Dante and The Evergreens

Dante and the Evergreens were a '50s vocal group best known for their novelty hit "Alley Oop". They had originally been a trio called The Pastels, consisting of Don Drowty, Bill Young and Frank Rosenthal and had been discovered by Dean Torrence (of Jan and Dean fame). Torrence and producer Kim Fowley thought they needed an extra voice to improve their harmonies and added singer/guitarist Wally Moon. The group worked with singer Aki Aleong, backing him up on several records. In 1960 Torrence put them together with producers Herb Alpert and Lou Adler, who asked them to do a cover of a novelty song, "Alley Oop". As there was another group named The Pastels at the time, they changed their name to Dante and the Evergreens, and the song was recorded and released in just three days on the independent Madison label. Singer/producer Gary Paxton, meanwhile, had also recorded the song with a group including himself, called them The Hollywood Argyles, and released the song at the same time. Both were hits, with Paxton's version going to #1 on the Billboard chart, the Evergreens' version going to #15 on that chart and both of them hitting #1 on the CashBox chart. Dante and the Evergreens continued to record for a few years after that, and spent a good amount of time touring up and down the East Coast, even playing the famed Apollo Theater in New York City. They broke up in 1964.