Oldies But Goodies

Some of that old time rock ’n’ roll is coming to New Brunswick.

The sounds of the ’50s and ’60s will fill the stage of the State Theatre on Nov. 19 with a “Golden Oldies Spectacular” concert featuring The Duprees, Charlie Thomas’ Drifters, The Brooklyn Bridge, Shirley Alston Reeves and the Legendary Teenagers.

The show promises a night of vocals and harmonies that defined early rock ’n’ roll, before guitar-based rock that defined music of the late ‘60s and ‘70s.

Several groups tour under the Drifters name, but the group coming to the State features Charlie Thomas, who sang lead on the hits “Sweets For My Sweet” and “When My Little Girl Is Smiling.” Thomas is also a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee.

Shirley Alston Reeves is another hall of famer. She grew up in Passaic, and was a member of the Shirelles, the famous girl group whose hits include “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “Dedicated to the One I Love,” “Solider Boy” and “Baby It’s You.”

The Brooklyn Bridge’s lead singer Johnny Maestro died in 2010 but the group continues to sing hits such as “Welcome My Love” and “Blessed is the Rain.” The Legendary Teenagers sang with Frankie Lymon, with their most famous song being the doo-wop classic “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” The current lineup features original members Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago.

The Duprees are another Jersey-based band, and one that has gone through several lineup changes. No original members are with the group, but singer Tony Testa says all of the current members have long histories with the group.

The Duprees got their start in 1952. Testa started playing guitar for them in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s. In the ’80s, original Dupree Michael Arnone asked him to help put the group back together.

“The group at the time was kind of in disarray, musically and vocally, and he knew I could do what was needed to get it back into form,” Testa says. “Ever since then, it’s been an evolution, all the current members… have worked with the original members at one time or another, so it’s been a true evolution of the group.”

Arnone died in 2005 but the group has continued with lead singer Tommy Petillo and Testa, Jimmy Spinelli and Phil Granito singing harmonies.

“The hits that the group had in the ’60s were actually remakes of songs that were hits in the ’40s and early ’50s with the big band sound,” Testa says. “They’re the great standards that were done by Joni James, Perry Como and Frank Sinatra and such. The distinction with the Duprees was that the group gave the songs new life, so to speak, and a more contemporary feel.”

Those songs include “You Belong to Me,” “Have You Heard,” “My Own True Love” and “Why Don’t You Believe Me?” The group continues to find new songs to perform in Dupree style, choosing tunes that appeal to all ages.

“We do Lionel Richie songs, we do Bobby Darrin songs with our own Duprees arrangements and it’s worked out extremely well,” Testa says. “And the fans, it’s unbelievable how far some people travel to see our shows.”

Another hallmark of Dupree performances, according to Testa, is that each concert is different.

“We gear ourselves specifically to each show,” he says. “We don’t have a cookie-cutter show where we do these eight or 10 or 15 same songs every time. I kind of call them on the fly because each and every performance to me is a unique one because each audience is unique.”

The Duprees will mark a milestone year in 2012 as it marks its 50^th anniversary. A 50^th anniversary CD is set to be released through the group’s website (www.duprees.com). The longevity, Testa says, is due to the members keeping their voices strong by adjusting how they sing.

“When you’re young, you’re really pounding it out and you don’t really have any boundaries,” he says, “but when you get older, you learn how to do it more correctly and as a result, the sound is a more pure sound. If there’s one comment we get more than any other about our performances, it’s about our harmony.”

The “Golden Oldies Spectacular” will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. 

Tickets cost $30 to $75. For more information, call 732-246-7469 or go to www.statetheatrenj.org.