The Top Notes

American R&B vocal group · active 1960–1963

The Top Notes were an American R&B and doo-wop group centred on singers Derek Martin and Howard Guyton. In February 1961 they made the very first recording of ‘Twist and Shout’ for Atlantic Records, produced by a then-unknown Phil Spector — and it flopped. It is a strange footnote of pop history that the group who introduced one of its most-covered songs are the one act almost nobody remembers.

Who recorded it

Songs The Top Notes recorded first

Twist and Shout

Recorded it first — now often credited to The Beatles

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