Song:Don't Let The Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)
Album:Folk Music: From Roots To Rock
The Serendipity Singers scored a top ten hit in 1965 with Don't Let The Rain Come Down. They were even nominated for a Grammy. They had one other chart hit and then they faded despite appearing regularly on the TV series Hootenanny. There were several groups like this that were clearly influenced by the success of The New Christy Minstrels. They started out in 1962 as a trio at the University of Colorado led by Bryan Sennett along with Mike Brovsky and H. Brooks Hatch. Inspired by The New Christy Minstrels, Sennett expanded the group with the addition of John Madden, Jon Arbenz, Bob Young and Lynne Weintraub. They were called The Newport Singers. They moved to New York because they heard about auditions for the new TV show Hootenanny. The show was booked by Fred Weintraub, owner of The Bitter End folk music club with partner Bob Bowers. He liked the group but he changed the name to The Serendipity Singers because they couldn't use the name Newport. Singers Tom Tiemann and Diane Decker were added. Appearances at The Bitter End and on Hootenanny got them a record deal with Philips. Their debut album The Serendipity Singers was released in 1964. The single Don't Let The Rain Come Down reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by rockabilly singer Ersel Hickey, best known for Bluebirds Over The Mountain. The Serendipity Singers recorded six albums in two years. But they only had one other chart hit. Philips dropped them in 1966. The only Serendipity Singers comp available is not original recordings. You can get Don't Let The Rain Come Down on this 3CD various artists folk music comp from the Dutch label Golden Stars. The group also recorded for United Artists and continued to appear on TV. They finally split up in 1969. Brovsky continued the group and then sold them to talent booking agency TCA. So The Serendipity Singers continued to appear though none of the original members were involved. The original members reunited for one night only in 1999. Here's a video for Don't Let The Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man) by The Serendipity Singers.
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