What a night at Roxy & Dukes, Dunellen, NJ, October 9, 2016. Frankie & the Fashions came up from Philly for their first appearance at Roxy & Dukes and they were superb! They started out as a four acappella man group – Frank Lafaro, Jerry Tempesta, Matty Raimo and Tony Russo – singing “No No No,” “Sunday Kind Of Love and “ABC’s Of Love”. Then they brought on the newest member of the group, Chuck Holloway, To sing bass. (Actually Chuck was a key member of the group, years back. He’s just returned to Frankie & the Fashions and is doing a fabulous job as bass). Chuck provided the prominent bass part in “Blue Moon”. Matty led an outstanding rendition of Lee Andrews’ “The Clock”. Frankie & the Fashions sang other stand out songs like “Gloria,” “When We Get Married,” and “That’s My Desire”. They closed with their signature song, the Frank Lafaro penned and led favorite, “What Do I Have To Do”. At that point the audience wouldn’t let them off the stage until they sang a couple more songs. They had everyone in the audiences clapping along to “Good Old Acappella”. We’ll definitely have the group back at Roxy & Dukes soon.
In the audience were a number of singers including Juan Ibanez Mateos, all the way from Barcelona, Spain. Juan sings with the Velvet Candles, one of the top doo wop groups in Europe. Juan stopped by Classic Urban Harmony Headquarters prior to the show. We hope to have the Velvet Candles at Roxy & Dukes some time in the future. Also in the audience were “Smitty” Akiba from Quiet Storm, Jim Bakay from the Copians, Pamela Del Franco from the DelAngels, Joe Cassidy from Echoes Of Time, and Mike D’Amore, current lead of the Capris.
After a short intermission, we welcomed Re-MemberThen, filling in for Quiet Storm, who was unable to perform due to the passing of one of the members’ brothers. Re-MemberThen was in top form. Frank Cicerale, Bill Butkowski, Marty Geliebter, Michael DelFRanco, Sal Contrino started the set with tributes to Del Larks’ Ron Taylor (“I Never Will Forget”) and Bobby Thomas (“Crying In The Chapel”). After they fine rendition of the Royal Counts’ “Made Up My Mind,” Re-MemberThen asked Juan Mateos to join them on stage for “Morse Code Of Love”. Juan sang bass and the audience went wild! Re-MemberThen then backed Pamela DelFranco in a powerful “Gee Whiz”. After a few more songs (“So In Love” and “Diamonds And Pearls”), Re-MemberThen launched into several Larry Chance of the Earls’ songs, including “Acappella With My Friends,” “Life Is But A Dream,” “Streets Of The Bronx” and “Never”. Re-MemberThen will be backing Larry Chance live singing an acappella set at Roxy & Dukes on Sunday December 11. Tickets were on sale on this night, as only advanced ticket holders will be admitted. Only 80 tickets will be sold for this special event.
Scroll down past the photos to watch videos of this concert.
