Jim Eimer just may be the pied piper of doo-wop in The Villages.
The man they call “doo-wop Jim” says he started the first such music club here five years ago. He continues to organize dances and concerts, including two upcoming: Friday Sept. 12 at Pimlico Recreation center at 7 p.m. with the Dukes, a group from Orlando. Another show is Sept. 27th at 6:30 p.m. in Laurel Manor Recreation Center with the group Vinyl Recall, singer Bobalu, and Lou Gatto. Eimer’s group Harmony Express will also appear.
“You would be surprised how many people in The Villages love doo-wop,” Eimer said. He added that his club has a mailing list of about 200. “These are people who grew up in the 50s when doo-wop started. They never outgrew the music.”
Eimer grew up in Queens, N.Y. with a passion for such artists as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the Skyliners and a doo-wop group called the Dubs.
In those early days, doo-wop was often called street corner harmony for its a cappella sound and soaring vocals.
“But I never sang on a street corner,” Eimer said. “I used to get together with the guys and we would sing in a high school bathroom because we wanted an echo.”
If one song defines what the early doo-wop era Eimer said it would be Kenny Vance’s “Looking for an Echo.”
“That to me is what it was all about, getting a bunch of guys together and trying to find that perfect sound,” said Eimer, who currently performs with two doo-wop groups, Harmony Express and the Relics.
For true-believers, doo-wop is more than just a sound. It’s a way of recapturing a forgotten time and lost emotions.
‘It’s not like the music today,” Eimer said. “Today, you hear computers, drum machines and technology to create rhythm based music.
“Doo-wop was strictly human; it came from people who cared about other people. Doo-wop is fun and it’s romantic. A lot of doo-wop songs are love songs. It has melody and people love to dance to this music.”
Jim and his wife, Rona, share a passion for music. They have been married 26 years ago but he admits they didn’t have doo-wop music at their wedding. “The band was too young, they didn’t know any doo-wop,” he said with a laugh. “We asked them to play ‘Unchained Melody’ but they said they never heard of it.”
Although Rona admits she is not as a big a fan of doo-wop as her husband she said music helped bring them together. “When we met, we just clicked,” she added. “He’s a tenor and I love tenors.” She is also a musician and a percussionist with The Villages Hometown Band.
Jim worked as a probation officer back in New York. He retired and came to Florida after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “I’ll never forget that day,” he said. “I was working in Brooklyn when the towers went down. The sky turned black. It was like some kind of horror movie. People were fleeing the towers and I remember seeing them coming across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a terrible.”
The Eimers first settled near the Gulf Coast but after a relative moved to The Villages, he and Rona came here five years ago. “If you like music, this is an amazing place to live,”
said Eimer, who also helped start an Elvis club in The Villages. When he first came to The Villages, Eimer said music here was dominated by two categories: country and rock and roll. “There wasn’t any doo-wop back then,” he said. “Rocky and the Rollers did some doo wop in their shows, but that was about it. So, I decided to form a club.”
Doo-wop music has had a renaissance over the past two decades. Televised concerts on PBS and oldies tours helped bring back the groups who created the sound.
“Doo-wop sort of died out in 1964 when the Beatles and the English invasion hit America,” Eimer said. “But when the Beatles broke up in 1969, doo wop started coming back.”
Such artists as Johnny Maestro, Little Anthony, Kenny Vance and the Planotones fueled the comeback along with promoter Richard Nader who organized oldies shows throughout the country.
Nostalgia brought doo-wop back but Eimer worries that the audience and artists are getting older.
“The doo-wop enthusiasts would like to get younger people involved with the music,” he said. “We want to make sure this music survives.”
What has survived for Eimer and The Villages’ doo-wop fans are the memories. Doo-wop harmony creates a social and musical bond. Eimer and his singing groups and music club try to bring the past into the present – even though they’re a long way from the street corners and high school echoes of New York.
In a way, it doesn’t matter, because, “we believe in this music,” Eimer said, “and we’ll do whatever we can to keep it alive.”
For tickets, all Jim at 352-561-4762. Or email Jim at [email protected] to get your ticket today!