Gloria (Leon René song)

"Gloria" is a doo-wop song written by Leon René in the 1940s.

"Exclusive" debuts

René began his own record label, Exclusive Records, in 1945, and the song was first recorded and released on the label that year by the Buddy Baker Sextet, featuring Duke Ellington's former vocalist Herb Jeffries. The following year it was recorded by Ray Anthony, and also by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, another group on René's label which featured vocalist Charles Brown. In 1948 it received a notable resurgence in popularity as a single by The Mills Brothers.

Myth Gloria, I presume?

In 1954, The Cadillacs recorded a revamped version of the song which became their debut record. That initial record listed no writer credit, but later releases of The Cadillacs' recording—and several subsequent covers of the song by other artists—give sole writing credit to Esther Navarro; other mentions of the altered composition list Navarro as having revised René's song. In fact, Navarro was actually the band's manager. Though she received writing credit for many Cadillacs songs, Cadillacs lead singer Earl Carroll claims she never wrote (or re-wrote) the songs.

With over 30 groups performing it, Gloria is one of the most covered songs in doo-wop music history. A version of the song was recorded in 1975 by jazz fusion group The Manhattan Transfer for their debut album "The Manhattan Transfer", which led a revival of the doo-wop and jazz styles in popular music. Other notable performances include The Modernaires, and The Passions ("Just to Be With You", 1992).

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