The Monotones

The Monotones recorded a spate of clever novelties in the late '50s/early '60s, the most successful of which was the enduring "(Who Wrote) The Book of Love?," a massive Top Ten hit (number five pop/number three R&B) in 1958. The group formed in 1955, when 17-year-old lead vocalist Charles Patrick and his brother James Patrick teamed with 16-year-old first tenor Warren Davis, 15-year-old second tenor George Malone, 17-year-old bass singer John Smith, 18-year-old baritone Warren Ryanes, and his younger brother, 15-year-old second bass John Ryanes, coming together at the Baxter Terrace housing project in Newark, NJ. They practiced in the project's recreation hall, inspired by acts like the Heartbeats, the Spaniels, the Moonglows, and the Cadillacs. They adopted their name from a previous group who already had it and were in the process of breaking up. The six friends and neighbors also began singing with the New Hope Baptist Choir, along with other choir members Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, Judy Clay, Cissy Houston, Leroy Hutson (of the Impressions), and several of the Sweet Inspirations. Houston was the choir director and Dionne and Dee Dee were cousins of Jim and Charles Patrick (leader of the Monotones). By 1956, they were performing the Cadillacs' "Zoom" on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, winning first prize and earning a shot on the show the following week. Unfortunately, James Patrick decided to leave the group to join another act that had performed on the same show: the Kodaks (from Charles Evans Hughes High School in Newark). Undaunted by his brother's choice to sing with a rival act, Charles Patrick began writing new material for the group, the first of which would turn out to be "Who Wrote the Book of Love?" One story about this hit's genesis claims that the...