“Life could be a dream, sweetheart” : Toronto & the birth of rock & roll
The Torontoist on Jul. 30, carried an interesting article on one Toronto group’s role in the birth of rock & roll. In 1954, a vocal quartet, The Crew Cuts, were, as their name suggests, a classic example of the then-prevailing trend to have white musicians cover popular songs recorded by black musicians. This phenomenon of the time would occur if a song by a black R&B artist was a big enough seller, especially if it appeared to be popular enough that it might crossover from the R&B to the Pop charts. Inevitably, the white version became the big seller, despite … Continue reading