"Party Doll" is a 1957

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

song written by

Buddy Knox Buddy Wayne Knox (July 20, 1933 – February 14, 1999) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 rock hit song, "Party Doll". Biography Knox was born in the tiny farming community of Happy, Texas, United States, and learn ...

and

Jimmy Bowen James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, ''Mel & Nancy.'' Early life ...

. Bronson, Fred (2003). ''The Billboard Book of #1 Hits'', 5th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 19. It was performed by Buddy Knox with the Rhythm Orchids, recorded in April 1956, and it became a hit on the Roulette label.

Background

Buddy Knox was a teenager living near Happy,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, in 1948 when he wrote the original verses of "Party Doll" behind a haystack on his family farm. While attending college at West Texas State University, he and two college friends, Jimmy Bowen and Don Lanier, traveled to Clovis,

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, to record the song at the studio of

Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, radio station owner, and considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. Biography Petty was born in the small town of Clo ...

. Knox's sister and two of her friends, Iraene Potts of Amarillo and a neighbor, sang background vocals on the song and a girl from the marching band of Clovis High School was recruited to play cymbal. After pressing copies of the record, a DJ in

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

began playing "Party Doll" in 1956 and it soon became a regional hit. After being contacted by Roulette Records in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, the song was distributed around the U.S. and became a chart-topping hit, spending a week at No. 1 on the Top 100 chart, the precursor to the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, in March 1957.

Jerry Allison Jerry Ivan Allison (August 31, 1939 – August 22, 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer of their hits "That'll Be the Day" and " Peggy Sue", recorded with Buddy Holly. His only solo chart en ...

, drummer for

The Crickets The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, ...

(who also recorded for Petty at Clovis), stated in an interview that the drum on Party Doll (which he said was played on a cardboard box) was the inspiration for the drum sound he used for " Not Fade Away".

Cover versions

*Almost immediately after Roulette released Knox's version of the song, competing versions of "Party Doll" were recorded and released by other record labels.

Wingy Manone Joseph Matthews "Wingy" Manone (February 13, 1900 – July 9, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His recordings included " Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a ...

and Roy Brown recorded R&B versions of the song which saw some success. *A less

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

version by singer

Steve Lawrence Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935) is an American singer, comedian and actor, best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as " Steve and Eydie", and for his performance as Maury Sline, the manager and f ...

(with

Dick Jacobs Dick Jacobs (29 March 1918 – 20 May 1988) was an American musician, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, music director and an artists-and-repertoire director for several record labels (Coral, Decca, Brunswick and Springboard). He h ...

conducting the orchestra) also became a pop hit that year, reaching No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Top 100. Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 359. Lawrence's version was released on the

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

label. *

The Crests The Crests were an American doo-wop group, formed by bass vocalist J.T. Carter in the mid 1950s. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records. Their most popular song, " 16 Candles", rose to #2 on the ' ...

recorded a cover version for their 1960 album, ''The Crests Sing All Biggies.'' *

The Fleetwoods The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band mem ...

also recorded a version of the song. *

Ronnie Dove Ronnie may refer to: * Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadiu ...

, several years before he became a star, recorded the song in 1961 with his band, the Bell Tones, for Decca Records. *It was also one of several rock'n'roll standards recorded by Lindisfarne on their 1987 party album ''C'mon Everybody'', and released as a single.

In popular culture

* Knox's version of the song was included on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

to the 1973 film ''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronny ...

''.

References

External links

Buddy Knox 7" vinyl info at discogs.com
{{Authority control Songs about parties 1957 singles Buddy Knox songs Steve Lawrence songs The Fleetwoods songs Billboard Top 100 number-one singles Roulette Records singles