Section 1.10
Doo-wop and gospel
Street vocal groups and church roots of R&B singing.
Two vocal schools feed 1945–55 R&B and get under-credited: doo-wop and gospel.
Doo-wop grows from postwar neighborhood a cappella crews—mostly young Black men—sparring block to block in cities like New York and Baltimore. Indies scoop groups, add band charts, test one killer tune. Upside: many get a shot. Downside: one-song careers. Nonsense syllables name the style (*Sh-Boom* by the Chords, 1954; *In the Still of the Night* by the Five Satins, 1956). Hooks own the sock-hop slow dance; even wild men keep a few sides.
Gospel supplies call-and-response and melisma for secular R&B. A moral binary—church vs club—stresses singers who cross. Ray Charles’s *I Got a Woman* (1954) retools gospel material as a secular hit; some church-aware listeners flinch. Charles refuses the split.