The Chordettes - Lollipop

In 1946, the female vocal group The Chordettes was formed in Sheboygan, Wisconsin by four college friends. One of the founding members, Virginia Osborn, was the daughter of the president of the Barbershop Harmony Society. In 1949 the quartet, usually singing in a barbershop style a cappella, became regular performers on Arthur Godfrey's daily television show. In 1954 they had their first big hit with Mr Sandman, which was released on Cadence Records. The label had been founded by Godfrey's bandleader Archie Bleyer, who also married one of the singers that same year. In 1958, their next big hit Lollipop hit number two on the charts. The teen novelty song had previously been recorded by racially-mixed duo Ronald and Ruby, whose version had hit number twenty on the charts. The song was written by Beverly Ross and Julius Dixon, who wrote almost 200 songs for artists including Bill Haley & the Comets and Roy Orbison. The song had come about when a lollipop got stuck in the hair of Dixon's daughter, making him late to an important meeting with a music publisher. Ross had arrived on time, and when Dixon eventually showed up, Ross sat down at the piano and the song came about immediately. In this video for Lollipop, Andy Williams is featured as the final "pop".