The Dovells were formed at Overbrook High School in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1957, under the name The Brooktones. The
members were Arnie Silver, Mark Gordesky, Len Borisoff, Jerry Gross,
Mike Freda and Jim Mealey. Their first single was "No, No, No",
which was a minor local hit for The Brooktones, who soon broke up.
Summers and Dennis left the group, forming The Gems with Mark Stevens
and Alan Horowitz in 1960; while the remaining Brooktones signed to the
Chancellor record label and added Jerry Serlen and William Shunkwiler to
the group. Their first hit was "The Bristol Stomp", a dance
song followed by the similar hit "Do the New Continental".
They released a series of singles over the next few years. These
included "You Can't Sit Down", a #3 hit on the Billboard Hot
100 in 1963. Len Borisoff left in 1965 for a solo career under the name
Len Barry. The high point of his solo career was "1-2-3" in
1965. The Dovells continued as a trio, and recorded as The Magistrates
for MGM in 1968.
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