Song:Who's That Knocking
Album:The Doo Wop Box
This is another obscure doo wop classic from the Rhino 4CD box set The Doo Wop Box. At least a couple of the members of The Genies went on to other things after the 1958 hit Who's That Knocking. The Genies were from Long Island, New York. The original members were Roy Hammond, Bill Gains, Alexander Faison & Fred Jones. They formed in 1956 but weren't getting anywhere until Brooklyn native Claude Johnson was added. Veteran producer Bob Shad saw them singing on a streetcorner and they recorded Who's That Knocking in June 1958. But Shad didn't release it until March 1959 and it reached #71 on the pop singles chart. Part of the problem was that Shad was more of a jazz producer and I guess doo wop wasn't a priority for him. The Genies were playing their first big gig at the Apollo when Bill Gains took off to Canada with a woman and was never heard from again. The Genies recorded some additional songs for Morty Craft's Warwick Records. They split up in 1959 but Warwick continued to release records until 1961. Claude Johnson got together with Roland Trone and became Don & Juan. Their 1962 hit What's Your Name reached #7 in 1962. He was also part of the popular 70s soul group New York City. Roy Hammond also had a long career mostly as a songwriter. As Roy C, he had a #14 R & B hit with Shotgun Wedding in 1965. Here's a video of Who's That Knocking by The Genies.
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