The latest from my website's front page series about lesser known artists who performed the original versions of Australian or NZ records.
See also: the full collection of over 40 Obscure Originators features.
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Love - Hate - Revenge (1968, #2 NZ) was the highest charting of five Top 10 singles for The Avengers. They could be confused with numerous other Avengers all over the world, but this was a Wellington band, another of those popular New Zealand bands that were unknown to most Australians. Our loss, clearly.
The original version, Love, Hate, Revenge (If I Want You To Cry) (1967), was by The Del Satins, a New York doo wop group who were heard by millions but known by not so many.
Anyone familiar with Dion's run of successful solo records in the early 60s has heard The Del Satins. They were his regular backing singers, uncredited on songs like The Wanderer or Ruby Baby.
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| February 1965 [source] |
That's The Del Satins you hear behind Dion, repeating the doo wop line that is essential to his #1 hit Runaround Sue (1961). There are varying transcriptions, but this sheet music shows Hayp, hayp, bum-da hady hady ...
As Doo Wop Biographies & Discographies pointedly frames it, The Del Satins received no credit on any of their 13 hit records. That reliable source also rates them as one of the finest white male doo wop groups of all time.
None of The Del Satins' own ten singles 1961-67 charted Top 100 USA, although Feelin' No Pain (1963) made Billboard's Breakout chart as a regional hit in New York. They would later become regulars on Cole Clay's weekly music show on local New York television.
In 1968, with two original members and recent recruit Johnny Maestro in the line-up, The Del Satins merged with Rhythm Method to form a new band called Brooklyn Bridge, led by Maestro. They had a hit with Worst That Could Happen (1968 #3 USA), written by Jimmy Webb.
For more about the song and The Del Satins, see The Avengers [NZ] - Love – Hate – Revenge.
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| New York, August 1965 [source] |
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