The Duprees

Emerging among the last wave of Italian doo wop ensembles during the early 1960s, the Duprees diverged from typical rock & roll conventions in multiple respects. Most of their repertoire consisted of refreshed versions of pop standards that predated rock, presented through sophisticated big band orchestration. Echoes of their origins on New Jersey street corners persisted within the doo wop vocal harmonies, which infused renditions of dated classics with sufficient modern appeal to vie successfully in rock and pop circles. Proficient in their approach, the group achieved notable commercial results from 1962 through 1963. The Top Ten placement of "You Belong to Me," a number previously cut by Jo Stafford, Patti Page, Dean Martin, and Joni James, highlighted this period, as did the Top 40 entries of "My Own True Love" drawn from the Gone With the Wind soundtrack, along with "Have You Heard" and "Why Don't You Believe Me." Even at the height of their popularity the Duprees maintained a retro orientation that left them vulnerable to displacement by the British Invasion, yet they persisted with recordings into the later 1960s, at times adopting the manner of Jay & the Americans and the Vogues.