YEAR
1993
INDUCTED BY
Boyz II Men
CATEGORY
Performers
Led by Lymon’s sparkling, boyish voice, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers sang their way into pop superstardom.
Their single “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?” was a defining moment in doo-wop history. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ youthful personae and pure vocals predicted Sixties prodigies like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.
Frankie Lymon
Herman Santiago
Jimmy Merchant
Joe Negroni
Sherman Garnes
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Jeff Tamarkin
Ronnie Spector, in her autobiography, Be My Baby, wrote, “A lot of entertainers can’t or won’t tell you where they got their style from. But I know exactly where I got my voice. Frankie Lymon…I was twelve when I first heard Frankie and the Teenagers sing ‘Why Do Fools Fall in Love?’. Frankie had the greatest voice I’d ever heard.”
Diana Ross has said that she started out trying to emulate Lymon’s high-pitched, crystalline voice, his enunciation and whip-crack timing. Marvin Gaye, upon first witnessing his Motown labelmate Michael Jackson in action, commented, “It was Frankie Lymon all over again.”
