Definition of "doo-wop" [doo-wop]

• A style of rhythm and blues popularized in the 1950s and characterized by words and nonsense syllables sung in harmony by small groups against a stylized rhythmic melody. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "From 1958, when Dion DiMucci and the Belmonts placed several songs on the pop charts, until the “British Invasion” of 1964, Italian American doo-wop groups dominated American popular music."
• "A style combining smooth vocal harmonies, romantic lyrics, and a stationary stage presence, doo-wop was invented in the 1940s by black youth on street corners, but it shot to the top of the pop charts in the late 1950s when Italian Americans adopted it as their own—just as most African American performers moved toward “soul music.”"
• "During the rise of doo-wop and Frank Rizzo, Malcolm X mocked the newly white Italians."