The Delicates, were a three-girl singing group, made up of members Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti, and Peggy Santiglia. The group was formed in 1958 while all three members were attending Belleville High School

Belleville High School (New Jersey)

Belleville High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Belleville, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Belleville School District...

 in Belleville

Belleville, New Jersey

Belleville is a Township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 35,926.-History:...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

.

The group started out at the Brill Building

Brill Building

The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, under the management of Ted Eddy, who also served as manager of Louis Prima

Louis Prima

Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...

. They recorded for Tender, United Artists Records

United Artists Records

United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

, and Roulette.

In 1959 the group released a song they had written, "Black and White Thunderbird", on the Unart

United Artists Records

United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

 label. The record was produced by Don Costa

Don Costa

Don Costa was an American pop music arranger and record producer, best known for his work with Frank Sinatra.-Career:...

. It became a significant hit on the East Coast, which afforded them a guest spot on American Bandstand

American Bandstand

American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...

.

The girls were introduced to legendary New York deejay Murray Kaufman, who later became Murray the K

Murray the K

Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...

. The girls wrote and recorded Murray's legendary "Submarine Racewatchers" theme which aired thousands of times on his 1010-WINS

WINS (AM)

WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...

 radio show. The Delicates became Murray's Dancing Girls and appeared regularly on his show.

The Delicates appeared on many TV shows, including; American Bandstand, Alan Freed's

Alan Freed

Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...

 Big Beat, Connecticut Bandstand, The Buddy Deane Show, The Clay Cole Show.

The Delicates sang on commercials, and their first backup singing experience was for Al Martino

Al Martino

Al Martino was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid 1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The...

 singing "Journey to Love" written by Teddy Randazzo

Teddy Randazzo

Teddy Randazzo was a NYC born pop songwriter who composed 1960s hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", and "Hurt So Bad"...

 and produced by Don Costa

Don Costa

Don Costa was an American pop music arranger and record producer, best known for his work with Frank Sinatra.-Career:...

. The girls went on to do lucrative backup session work, later teaming up with Bernadette Carroll, backing artists such as Connie Francis

Connie Francis

Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...

, Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...

, Patty Duke

Patty Duke

Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...

, Frankie Valli

Frankie Valli

Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...

, Jose Feliciano

José Feliciano

José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...

, Kitty Kallen

Kitty Kallen

Kitty Kallen is an American popular singer who sang with a number of big bands in the 1940s, coming back in the 1950s to score her biggest hit, "Little Things Mean a Lot" in 1954.-Career:...

, Frankie Lymon

Frankie Lymon

Franklin Joseph "Frankie" Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens...

, and most notably Lou Christie's

Lou Christie

Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...

MGM hits including "Rhapsody in the Rain", "Painter", "Trapeze", and his #1 smash hit "Lightning Strikes".

External links

• The Delicates Official Website - Official Website of The Delicates
• 45rpm.org - The Delicates - Fansite dedicated to music of the 1950's and 1960's.
• http://www.jerseygirlssing.com/delicates.html JerseyGirlsSing.com - The Delicates] - Fansite dedicated to the music of "Jersey Girls".