1956
WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE * THE TEENAGERS FEATURING FRANKIE LYMON * COLUMBIA 3772 * UK
The short and tragic life of Frankie Lymon is well documented; how at the age of ten he was hustling for prostitutes in Harlem, while also working as a delivery boy for his neighborhood grocers to help out financially at home, and how, after becoming a world wide Rock and Roll celebrity at age thirteen, at twenty six he was found dead in the Brooklyn house he grew up in. Frankie Lymon is also credited to have helped create the Girl group sound, influencing Arlene Smith of the Chantels, as well as having some bearing on, amongst others, both Little Anthony and The Isley Brothers.
Even though the term Rock and Roll had not yet been firmly established, as witnessed by the use of the legend on the American release of this record citing it as a 'Vocal Jump', it might be said that the release and subsequent success of Why Do Fools Fall In Love, and a later release I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent in the UK was to not only help, along with Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, establish real youth music (Rock and Roll) the very concept of a Teenager as an individual entity and not a young adult. In keeping with the somewhat pedantic and at times arbitrary categorisations on this site, Why Do Fools Fall In Love should really be under the heading Doo Wop, but given, depending on what is listened for, its particular ability to sound both Pop and Doo Wop, and its importance in the UK as a seminal Rock and Roll record (in British terms) it seems to me fair enough to place it here along with other 'Rock and Roll' greats.
Originally released in the US on Gee 1002 in December 1956, it was released in the UK six months later in June, both in the US and the UK it was issued on the 78 and 45 RPM.
SHEET MUSIC COVER FOR WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE