1957
WHO IS THE GIRL * THE RIVILEERS * BATON 241 * USA
Gorgeous Doo Wop ballad by this short lived vocal quintet from the Jamaica district of Queens, NY. Written and sung on lead by Gene Pearson Who Is The Girl is something of a swan song by the group, it was released on the B side of the second issue of their hit record A Thousand Stars it was the fifth and last recording by the group who had already disbanded when it was issued. It was also issued in 1958 on Dark Records, with the same catalogue number.
Set up by Sol Rabinowitz the Baton label came into being because of the frustration Rabinowitz had trying to place A Thousand Stars with a record company, deciding that the best thing to do was to create his own label and issue it himself, the song backed with Hey Chiquita became the first release on Baton Records Inc of New York #200 in 1954. A big hit regionally, which could have been national had it not been for poor distribution by the fledgling label, the song was covered to much greater commercial success by Cathy Young and The Innocents and many others (my particular favorite version is by Arthur Alexandra). In 1957 the Baton label became the Sir label.