Herman Santiago
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Herman Santiago (born February 18, 1941 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Manhattan, New York), is a songwriter who, disputedly, wrote the rock and roll hit "Why Do Fools Fall In Love".
In the early 1950s Santiago and friends 2nd tenor Jimmy Merchant, fellow Puerto Rican and baritone Joe Negroni, and bassman Sherman Garnes, would meet in front of Santiago's apartment stoop in New York City to sing acapella versions of hits of the day. They originally called themselves the "Ermines" and Santiago was their lead singer. One day the Ermines did a talent show at PS 143 (Public School 143), at which the Cadillacs were guests. After the show, in honor of the Cadillacs, they changed their name to the "Coupe de Villes." This name only lasted a short time and they soon changed it to the "Premiers."
In 1955, 12 year old Frankie Lymon, who with his brothers Lewis and Howie had an aspiring musical group, and who was then working in a grocery store as a bag boy, met the Premiers backstage at an amateur show and "jammed" with them. He was quickly invited to join, initially singing first tenor behind Santiago's lead.
In 1955, Richard Barrett, a talent scout and producer for Rama Records (and also the lead singer of the Valentines), heard them singing and introduced them to George Goldner, the record company's owner. Goldner signed them to a contract and changed the group's name one more, this time to The Teenagers.
The following day the group was supposed to meet with Mr. Goldner in the studio for a recording session. Santiago had a sore throat and could not sing the lead vocal of the song he had co-written, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," and so he gave Negroni the music sheet with the words to the song and Frankie Lymon filled in. However, according to Jimmy Merchant, once the precocius Lymon became an established member of the group, his vocal talent and instinctive stage presence made him the obvious choice to be the group's lead vocalist, and Santiago graciously stepped aside.
Goldner released the record, with "Please Be Mine" on the "B" side, under the name "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers", on his new "Gee Records" subsidiary, in January 1956. The record became an instant hit in the U.S and the U.K. It also became the first top British hit by an American rock & roll vocal group. Single releases followed at 3 month intervals, the next three, "I Want You to Be My Girl," "I Promise to Remember"-- written by Jimmy Castor-- and "ABC's of Love" all making the charts, but at progressively lower positions. "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" b/w "Share", and "Out in the Cold Again," released in early 1957, did not chart.
In London the group played at the Palladium. Alan Freed signed them for two movies.
In 1957, Lymon left "the Teenagers" and went solo, turning in a pop direction with the hit "Goody Goody", fading into obscurity when his voice changed. He made several comeback attempts, and died of a heroin overdose in 1968 at age 26. The rest of the group continued without him, recruiting various lead singers, making records of varying quality, and having no commercial success. The group broke up in 1961, with the members taking regular jobs.
The surviving members of the group reunited in the 1970s, with Pearl McKinnon of the Kodaks (who sounds remarkably like Lymon) singing lead for a time. But by 1978, Garnes had died from a heart attack and Negroni from a cerebral hemorrhage. Santiago and Merchant have continued on with various new members including most notably Jimmy Castor, Lewis Lymon (Frankie's brother), and Timothy Wilson of Tiny Tim & the Hits, their most recent lead singer. As of 2005, Jimmy Merchant has retired.
In 1981, Diana Ross recorded a new version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", which again became a hit - and the royalties on the song passed over a million dollars.
In 1986, three women claiming to be Lymon's widow filed a law suit in New York's Superior Court claiming the rights to the song. When Goldner was called to testify, he admitted that he had conned "the Teenagers" into signing a contract which was not valid by law and that the song was in fact written by Herman Santiago. He also admitted that he had received all of the royalties and that Santiago never received a cent as author of the song; the Court then ruled that none of the widows were entitled to the rights of the song.
In December of 1992, the U.S. Federal Court ruled that the rights to the song belonged to Herman Santiago and that Jimmy Merchant and Emira Lymon (the true widow) were also entitled to receive royalties dating back to 1969. Herman Santiago was by now homeless and living in a car when he received the news and soon went from being homeless to becoming a millionaire.
However, in 1996 the ruling was reversed by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit (on the basis of the statute of limitations), and authorship of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" currently remains solely in the names of Frankie Lymon and the late Morris Levy (a business partner of George Goldner, who died in 1970). (See external link). The song is currently owned by EMI Music Publishing.
In 1993, Herman Santiago, Frankie Lymon and the original members of "the Teenagers", were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2000 into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. In the 1998 film "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", the role of Santiago was played by actor Alexis Cruz.
