Who Wrote the Book of Love?
The Monotones Ask the Eternal Question
In the 1950s, the street corners of cities across the US were the rehearsal halls for nascent doo wop groups perfecting their harmonies. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Chips were among thousands of teens who honed their vocal skills under a streetlamp, dreaming of success.
A group of teenage friends from Newark, New Jersey’s Baxter Terrace housing projects in 1955 formed the Monotones, patterning themselves after doo wop stars like the Heartbeats, the Cadillacs and the Spaniels. Lead singer Charles Patrick, first tenor Warren Davis, second tenor George Malone, bass man John Smith, second bass John Ryane and his brother, baritone Warren Ryanes took their name from a group that was breaking up. One of the group’s members remembered that the name fit these close friends perfectly because “the word means ‘one tone,’ and we were so close, like one.”
The Monotones’ first taste of success was a win on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in 1956, the American Idol of its day. Hoping to build on that, lead singer Patrick searched for a song that could become the group’s first single. Richard Crouse writes in Who Wrote the Book of Love? that Patrick’s inspiration came from an unlikely source.
