This video clip is depicts WTBS Network Sports marketing piece for their 1986 NBA broadcast season….as it provides wonderful highlights of NBA action…..along with fan reaction….and it is put to the original music of Danny and the Juniors hit record “Let’s Go To The Hop”.
Danny Rapp (lead), Frank Maffei (2nd tenor), Joe Terranova (baritone) (aka Joe Terry), and Dave White Tricker (1st tenor) (aka Dave White) met at John Bartram High School….and began singing together in the mid 1950’s…..and were known as the Juvenaires at the time….when they sang at school parties and other local events. Local record producer John Madara took notice of them and introduced them to local DJ’s Larry Brown and Artie Singer….who had a record label known as Singular Records. In 1957, they recorded a John Madara and Dave White penned song “Do the Bop”….when Singer took it to a fellow DJ named Dick Clark….who liked it and suggested changing their name to the Juniors and renaming their song by changing “Let’s all do the Bop” to “Let’s go to the Hop” proved to be successful….and it became a local hit in June 1957. In December 1957, they received a call from Dick Clark to be a last minute substitution for a no-show band on American Bandstand….where they performed it before a nationally televised audience….and the song became a nationwide hit after ABC Paramount bought the master recording and issued it in January 1958. They soon appeared on The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, and other national TV shows. Soon after, they recorded “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Here To Stay” and “Dottie”, both of which charted. That is when WTBS Sports took the music and changed the lyrics to “Let’s Go To The Hoops”….as seen in this video herewith…..as WTBS used this NBA promo throughout the entire 1986 – 1987 NBA season to promote their telecasts.
