Artie Ripp began his career as a singer, initially informally
harmonizing rock and roll songs with friends from high school. In 1957,
Ripp formed an official singing group with neighborhood friends; the
group was signed by ABC-Paramount Records as backup singers for ABC solo
artists. The singers sang backup for Paul Anka on his 1957 hit "Diana"
and broke up shortly thereafter.
Ripp rejoined with some of his informal singing partners (Mario
"Skippy" Scarpa, Stu Silverman, and Joe Tedesco) to form "The Four
Temptations". The quartet wrote its own songs and was signed by
ABC-Paramount Records, which released the group's first single in 1958.
The A-side, "Cathy" (named after Scarpa's newly born niece), was written
by Scarpa and Ripp; the B-side was "Rock & Roll Baby", written by
Scarpa, Ripp, and Silverman. When the group rejected opportunities
offered by the record company to record others' songs, the record
company withheld further recording opportunities, and the group
disbanded.
In
1958, Artie Ripp targeted George Goldner to be a potential mentor.
Goldner, based in New York City, was a music industry entrepreneur who
owned copyrights, produced records, and owned record companies. Goldner
was, in the words of American blues singer and songwriter Jerome "Doc"
Pomus, a "very hip, New York kind of tough guy." After Ripp spent weeks
informally observing Goldner at work, Goldner formally hired Ripp to be a
go-fer.
Artie Ripp with Phil Spector Temptations (3)
Ripp worked with songwriter and producer Richard Barrett within
Goldner's organization, where Ripp got a "street education in the record
business equal to none".[Ripp learned how Goldner worked a studio,
structured a record contract, and got records played on the radio.
Functioning as manager instead of performer, Ripp put together the New
York vocal group "The Temptations", (formed at least a year before the
name was used by the different Motown group). Ripp's Temptations
recorded for Goldner's Goldisc Records; its three singles were released
in 1960 and 1961. The song "Barbara" charted nationally, reaching number
29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1960.
1960 - Letter Of Devotion / Fickle Little Girl (Goldisc 3007)
Neil Stevens & The Temptations (3)
1961 - Ballad Of Love / Tonight My Heart She Is Crying (Goldisc 3019)
Biography :
No, not those Temptations. This Temptations were a vocal group from
New York best known for the 1960 hit "Barbara". Issued on Goldisc
Records, the song peaked on the Cash Box Magazine chart at #38 and on
the Billboard Hot 100 at #29. The flip side song on Barbara was Someday.
The Story of the group begin as the Four Temptations, three years
before. In 1957, Artie Ripp formed a vocal group with some others of his
local neighborhood friends from Flushing, Mario Scarpa, Stu Silverman
and Joe Tedesco. They signed in 1957 with ABC Records as back up group
for ABC. They backed to Paul Anka on their ABC hit "Diana" and released
Cathy as the Four Temptations.
Artie
Ripp had already decided that he liked management more than singing,
and went on to co-found Kama Sutra Records and then manage Billy Joel
during the Piano Man's early career. Artie Ripp formed and managed this
new group know as The Temptations who consisted of Artie Maren, Artie
Schlacman, Larry Schwartz and Neil Stevens also from Flushing,NY. Neil
Stevens had already recorded a single with the Dee-Vines
in 1958, "More And More" and "What Could Be Better" released by
Brunswick Records, and Shortly after "Barbara" became a hit, Neil left
to go solo.
The Remaining Temptations saw three releases before they broke up.
Artie Ripp later became a great arranger and sound engineer. He worked
on a lot of the girls group records and Brill Building sounds that came
out of NYC from 1963-1968 or so.
Songs :
The Temptations (3)
Barbara / Someday Fickle Little Girl / Letter Of Devotion
