Reparata and the Delrons was an American girl group. They are best known for their 1965 recordings "Whenever a Teenager Cries" and "Tommy", for the 1968 European hit "Captain of Your Ship" and for Reparata's 1975 solo hit "Shoes".
The group started out as a five-piece high school harmony group called the Delrons, formed in 1962 at St. Brendan's Catholic School in Brooklyn, New York by the lead singer Mary Aiese.[1] The other original members included Nanette Licari, Regina Gallagher and Ann Fitzgerald, but they were soon replaced by Sheila Reilly, Carol Drobnicki and Kathy Romeo. Romeo was replaced by Marge McGuire, but McGuire herself then left the group. As a trio, Aiese, O'Reilly and Drobnicki were spotted by record producers Bill and Steve Jerome. They asked Mary Aiese to choose a stage name to make the group name more interesting and marketable. She chose Reparata, her confirmation name, which she had taken from one of her favorite teachers at school.
The Jeromes recorded them in 1964 first for Laurie Records, then on the Pittsburgh-based World Artists label with Ernie Maresca's song "Whenever a Teenager Cries". The song became a regional hit and reached #60 on the Billboard Hot 100, and even reached the Top 5 in Canada (where it was distributed by Arc). The follow-up, "Tommy", co-written by Chip Taylor, reached #92. The album Whenever a Teenager Cries (1965) showcased the singles, and included covers of popular hits by "British invasion" groups including The Beatles' "If I Fell" and Manfred Mann's "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy". The group opened for The Rolling Stones at the Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center on their Spring 1965 North American tour. The group became more widely known when they were invited to tour nationally with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars on two occasions during 1965. However, Sheila Reilly and Carol Drobnicki left the group just before the second tour began, and Reparata performed solo on the tour, with backing vocals from the wings. The next two singles were credited only to Reparata: "A Summer Thought" and "I Found My Place".
When Reparata and the Delrons signed with RCA in 1965, new Delrons were needed. Original member Nanette Licari was brought back. "I Can Tell", the first single for RCA needed a third vocalist, and although it has been reported that Lesley Gore sang on the track, it was actually session singer Lesley Miller, while Gore recorded her own version of the song. 18-year-old Lorraine Mazzola was soon recruited to join the group. This line-up became the group's best-known and most prolific, although ironically they never released an album and none of their dozen singles ever made the US national charts. Their 1967 release "It's Waiting There For You" became a minor hit in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with airplay on KYSN, 1460-AM. After several unsuccessful releases in a style similar to the Shangri-Las, including Jeff Barry's "I'm Nobody's Baby Now," and "I Can Hear the Rain" which featured the then-unknown Melba Moore, the group moved again to Mala Records. In 1968, they released the up-tempo "Captain of Your Ship", co-written by Kenny Young. Although the song missed the U.S. national charts, it became their biggest ever hit when it made #13 in the UK Singles Chart, and the group toured there. In 1969, the group provided backing vocals for The Rolling Stones' single "Honky Tonk Women", recorded at Olympic Studios in London, and for the Ox-Bow Incident cover of The Four Tops' "Reach Out".
Reparata left the group in 1969 but agreed that Lorraine Mazzola and Nanette Licari would carry on without her doing live shows as The Delrons. The band went on hiatus as a live act in 1973. While The Delrons played live shows without her, Reparata continued releasing solo singles produced by Steve and Bill Jerome. In February 1972, she signed a three-year contract with Dart Records, a UK-based label. Dart quickly released "Octopus's Garden" (Dart ART 2006), a cover version of The Beatles song. The recording is credited to Reparata and the Delrons, although only Reparata is featured. The B-side is "Your Life is Gone", a dramatic story song similar to The Shangri-La's' "Leader of the Pack". On 18 October 1974, Reparata released a solo single "Shoes", backed with "A Song for All", as a UK-only promo on Surrey International Records as SIT 5013. Reparata's contract with Dart Records ended in February 1975, and "Shoes" was then given a commercial release on her new label Polydor in the summer of that year. While the single was drawing praise for its catchy and unique sound, promotion and distribution were hampered by legal disputes.
In the late 1970s, several of the group's 1960s singles including "Panic" and "It's Waiting There for You" became favourites on the Northern soul scene in England. "Panic" was re-released in the United Kingdom in 1978 on an EP of Northern Soul classics which also featured tracks by Gerri Granger and James & Bobby Purify. That same year, Reparata asked Nanette Licari and Cooky Sirico to reform the group with her. The group became a part-time project for the trio, and they performed approximately once a month on the oldies circuit, and at club gigs and private functions in the New York City and New England areas for over twenty years. In 1979, the group contributed vocals to Gary Private's EP Private, on the songs "Caught Up In Los Angeles" and "Rumor Has It". In 1981, they released a privately pressed LP called On the Road Again on the Perfection Sound label, and they appeared on Don K. Reed's radio show Doo Wop Shop in 1982 singing a cappella "The Book of Love", "So Young" and "Brooklyn". In June 1985, the group joined James Brown and many other 1950s and 1960s artists to record the Roots of Rock 'n' Roll Against Famine charity single "Our Message to the People (For the Children)". It was released in November 1986 and sales benefited the UNICEF World Hunger campaign.
In 2000, Reparata decided it was time to disband the group for good, almost 40 years after she formed it as a high school student.
