[bomp] The Lion Sleeps Permanently

[Sknoof@xxxxxxx]

...sad...

'Lion Sleeps Tonight' Singer Medress Dies

NEW YORK (June 23) - Hank Medress, whose vocals with the doo wop group the 
Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to the 
top of the charts and who produced hits with other groups, has died of lung 
cancer. He was 68. 

Medress died Monday at his Manhattan home, relatives said. 

He was a teenager at Brooklyn's Lincoln High School when he launched his 
vocal quartet in 1955 with Neil Sedaka, performing as the Linc-Tones. When Sedaka 
departed for a successful solo career, lead singer Jay Siegel joined brothers 
Mitch and Phil Margo and Medress to become the Tokens. 

It wasn't until 1961 that the group scored its singular smash, its hypnotic 
"Wimowehs" derived from a traditional Zulu melody. The Weavers had made the 
song a folk staple in the '50s, but the Tokens brought their version to No. 1 on 
the pop charts. 

The band had other minor Top 40 hits, including "I Hear the Trumpets Blow" in 
1966 and "Portrait of My Love" in 1967 - but never recaptured the success of 
its enduring single. 

Medress would return to the charts, though, when the Tokens landed a 
production deal. The all-girl vocal group the Chiffons benefited from his studio touch 
with the classic '60s singles "He's So Fine" and "One Fine Day." 

After splitting with the Tokens in the 1970s, Medress worked with a record 
company executive named Tony Orlando, persuading him to handle vocals on "Knock 
Three Times" - a move that catapulted the song into pop history. Medress and 
production partner Dave Appell also produced the Orlando and Dawn hit 
"Candida." 

In the 1980s, Medress helped former New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen 
reinvent himself as lounge lizard hipster Buster Poindexter, producing his 
debut album and the single "Hot, Hot, Hot." 

>From 1990-92, he served as president of EMI Music Publishing Canada. More 
recently, he worked as a consultant to Sound Exchange, a nonprofit group helping 
musicians collect royalties. 

He was survived by four children and two grandchildren. 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. 



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