The Impalas were an American

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group in the late 1950s, best known for their

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, "

Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)" is a song written by Artie Zwirn and Harry Giosasi and produced and arranged by LeRoy Holmes. The single was performed by New York-based doo-wop group The Impalas. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, U.S. pop ...

". The group formed in 1958 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, and was composed of lead singer Joe "Speedo" Frazier (September 5, 1943 – April 1, 2014), Richard Wagner, Lenny Renda and Tony Carlucci. They were a racially integrated group—Frazier was the only

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

member. They recorded for Hamilton Records and were found by songwriters Artie Zwirn and Aristides "Gino" Giosasi, who wrote the song "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)". In 1959 disc jockey

Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...

heard the group, added his name as a writer of the song and got them a

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with

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

subsidiary label Cub. In the US, the record reached No. 2 on the U.S. pop

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

, No. 14 on the R&B chart. Outside the US, "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)" peaked at No. 28 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song sold over one million copies, earning

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status. The group recorded follow-ups including "'Bye Everybody," "Oh What A Fool," an album for Cub, and one further single for the 20th Century label before disbanding in 1961. Frazier went on to sing with Love's Own in 1973, and in 1980 resurrected the Impalas as a touring act. Joe "Speedo" Frazier died on April 1, 2014, at the age of 70.

References

External links

Joe "Speedo" Frazier biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Impalas, The Doo-wop groups American rhythm and blues musical groups Cub Records artists MGM Records artists Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 1961 1958 establishments in New York City Musical groups from Brooklyn