Ronald "Bingo" Mundy obit

Marcels Singer Ronald ‘Bingo’ Mundy Dies at 76

Ronald "Bingo" Mundy, best known for his work with the doo-wop group The Marcels and their hit "Blue Moon," has died. He was 76. 

He was not on the list.

PITTSBURGH — Ronald “Bingo” Mundy, best known for his work with the doo-wop group The Marcels and their hit “Blue Moon,” has died. He was 76.

Mundy lived in Pittsburgh and died of pneumonia at Allegheny General Hospital on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

The five-member vocal group reportedly recorded the song in two takes.

“Blue Moon” is instantly recognizable for the bass vocals that begin the song — “Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom.” Mundy can be heard singing the background refrain of “Moon moon moon moon moon.”

The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1961.The Marcels made their indelible mark on the history of rock ’n’ roll with the signature “bomp baba bomp…” that opened their 1961 hit “Blue Moon.”

Mundy didn’t sing that bass part, but he was one of the angelic tenor voices that quickly came in on the harmonies: “moon-moon- moon-moon-moon, dip-da-dip-da-dip.”

He and his friends formed the Marcels, named after a stylist haircut, in 1959 while students at Allegheny High School on the North Side, inspired by groups like the Harptones, the Cadillacs and the Spaniels.

A demo tape sent to Colpix Records landed them at New York’s RCA Studios in February 1961 to record, among other things, a rockin’ doo-wop version of the Rodgers and Hart classic “Blue Moon” with an intro they had been using on their take of The Cadillacs’ “Zoom.”

As legend has it, the day he heard it, New York DJ Murray the K played “Blue Moon” 26 times in a four-hour show. In March 1961, the song knocked Elvis Presley off the top of the Billboard chart, becoming the first No. 1 rock ’n’ roll hit out of Pittsburgh. The million-seller went top 10 hit all over the world, as far as Israel and South Africa, and that summer the Marcels sang in the Hollywood movie “Twist Around the Clock.”

They released a number of other singles that year, hitting No. 7 with “Heartaches” and No. 24 with the “Porgy and Bess” classic “Summertime.” The group’s 1961 debut album also included The Chantels’ song “Goodbye to Love.”

That year, Bingo, as he was known to friends and family — “I didn’t even know my uncle’s name was Ron,” said Sarah Huny Young — met Janet Brandon, who recalled her first real date was a Marcels gig at an East Liberty club.

She was unimpressed by stardom, but she said, “My sister and I were waiting, all dressed up in front of The [Pittsburgh] Courier and this big white limo pulled up. Jules [Kruspir, their manager] was driving. We went to the show, where they were presented with a plaque by Porky Chedwick.”

That year, 1961, was a whirlwind for the Marcels — with the tours, the TV shows, the movie, the recording sessions — but the jet-set life was fleeting for Mundy.

“The fact that they were racially mixed caused a lot of problems,” said oldies promoter Henry DeLuca. “They couldn’t tour down South that way, and had to go with an all-Black lineup.”

That shook up some of the chemistry of the group.

“It got to be hard,” Ms. Mundy said. “He called me and said, ‘I’m going home and getting a job.’ ”

He left by the end of 1961, the last year the Marcels charted on Billboard. They got married in March 1962, and Mundy, after a few different jobs, became a bus driver for Port Authority of Allegheny County, where he retired after 25 years.

But, in one way or another, he was always a Marcel. He and two other original members would perform as the Marcels, creating a legal dispute with the trademark group led by Walt Maddox, who had joined in the middle of ’61. Mundy sang in oldies throwback group the Memories, which sure enough did Marcels songs, and he sang in the Wesley Center AME Zion Church. DeLuca and T.J. Lubinsky reunited the original Marcels in 1999 for the PBS special “Doo-Wop 50.”

“He always had singing in his blood,” Ms. Mundy said. “He loved the oldies and my kids were all raised on them.”

Ms. Young said she will remember him for his distinctive drawl, his love for biking and swimming, gadgets, fresh haircuts and his generosity.

“The most awesome to me as a kid: he owned a candy store on the North Side for a short while. That store may not have made it because he just gave us, his nieces and nephews, all the candy.”

He is survived by: wife, Janet; daughter Sharon; son Ronnie; brothers William of Sheraden and Ramon; and two grandchildren.

Filmography

Twist Around the Clock (1961)

The Marcels' popularity in 1961 was so great that they were included in the Oscar Rudolph film Twist Around the Clock. Released on December 30, 1961, with the tagline "It's Twist-eriffic! The first full-length movie about the Twist!" the film also showcased fellow artists Chubby Checker, Dion DiMucci, Vicki Spencer and singer-songwriter and TV show host turned actor Clay Cole. Allen Johnson, Gene Bricker, Cornelius Harp, Fred Johnson, Richard Knauss and Ronald Mundy of The Marcels were all included—and had speaking parts in addition to performing musical numbers. They sing "Merry Twist-Mas", which was released over Christmas 1961, though no chart action ensued.

Bikini Beach (1964)

This Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon movie, about a millionaire who sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach where he is intending to build a retirement home but ends in hilarious results, also included two of The Marcels, Gene Bricker and Cornelius Harp. They provided backing vocals for two songs, Avalon's "Gimme Your Love Yeah Yeah Yeah" and Little Stevie Wonder's "(Happy Feelin') Dance And Shout".