Song:Come Back My Love
Album:The Doo-Wop Era Part 2: Harlem, N.Y.
The 1956 single Come Back My Love was the only memorable song by the doo wop group The Wrens.They split up soon after the song's success. The Wrens were all students at Morris High School in The Bronx. The first incarnation of the group was in 1950. They split up but Francis "Frenchie" Concepcion recruited George Magnezid and James "Archie" Archer. After singing as a trio for a couple of months they added Bobby Mansfield who was not only a great singer but he could write too. He was 15 years old. The Wrens entered a contest held by pianist Freddy Johnson. He was a jazz musician in Europe in the 30s. By this time he was teaching piano and he was looking to manage talent. Johnson became The Wrens' manager. He got them an audition with Rama Records owner George Goldner. They signed and Johnson played piano on the recording session. Come Back My Love was the second single. It had success in the New York market. Mansfield wrote the song. He sounded enough like Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows that music fans probably thought it was a Moonglows song. The Wrens released a total of six singles. And then Mansfield left to go solo. It looks like he also recorded with a doo wop group called The Supremes. Mansfield led a version of The Wrens in the 90s to tour the nostalgia circuit until he died on Sept. 15, 2013 at age 76. Here are The Wrens performing Come Back My Love on a 2008 PBS TV special.
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