Oh, little darlin’
Oh, little darlin
Oh-oh-oh where ar-are you
My love-a
I was wrong-a
To-oo try
To lo-ove two
A-hoopa, a-hoopa, hoopa
Kno-ow well-a
That my love-a
Wa-as just fo-or you
Ooooonly yoooooooooooou
Think rap music sounds crazy?
Imagine being a parent in 1957 and seeing your kids pounding the table and singing along with, “Little Darlin’.”
Parents didn’t understand the words but American teenagers did. They also understood something else: that song was cool.
Back in 1957 Dave Somerville was lead singer with hottest quartet in the country, The Diamonds. They recorded “Little Darlin’,” which that year finished No. 3 on the music charts behind Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” and Pat Boone’s “Love Letters in the Sand.” To hear “Little Darlin’” go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCrpUsLd5kE
“Little Darlin’ was a great song and a lot of fun but we had no idea it would be such a big hit,” Somerville said. Now 81, he still performs and Monday at 5:30 p.m. and 8 will be in The Villages’ Savannah Center as part of one of the biggest oldies shows of the year. Also on the bill with the Rocky and the Rollers band are: The Flamingos (“I Only Have Eyes For You,” “Lovers Never Say Goodbye”), The Cleftones (“Little Girl of Mine,” “Heart and Soul”), The Mystics (“Hushabye”) and Tommy Mara and the Crests (“16 Candles”). Both shows are soldout.
“That is a great line-up and I’m happy to be back in The Villages and be part of it,” Somerville said. The Diamonds had other big hits, such as, “The Stroll,” “Words of Love,” “Silhouettes,” and “Kathy-O.”
But “Little Darlin’” is the one everyone remembers. Over the years, it has become an iconic song, typifying the early days and wild sounds of rock and roll.
It was written by Maurice Williams, who recorded it in January, 1957, with his group, The Gladiolas. “Little Darlin’” was a big hit on the R&B charts, which were dominated by African-American groups. During the 1950s, it was common for white acts to cover such songs.
So, in March 1957, Somerville and the Diamonds – Ted Kowalski, Phil Levitt and Bill Reed — were in a recording studio. The Toronto quartet was due to record five songs.
Somerville tells the story this way: The Diamonds had heard “Little Darlin’” early in the afternoon, listening to the Gladiolas record. The recording session was supposed to end at 4 a.m. Everyone was set to go home around 3:30 and, “The producer said that’s it,” Somerville said. But then he returned and said, ‘Wait a minute, you know that song we did this afternoon, ‘Little Darlin’,” let’s do it.” It was 3:45 in the morning when the Diamonds started to record the song.
“We did it in 15 minutes and one take,” Somerville said. “It was kind of a throw-a-way; we had no idea what would happen.”
Within a few weeks, “Little Darlin’” was in the Top 10. Unlike many white cover acts of the time, the Diamonds had a deep appreciation and affection for the black artists and their music in rock’s early days.
“All of us in the Diamonds loved black singers and black groups,” Somerville said. “When I was in high school, I was in a quartet with the first black guy I ever met. Bill Reed, our bass singer, always wanted to be a black singer. I’m serious. We were four white guys from Canada but we didn’t sound that way.”
“The Stroll,” started a national dance craze. “Dick Clark wanted us to make a record for the dance,” Somerville said. “We worked on that song for a long time. Brook Benton (a famous R&B singer of that era who later sang, “Rainy Night in Georgia”) coached me on ‘The Stroll.’ We brought in King Curtis to play saxophone. And Fats Domino’s band played the music.”
But the biggest factor was Dick Clark. “He loved the song and played it all the time on ‘American Bandstand’,” Somerville said, adding that “The Stroll” was probably the first line dance. Teenagers would form two lines, as each couple would then “stroll” between both lines.
The Diamonds were booked in 1957 on what Somerville called, “the first, major, national rock and roll tour.” Among the acts on that bus tour included, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran, and Frankie Lymon.
Somerville said he shared a seat on the bus with Buddy Holly for much of the tour. “Buddy was a sweet, intelligent, sensitive guy with a little bit of a wild side,” Somerville said. “He was absolutely dedicated to his music.” A few years later Holly died in an airplane crash.
In another bit of rock and roll history, Somerville dated Connie Francis, the top female performer of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Somerville said he dated Francis after she broke up with singer Bobby Darin.
“Connie and I were together for about a year and a half,” Somerville said. Did he ever consider marriage? “No,” he said, “I didn’t want to be Mr. Connie Francis.”
The three other original Diamonds have passed away but Somerville carries on the group’s legacy and music. The Diamonds charted about 16 hit records. They have been inducted into the Canadian Juno Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame.
Somerville doesn’t show any signs of slowing down but his looks have changed over the years.
“Back in the day, people used to say I looked like Tony Curtis. People would come up to me and say, ‘Tony can I have your autograph.’ Then I got older and they said I looked like (actor from TV show “I Spy”) Robert Culp. Now my hair’s gray and they tell me I look like Bob Barker. That’s what happens when you get old.”
