") 1956-10: [Gee 1022] "The ABC's of Love" / "Share"
1957-02: [Gee 1026] "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" / "Baby, Baby"
1957-04: [Gee 1032] "Teenage Love" / "Paper Castles"
1957-05: [Gee 1035] "Love Is a Clown / Am I Fooling Myself Again"
1957-06: [Gee 1036] "Out in the Cold Again" / "Miracle in the Rain" 5
1957-07: [Gee 1039] "Goody Goody" / "Creation of Love" 3
1957-12: [Gee 1046] "Everything to Me" / "Flip Flop" 4
Notes 1 Released as by "The Teenagers"
² Early copies released as by "The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon"; billing on later
pressings changed to "Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers"
³ Both sides of this release are actually Frankie Lymon solo recordings.
4 billed as "The Teenagers" 5 Released as by "The Teenagers featuring
Frankie Lymon" Album
1956: [Gee 701] The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon
Compilations 1986: Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers: For
Collectors Only Frankie Lymon solo discography
Singles Roulette releases
1957: [Roulette 4026] "My Girl" / "So Goes My Love"
1957: [Roulette 4035] "Little Girl" / "It's Christmas Once Again"
1958: [Roulette 4044] "Thumb Thumb" / "Footsteps" 1958: [Roulette 4068] "Portable on
My Shoulder" / "Mama Don't Allow It" — 4/58 1958: [Roulette 4093] "Only Way to Love" / "Melinda"
1959: [Roulette 4128] "Up Jumped a Rabbit" / "No Matter What You've Done"
1969: [Roulette 21095 ""/ "1-20-12 Forever' Gee release
1959: [Gee 1052] "Goody Good Girl" / "I'm Not Too Young to Dream"
Roulette releases 1960: [Roulette 4257] "Little Bitty Pretty
One" / "Creation of Love" 1960: [Roulette 4283] "Buzz Buzz Buzz" / "Waitin'
in School" 1961: [Roulette 4310] "Jailhouse Rock" / "Silhouettes"
1961: [Roulette 4348] "Change Partners" / "So Young"
1961: [Roulette 4391] "Young" / "I Put the Bomp")
Later releases 1964: "To Each His Own" / "Teacher, Teacher"
1964: "Somewhere" / "Sweet and Lovely" 1969: "I'm Sorry" / "Seabreeze"
Albums 1956: Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers - 1981
Re-issue Roulette Y2-116-RO [Gee 701] 1957: Frankie Lymon at the London Palladium
1958: Rock & Roll with Frankie Lymon 1994: Complete Recordings
References
Further reading "Doo Wop: Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers."
The Entertainers We Love. Grossman, Wendy. "Widow of singer claims film
phony." Augusta Chronicle. External links
Marv Goldberg's Biography of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers at historyofrock.com Tom Simon's article on The Teenagers
Frankie Lymon at the Internet Movie Database Frankie Lymon at Find a Grave