Deborah Chessler (1923 – October 10, 2012) was a songwriter whose song " It's Too Soon to Know" was number one on the American rhythm and blues charts in November 1948 and is considered by some to be the first

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

song. Chessler had songwriting credits on recordings every decade since then. Chessler pitched her songs to well-known musicians by singing them aloud, as she didn't read or write music or play piano. Some of her first sales were to

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', in whi ...

and

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...

. She began to manage the Vibra-naires, a group that would become the Orioles. She got them booked on

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' (also known as ''Talent Scouts'') is an American radio and television variety show that ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting '' Arthur God ...

TV show, where they came in third but were a popular success. Their first record, a single called " It's Too Soon to Know," had been previously recorded by Savannah Churchill. The group's version of the song, which came out in June 1948, was considered one of the first

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

songs, and was said to have "ushered in the

doo wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre 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, ...

era." Her relationship with the band was notable because she was "a young Jewish woman managing a black vocal group in an age when the entertainment industry...was rigidly segregated." The group recorded other Chessler songs, including "Tell Me So," "I Need You Baby," and "Forgive and Forget." Chessler left the group in 1954 in order to spend less time on the road. and did not see the group again until the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

induction ceremony in 1995. Her time with the band was turned into a musical, ''Soul Harmony: The Story of Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til & the Orioles''.

Personal life

Chessler grew up in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. She dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to get married; she divorced her first husband in the 1950s. She later married Paul Reingold and moved to Florida. They had one daughter, Wendy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chessler, Deborah 1923 births 2012 deaths People from Baltimore American women singer-songwriters Jewish American songwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women

Personal life

See also

References