Frankie Lymon
Bill Millar, The History of Rock, 1981
AS ROCK'N'ROLL GROUPS PROLIFERATED, the age at which they turned professional took a nosedive. With names such as the Classmates, the Juniors or the Sixteens, they established an immediate solidarity with their adolescent audience; a million-seller or a string of dismal failures could follow. Either way, the group was soon back among the ghetto pool-halls and decaying tenements from which they came. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers made a greater impact than most and, although Lymon’s precocious talent was exceptional, his origins were not unusual and his history was typical.
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