Mitch Margo's sons, Damien Margo and Ari Margo, also make occasional guest performances with the band, exemplifying Phil Margo's saying: "If you hang around long enough you can grow your own band". īrothers Mitch and Philip Margo continued to perform with new members Jay Leslie, Mike Johnson, and Noah Margo (one of Phil Margo's sons) playing drums. The Tokens reunited during 1975 for occasional weeks as singing regulars on the Adam Wade hosted game show Musical Chairs and in 1978 recorded a song for ABC's Schoolhouse Rock: "A Victim of Gravity". In 1973, Medress ended his relationship with the group and Siegel teamed with the Margo Brothers to form the group Cross Country, which would have some success with its cover version of " In the Midnight Hour". It was as a favor to Medress that Orlando sang lead on the first record, "Candida", which became a Top 3 hit. In 1970, Hank Medress began producing an act for Bell Records, Dawn, which featured the former teen-idol Tony Orlando. 3 on the chart, and was awarded a Gold disc. In 1972, Jay Siegel did background vocals for a re-recording of the Lion Sleeps Tonight with Robert John as the lead vocalist. Their production company was called "Bright Tunes" and they also created their own record company, B.T. Beginning in 1963, the Tokens also began serving as record producers for other artists, such as the Chiffons, Randy & the Rainbows and the Happenings. Jay Siegel was the lead vocalist on all the Tokens' hits including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" (1966) and " Portrait of My Love" (1967). įrom 1962 to 1970, the group released nine more songs that scored the Top 100. Both "Tonight I Fell in Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" sold more than one million copies, and were awarded gold discs. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for three weeks. The popularity that the band garnered as a result of this performance brought it new recording opportunities, culminating in its cover of Solomon Linda's " The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for RCA Victor Records. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned the group an opportunity to perform on the television program American Bandstand. In early 1961, the Tokens released a single for Warwick Records titled "Tonight I Fell In Love", which scored No. Finally establishing its most famous name and line-up, the group became known as the Tokens in 1960 after recruiting the 13-year-old multi-instrumentalist and first tenor Mitch Margo and his baritone brother Philip "Phil" Margo. Siegel and Medress then recorded three singles under a side project for Roulette Records, Darrell & the Oxfords in 1959, with two other musicians who never joined the band. Briefly recording as the Tokens and the Coins, Sedaka left the group in 1958 to launch his solo career.
They were unusual among teen vocal bands of the time because they were not a cover one. In the same year the band recorded its first single, "While I Dream", with Sedaka on lead vocals: the song was a local hit in New York Sedaka and Howard Greenfield wrote much of the group's early material. Original members were Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, however Rabkin was replaced in 1956 by Jay Siegel.
The band was formed in 1955 at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, and was known first as the Linc-Tones, a name inspired by the President of the United States' surname. 2.1 Rights for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".They are also known for having included at first Neil Sedaka, who later pursued a solo career. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" borrowed heavily from the 1939 song "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda. The group has had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit single, " The Lion Sleeps Tonight". The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. Warwick, RCA Victor, Victor Records, RCA Camden, JVC, HMV, B.T.
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