Frogtoon Music

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens

Artist Biography For The Tokens

The Tokens Are An American Male Doo-Wop-Style Vocal Group And Record Production Company Group From Brooklyn New York. They Are Known Best For Their Chart-Topping 1961 Single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". The Group Was Formed In 1955 At Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School And Was Known First As The Linc-Tones. Originally Featuring Members Neil Sedaka Hank Medress Eddie Rabkin And Cynthia Zolotin Rabkin Was Replaced By Jay Siegel In 1956 And The Band Recorded Its First Single "While I Dream" That Same Year. In 1957 Sedaka And Zolotin Left The Band Leaving Only Siegel And Medress Who Would Recruit Two Additional Band Members And Record The Single "Picture In My Wallet" As Darrell & The Oxfords. Finally Establishing Its Most Famous Name And Crew The Band Became Known As The Tokens In 1960 After They Recruited The 13-Year-Old Multi-Instrumentalist And First Tenor Mitch Margo And His Baritone Brother Phil Margo. In Early 1961 The Tokens Released A Single For Warwick Records Titled "Tonight I Fell In Love " Which Scored No. 15 On The Billboard Hot 100 Chart And Earned The Group An Opportunity To Perform On The Television Program American Bandstand. The Popularity That The Band Garnered As A Result Of This Performance Brought It New Recording Opportunities Culminating In Its Cover Of Solomon Linda's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" For RCA Victor Records. It Reached No. 1 On The Billboard Hot 100 Chart Where It Remained For Three Weeks. The Same Track Peaked At No. 11 In The UK Singles Chart. Both "Tonight I Fell In Love" And "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Sold More Than 1 Million Copies And Were Awarded Gold Discs. From 1962 To 1970 The Group Released Nine More Songs That Scored The Top 100. Jay Siegel Was The Lead Vocalist On All The Tokens' Hits Including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" 1966 And "Portrait Of My Love" 1967 . Beginning In 1963 The Tokens Also Began Serving As Record Producers For Other Artists Such As The Chiffons Randy & The Rainbows And The Happenings. Their Production Company Was Called Bright Tunes And They Also Created Their Own Record Company B.T. Bright Tunes Puppy Records. In 1972 Jay Siegel Did Background Vocals For A Re-Recording Of Lion Sleeps Tonight With Robert John As The Lead Vocalist. This Version Hit #3 On The Charts And Was Awarded A Gold Disc. In 1970 Hank Medress Began Producing An Act For Bell Records Dawn Which Featured The Former Teen-Idol Tony Orlando. It Was As A Favor To Medress That Orlando Sang The Lead On The First Record "Candida" Which Became A Top 3 Hit. In 1973 Medress Ended His Relationship With The Group And Siegel Teamed With The Margo Brothers To Form The Group Cross Country Which Would Have Some Success With Its Cover Version Of "In The Midnight Hour." The Tokens Reunited During 1975 For Occasional Weeks As Singing Regulars On The Adam Wade Hosted Game Show Musical Chairs And In 1978 Recorded A Song For ABC's Schoolhouse Rock Named "A Victim Of Gravity". Brothers Mitch And Philip Margo Continue To Perform With New Members Jay Leslie Mike Johnson And Noah Margo One Of Margo's Sons Playing Drums. Mitch Margo's Sons Damien Margo And Ari Margo Also Make Occasional Guest Performances With The Band Exemplifying Phil Margo's Saying That "If You Hang Around Long Enough You Can Grow Your Own Band." Siegel Continues To Perform With His Own Version Of The Tokens As Well Featuring Bass Singer Bill Reid And More Recently John "Jay" Traynor The Original Lead Singer Before Jay Black Of Jay & The Americans And The Mystics. Siegel's Son Is Also Part Of The Group As Keyboardist And Occasional Vocalist. John "Jay" Traynor Died January 2 2014 Of Liver Cancer At A Hospital In Tampa Florida. Jay Siegel's Tokens And The Margo Brothers Reunited In 2000 To Perform On The PBS Special Doo Wop 51. At The Time Siegel's Tokens Were Siegel Reid And Eddy Rezzonico Rezzonico Had Replaced Richie Grasso During The 1990s. Mitch Margo Died On November 24 2017 Aged 70. Decades After Not Receiving Any Publishing Credit For Their Specific Original Musical Composition Part Of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" The Band Began A Lawsuit In Order To Regain Some Of These Publishing Rights. The Case Was Dismissed Due To The Statute Of Limitations. To This Day The Tokens Claim That Some Of The Original Musical Composition Of The 1961 Song Was Created By Them Even Though They Have Not Been Awarded This Status By Their Record Company. On October 19 2009 Phil And Mitch Margo Filed Suit In Manhattan For The Rights To The Tokens Name. They Claim In Their Filing That Henry Medress Suggested The Name. In A Competing Suit Filed In California By Siegel He Claims Siegel Medress And Sedaka Released An Album Named Neil Sedaka And The Tokens Previously. 9 On Sedaka's Own Website There Is A Listing In His Discography Catalog For A 1958 Release Of Neil Sedaka And The Tokens As Well As A Second Album Also During 1958 Named Neil Sedaka And The Tokens And Coins. As Well As Being Performing And Recording Artists The Tokens Were Also Record Producers. Here Are Some Of The Records They Produced "He's So Fine" By The Chiffons
"One Fine Day" By The Chiffons
"Denise" By Randy & The Rainbows
"See You In September" By The Happenings
"I Got Rhythm" By The Happenings
"Go Away Little Girl" By The Happenings
"Candida" By Tony Orlando And Dawn
"Knock Three Times" By Tony Orlando And Dawn
"Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" By Tony Orlando And Dawn Awards And Recognition
The Tokens Were Inducted Into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame In 2004. In 1998 The Tokens Were Mentioned By The Guinness World Records For Performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" At All 30 Major League Baseball Stadiums In The United States And Canada. Band Members
Classic Lineup
Original Tokens Jay Siegel – Lead Singer
Mitch Margo
Neil Sedaka
Phil Margo
Hank Medress
Joe Venneri – Guitar Current Groups
Jay Siegel's Tokens
Jay Siegel Original Lead Vocalist Bill Reid
Kurt “Frenchy” Yahjian Replaced Jay Traynor After His Passing January 2 2014 The Margo Brothers' Tokens
Mitch Margo – Lead Vocals Guitar Died November 2017 Phil Margo – Vocals Percussion
Jay Leslie – Vocals Horns
Mike Johnson – Vocals Keyboard
Noah Margo – Drums
Ari Margo – Guest Performer Vocals
Damien Margo – Guest Performer Vocals Drums

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Also Known As "Wimoweh" And Originally As "Mbube" Is A Song Recorded By Solomon Linda And His Group The Evening Birds For The South African Gallo Record Company In 1939. It Was Covered Internationally By Many 1950s Pop And Folk Revival Artists Including The Weavers Jimmy Dorsey Yma Sumac Miriam Makeba And The Kingston Trio. In 1961 It Became A Number One Hit In The U.S. As Adapted By The Doo-Wop Group The Tokens. It Went On To Earn At Least 15 Million US Dollars In Royalties From Covers And Film Licensing. Then In The Mid-Nineties It Became A Pop "supernova" In The Words Of South African Writer Rian Malan When Licensed To Walt Disney For Use In The Film The Lion King Its Spin-Off TV Series And Live Musical Prompting A Lawsuit On Behalf Of The Impoverished Descendants Of Solomon Linda. "Mbube" Zulu Lion Was Written In The 1920s By Solomon Linda South African Singer Of Zulu Origin Who Worked For The Gallo Record Company As A Cleaner And Record Packer And Who Performed With A Choir The Evening Birds. According To South African Journalist Rian Malan "Mbube" Wasn't The Most Remarkable Tune But There Was Something Terribly Compelling About The Underlying Chant A Dense Meshing Of Low Male Voices Above Which Solomon Yodelled And Howled For Two Exhilarating Minutes Occasionally Making It Up As He Went Along. The Third Take Was The Great One But It Achieved Immortality Only In Its Dying Seconds When Solly Took A Deep Breath Opened His Mouth And Improvised The Melody That The World Now Associates With These Words In The Jungle The Mighty Jungle The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Issued By Gallo As A 78 Recording In 1939 And Marketed To Black Audiences "Mbube" Became A Hit And Linda A Star Throughout South Africa. By 1948 The Song Had Sold About 100 000 Copies In Africa And Among Black South African Immigrants In Great Britain And Had Lent Its Name To A Style Of African A Cappella Music That Evolved Into Isicathamiya Also Called Mbube Popularized By Ladysmith Black Mambazo. 2 In 1949 Alan Lomax Then Working As Folk Music Director For Decca Records Brought Solomon Linda's 78 Recording To The Attention Of His Friend Pete Seeger Of The Folk Group The Weavers. 3 4 In November 1951 After Having Performed The Song For At Least A Year In Their Concerts The Weavers Recorded An Adapted Version With Brass And String Orchestra And Chorus As A 78 Single Entitled "Wimoweh" A Mishearing Of The Original Song's Chorus Of "Uyimbube" Zulu You Are A Lion. Their Version Which Contained The Chanting Chorus "Wimoweh" And Linda's Line "In The Jungle The Mighty Jungle The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Reached Billboard's Top Ten And Became A Staple Of The Weavers' Live Repertoire. It Achieved Mass Exposure Without Orchestra In Their Best-Selling The Weavers At Carnegie Hall LP Album Recorded In 1955 And Issued In 1957 And Was Covered Extensively By Other Folk Revival Groups Such As The Kingston Trio. In The Liner Notes To One Of His Recordings Seeger Explained His Interpretation Of The Song Which He Believed To Be Traditional As An Instance Of A "sleeping-King" Folk Motif About Shaka Warrior King Of The Zulus Along The Lines Of The Mythical European Sleeping King In The Mountain Shaka The Lion Who Heroically Resisted The Armies Of The European Colonizers Is Supposed Not To Be Dead But Only Sleeping And Will One Day Awaken And Return To Lead His Oppressed People To Freedom. University Of Texas Folklorist Veit Erlmann However Argues That The Song's Meaning Is More Literal And Refers To An Incident In Linda's Own Youth When He Actually Killed A Lion Cub. 5 In 1961 Two RCA Producers Hugo Peretti And Luigi Creatore Nick-Named "Huge" And "Luge" By Some Of Their Clients Engaged Juilliard-Trained Musician And Lyricist George David Weiss 6 To Fashion An Arrangement For A Planned New Pop Music Cover Of "Wimoweh" Intended As The B-Side Of A 45-Rpm Single Called "Tina" By The Teenage Doo-Wop Group The Tokens. Weiss Added Additional New English Lyrics Near The Elephants The Quiet Elephants
The Hippo Sleeps Soundly...
and
Hush My Darling Don't Fear My Darling Etc. He Also Brought In The Soprano Voice Of Opera Singer Anita Darian To Vocalize Reprising Yma Sumac During And After The Saxophone Solo Her Eerie Descant Sounding Almost Like Another Instrument. 4 The Tokens Who Loved The Weavers' Version Of The Song And Had Used It To Audition For Huge And Luge At RCA Were Appalled And Were Initially Reluctant To Sing The New Arrangement. But Ultimately They Allowed Themselves To Be Persuaded. Issued By RCA In 1961 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Rocketed To Number One 4 On The Billboard Hot 100. The Publishers Of This Recording Abilene Music Owned By Weiss Listed One "Albert Stanton" A Pseudonymn For Al Brackman The Business Partner Of Pete Seeger's Music Publisher Howie Richmond As One Of The Song's Writers Or Arrangers Thus Permitting TRO/Folkways A Share Of The Author's Half Of The Royalty Earnings. 7 A Cover Of The Weavers' Version By Scots Singer Karl Denver And His Group Likewise Reached The Charts In The United Kingdom In 1962. The Song Continued To Be Extremely Popular And Subsequent Cover Versions Were More Or Less Continuous. For His Performance Of "Mbube" Solomon Linda Was Paid A Small Fee. Gallo Records Of South Africa Reaped All The Royalties Of The Record Sales In South Africa And Great Britain. The Weavers' Music Publisher Was TRO/Folkways Publishing One Of The Many Subsidiaries And Entities And/or Aliases Created By TRO/The Richmond Organization Founded In The Late 1940s By Former Press Agent Howard S. "Howie" Richmond Later The Music Publisher For Pink Floyd The Rolling Stones And Other Big Names. 8 Sharing In The Ownership Of World Wide Music Later Folkways Publishing Were The Weavers' Managers Harold Leventhal And Pete Kameron. 9 Authorship Of The Song On The Weavers' 1951 Recording Was Credited Exclusively To The Pseudonymous "Paul Campbell" A Fictitious Entity Used By Howie Richmond Harold Leventhal And Pete Kameron To Claim Authorship Of Songs Whose Copyright Was In Question. 10 Copyright Law Allows For And Encourages The Copyrighting Of Distinctive New Interpretations Of Traditional Songs As Distinct From Public Domain Songs By Known Authors Whose Copyright Has Expired. After All What Was A Folk Song? Who Owned It? It Was Just Out There Like A Wild Horse Or A Tract Of Virgin Land On An Unconquered Continent. Fortune Awaited The Man Bold Enough To Fill Out The Necessary Forms And Name Himself As The Composer Of A New Interpretation Of Some Ancient Tune Like Say "Greensleeves." A Certain "Jessie Cavanaugh" Did Exactly That In The Early Fifties Only It Wasn't Really Jessie At All – It Was Howie Richmond Under An Alias. This Was A Common Practice On Tin Pan Alley At The Time And It Wasn't Illegal Or Anything. The Object Was To Claim Writer's Royalties On New Versions Of Old Songs That Belonged To No One. The Aliases May Have Been A Way To Avoid Potential Embarrassment Just In Case Word Got Out That Howard S. Richmond Was Presenting Himself As The Author Of A Madrigal From Shakespeare's Day. Much The Same Happened With "Frankie & Johnny" The Hoary Old Murder Ballad Or "Rovin' Kind" A Ribald Ditty From The Clipper-Ship Era. There's No Way Richmond's Partner Al Brackman Could Really Have Written Such Songs So When He Filed Royalty Claims With The Performing Rights Society BMI He Attributed The Compositions To Albert Stanton A Fictitious Tunesmith Who Often Worked Closely With The Imaginary Mr. Cavanaugh Penning Such Standards As "John Henry" And "Michael Row The Boat Ashore". Cavanaugh Even Claimed Credit For "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" A Feat Eclipsed Only By A Certain Harold Leventhal Who Copyrighted An Obscure Whatnot That Turned Out To Be India's National Anthem. 11 Social Historian Ronald D. Cohen Writes "Howie Richmond Copyrighted Many Songs Originally In The Public Domain Sic But Now Slightly Revised To Satisfy Decca And Also To Reap The Profits." 12 Canadian Writer Mark Steyn A Conservative Commentator Hostile To The Notorious Leftist Seeger On The Other Hand Attributes The Invention Of The Pseudonym "Paul Campbell" To Pete Seeger Whom He Refers To Ironically As "an Unworldly Anti-Capitalist". 13 At The Same Time Steyn Also Acknowledges However That This Was A Longstanding Tin Pan Alley Practice. Rian Malan Contends That It Was A Practice Howie Richmond And His Tin Pan Alley Associates Who Included Partner Al Brackman And Weavers' Managers Pete Kameron To Whom Richmond Had Accorded Half Of TRO/Folkways' Publishing Rights And Former Song Plugger Harold Leventhal Were Particularly Adept In. Howie Richmond's Claim Of Author's Copyright Could Secure Both The Songwriter's Royalties And His Company's Publishing Share Of The Song's Earnings. 14 Pete Seeger Expressed Concerns About The Copyright Laws Associated With The Song. He The Other Weavers And Folkways Records Founder Moe Asch Frequently Voiced The Belief That Traditional Songs Could Not And Should Not Be Copyrighted At All. 15 Seeger Has Since Modified His Position About Copyrights. 16 Although Linda's Name Was Listed As A Performer On The Record The Weavers Appear To Have Assumed That The Song Was Traditional. The Weavers' Managers And Publisher And Their Attorneys However Knew Otherwise Because They Were Contacted By And Reached An Agreement With Eric Gallo Of South Africa. They Attempted To Maintain However That South African Copyrights Were Not Valid Because South Africa Was Not A Signatory To U.S. Copyright Law And Were Hence "fair Game." 17 As Early As The 1950s When Linda's Authorship Was Made Clear Seeger Sent Him A Donation Of One Thousand Dollars And Instructed TRO/Folkways To Henceforth Donate His Seeger's Share Of Authors' Earnings. The Folksinger However Who Was Not A Businessman Trusted His Publisher's Word Of Honor And Neglected Or Was Unable To See To It That These Instructions Were Carried Out. 18 In Fact TRO/Folkways Crafted An Agreement With Gallo Records Giving Gallo Distribution Rights To The Song In South Africa And Rhodesia While TRO Reserved The Rights To Royalties Earned Elsewhere. In 2000 South African Journalist Rian Malan Wrote A Feature Article For Rolling Stone Magazine In Which He Recounted Linda's Story And Estimated That The Song Had Earned $15 Million For Its Use In The Movie The Lion King Alone. The Piece Prompted Filmmaker François Verster To Create The Emmy-Winning Documentary A Lion's Trail 2002 That Told Linda's Story While Incidentally Exposing The Workings Of The Multi-Million Dollar Corporate Music Publishing Industry. 19 Interviewed In The Documentary Pete Seeger Publicly Expressed Regret At Not Having Asked TRO/Folkways The Richmond Organization To Persuade Linda To Sign A Contract Explaining “The Big Mistake I Made Was Not Making Sure That My Publisher Signed A Regular Songwriters’ Contract With Linda. My Publisher Simply Sent Linda Some Money And Copyrighted The Weavers’ Arrangement Here And Sent The Weavers Some Money.” 20 In July 2004 As A Result Of The Publicity Generated By Malan's Rolling Stone Article And The Subsequent Filmed Documentary The Song Became The Subject Of A Lawsuit Between Solomon Linda's Estate And Disney. Brought By The Firm Of Noted South African Copyright Lawyer Owen Dean The Suit Asserted That Under The Terms Of The Imperial Copyright Act In Force In Britain South Africa And The Commonwealth Countries During The Life Of Solomon Linda Ownership Of "Mbube" Reverted To Linda's Heirs 25 Years After His Death Thereby Revoking All Existing Deals And Requiring Anyone Using Linda's Music In Commonwealth Territories To Negotiate New Agreements With His Estate. Dean Stated That Linda's Heirs Had Received Less Than One Percent Of The Royalties Due Him From Abilene Music Publishers And Before Them TRO/Folkways And That Disney Owed $1.6 Million In Royalties For The Use Of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" In The Film And Musical Stage Productions Of The Lion King. 21 At The Same Time The Richmond Organization Began To Pay $3 000 Annually Into Linda's Estate. In February 2006 Linda's Descendants Reached A Legal Settlement With Abilene Music Publishers Who Held The Worldwide Rights And Had Licensed The Song To Disney To Place The Earnings Of The Song In A Trust

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