The headlining group for the Doo-Wop Society's Show #36 on May 5, 2001, was The Dreamlovers, a Philadelphia group that first got together in high school in the 1950s as The Romancers. After changing their name in 1959 to The Dreamlovers--taken from the title of Bobby Darin's hit single--the quintet came to the attention of a local entrepreneur, Len "Buddy" Caldwell, who recorded them for his tiny Len and V-Tone labels. The group members were Morris Gardner (lead), Tommy Ricks (tenor), Cleveland Hammock Jr (second tenor), and brothers James Ray Dunn (bass) and Cliff Dunn (baritone). A sixth member, Donald Hogan, joined the group after their first single.

The Dreamlovers are perhaps best known today as the Cameo/Parkway house vocal group in the early 1960s, singing anonymously behind Chubby Checker on several of his big sellers (including the #1 hits "The Twist" and "Pony Time"), Dee Dee Sharp, The Dovells and others. Unfortunately, they had to go elsewhere to establish themselves under their own name.

The Dreamlovers' first single on the new Heritage label was a Donald Hogan song called "When We Get Married," which promptly shot to #10 on the national charts. Though there would never be a hit follow-up (though "If I Should Lose You" did chart as high as #62), their one big burst of fame and their unerring harmonies kept them working and recording steadily for several years, including a stint on three major labels.

Over the years The Dreamlovers kept working, and only within the last few years did the majority of the originals break up. These days (2001) the group is led by the Dunn brothers, with Charlie Brown and ex-Turban Earl Wortham rounding out the quartet.

Discography

Singles
Len 1006	For the First Time/Take It From a Fool	1960
V-Tone 211	Home Is Where the Heart Is/Annabelle Lee	1960
V-Tone 229	Time/May I Kiss the Bride	1961
Heritage 102	When We Get Married/Just Because	1961
Heritage 104	Welcome Home/Let Them Love	1961
Heritage 107	Zoom Zoom Zoom/While We Were Dancing	1962
End 1114	If I Should Lose You/I Miss You	1962
Casino 1308	Together/Amazons and Coyotees	1963
Swan 4167	Together/Amazons and Coyotees	1963
Columbia 42698	Sad Sad Boy/If I Were a Magician	1963
Columbia 42752	Black Bottom/Sad Sad Boy	1963
Columbia 42842	Pretty Little Girl/I'm Through With You	1963
Cameo 326	Oh Baby Mine/These Will Be the Good Old Days	1964
Warner Brothers 5619	You Gave Me Somebody to Love/Doin' Things Together With You	1965
Mercury 72595	The Bad Times Make the Good Times/Bless Your Soul	1966
Mercury 72630	Calling Jo-Ann/You Gave Me Somebody to Love	1966
LPs
Columbia 8820	The Bird (& Other Golden Dancing Grooves)	1963
Collectables 5004	The Best of the Dreamlovers, Vol. 1	1980s
Collectables 5005	The Best of the Dreamlovers, Vol. 2	1980s
CDs
Collectables 5004	The Best of the Dreamlovers, Vol. 1	1990
Collectables 5005	The Best of the Dreamlovers, Vol. 1	1990
The "Best of" albums contain a total of 24 songs from all their labels. Omitted are the three cuts from the first two Columbia singles, plus "May I Kiss the Bride" from V-Tone, and "The Bad Times Make the Good Times Good" and "Bless Your Soul" from Mercury. Non-singles include "Let's Twist Again" f rom the Columbia album and "Mother."

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