Skip to content

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers

FRANKIE LYMON AND THE TEENAGERS

YEAR

1993

INDUCTED BY

Boyz II Men

CATEGORY

Performers

Led by Lymon’s sparkling, boyish voice, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers sang their way into pop superstardom.

Their single “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?” was a defining moment in doo-wop history. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ youthful personae and pure vocals predicted Sixties prodigies like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

Frankie Lymon

Frankie Lymon

Herman Santiago

Herman Santiago

Jimmy Merchant

Jimmy Merchant

Joe Negroni

Joe Negroni

Sherman Garnes

Sherman Garnes

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Jeff Tamarkin

Ronnie Spector, in her autobiography, Be My Baby, wrote, “A lot of entertainers can’t or won’t tell you where they got their style from. But I know exactly where I got my voice. Frankie Lymon…I was twelve when I first heard Frankie and the Teenagers sing ‘Why Do Fools Fall in Love?’. Frankie had the greatest voice I’d ever heard.”

Diana Ross has said that she started out trying to emulate Lymon’s high-pitched, crystalline voice, his enunciation and whip-crack timing. Marvin Gaye, upon first witnessing his Motown labelmate Michael Jackson in action, commented, “It was Frankie Lymon all over again.”

Read More
Class of 1993
they have finally been allowed to make the leap from boys to men.
Boyz II Men
More from the class of 1993
%post_title%

Dinah Washington