The group was formed in
1955 in Philadelphia and consisted of Danny Rapp on lead vocals, Frank
Maffei, Joe
Terranova and Dave White,
all of whom were born in 1940 or 1941. Originally known as the Juvenairs,
they signed
with a small local label
right out of high school.
White and a friend, John
Medora, had written a song called Do The Bop. The group practiced the song
and
polished it, worked with
producer Leon Huff, and renamed it At The Hop. It was a song that transferred
the energy
of rock-and-roll into
a catchy dance song. Originally recorded on the Singular label in 1957,
it was picked up by
ABC-Paramount and entered
the charts in December of that year. It was a smashing success -- At The
Hop topped
the charts for seven
weeks.
They followed up with
another song written by White, Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay. This one
made the top
twenty. Danny & the
Juniors toured with Alan Freed's rock-and-roll shows and they were featured
on the Dick
Clark show, American
Bandstand. They put two more songs in the top forty, Dottie and Twistin'
U.S.A., before
fading away.
Along the way, Danny &
the Juniors picked up a sideman to play saxophone named Lennie Baker. Baker
later was
a founding member of
Sha-Na-Na. White went on to join the group The Spokesmen, whose minor hit
The Dawn Of
Correction was an answer
song to the number one Eve Of Destruction in the 60's. White also made
a solo album on
Bell in 1971 under his
real name, David White Tricker. Danny Rapp committed suicide in 1983.
Danny & the Juniors
were typical of the late 50's period in rock-and-roll and made their mark
on the pop music
scene.
Danny and the Juniors
had a song written for them called Do the Bop. According to legend, Dick
Clark,
who by now was turning
many young performers into stars by featuring them on American Bandstand,
heard
a demo of Do the Bop.
Suggesting that the dance the Bop was already out, he recommended renaming
the song At The Hop.