Song:The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)
Album:Wimoweh: The Best Of The Tokens
I have to admit I loved this song when I was a kid. I'm not as fond of it today. It was one of those fluky smash hits we see in the music business occasionally. The Tokens started out as a fairly standard Brooklyn doo wop group called The Linc-Tones in 1955. Neil Sedaka was a member. The group recorded a single in 1956 and then split up. Hank Medress and Jay Siegel started a new group called Darrell & The Oxfords. They changed the name to The Tokens and recruited lead tenor Mitch Margo, his brother Phil Margo and guitarist Joe Vennen. In 1961 they had a hit with Warwick Records called Tonight I Fell In Love. This earned them a contract with RCA and The Lion Sleeps Tonight was #1 on the pop charts for three weeks. The sound was very unique at the time. It's based on a South African song and The Weavers had a top ten hit with Wimoweh in 1952. The Tokens version had new lyrics. The Tokens never could duplicate the success of The Lion Sleeps Tonight and started their own label in 1964. You can get their RCA recordings on this comp. Hank Medress left to start his own label in 1973. He died in 2007. The Margo brothers and Jay Siegel continued to work together as producers and had a group called Cross Country in the 70s. There are two versions of The Tokens currently performing. Here are The Tokens performing The Lion Sleeps Tonight in the late 60s.
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