Doo-Wop is a style of vocal music. It is a subcategory of
vocal group harmony that contains certain musical qualities such as group harmony, a wide range of vocal parts, nonsense syllables, a simple beat, light instrumentation, and simple music and lyrics. It can also be sung
acapella. In the beginning, the vocal groups were mainly black performers, then white groups came into prominence. Most music in this category started in the early 1950s, and into the early 1960s. The term Doo-Wop didn't exist in a dictionary until 1972. It was spelled doo wap in 1969,
doo-wop in 1972, do-wop in 1972, doowhop in 1974,
doowop in 1977, and doo-wop thereafter. In all actuality, the term was used in 1961 in the Chicago Defender. Referring to "
Blue Moon", by the Marcels, an article by Chuck Davis told of "a real doo-wop, like those of many years ago, is making the scene but big in Chi-town...." It just took the dictionaries eight years to catch up.
One of the best examples of "Doo-Wop" is "Come
Go With Me" by
the Del Vikings from 1956
