“Hushabye” was a song that forever changed Al Contrera’s life. Every time he hears that oldie, it’s like 1959 and being on the streets of Brooklyn.
“That’s how it is with the old songs; they take you back to a time and a place and the people in your life,” he said. “When I hear ‘Hushabye,’ I can smell the hot dogs, the cotton candy and the pizza. I feel like I’m back in the recording studio or walking down the block. It all comes back.”
Contrera, 78, was a member of The Mystics, who turned a doo-wop number, “Hushabye,” into a 1959 smash. He will sign copies of his new book, “Hushabye: The Mystics, The Music and The Mob” on Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. in the Barnes & Noble at Lake Sumter Landing.
It’s much more than a sweet, gentle reminisce. Contrera details the hard times of growing up on city streets with gangs, Mob wise guys and some dark, violent encounters.
Music, though, offered the opportunity for Contrera and the other members of The Mystics – Phil Cracolici, Albee Cracolici, Bob Ferrante and George Galfo – a way out.
“It gave us an opportunity to pursue our dream,” Contrera said.
In his book, Contrera tells stories about what it was like to be a kid living out a rock and roll fantasy.
“Life was good, almost too good,” he said.
Contrera details meetings with music personalities like Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Connie Francis, Freddy Cannon, Joey Ramone, Kenny Vance and Hall of Fame songwriter Doc Pomus, and Mort Shuman.
It was Pomus and Shuman who wrote “Hushabye.” Originally the duo had penned “Teenager In Love” for The Mystics, but the record company wanted Dion to record the song. The Mystics also had a chance to turn “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)” into a hit, but the Tokens got the song.
“We knew ‘Teenager in Love’ was going to be a big hit,” Contrera said in a telephone interview. “Doc and Mort wrote it for us. But Laurie Records wanted it for Dion. We were devastated.”
But Pomus and Shuman soon came back with “Hushabye,” and Contrera was thrilled: “It fit right in with us, I knew it was a hit.”
“Hushabye” came out during the summer of ’59 and next thing you know, The Mystics were touring with pioneering rock and roll DJ Alan Freed.
“I used to listen to Alan Freed on the radio when I was just a kid,” Contrera said. “My parents said, ‘Why the hell are listening to that rock and roll; turn it off.’ Alan Freed played cool music. It wasn’t like Rosemary Clooney or the Four Lads. It was Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and Speedo and the Cadillacs. I loved it.”
By 1959, however, Freed was caught up in the “payola” scandal. He still signed groups for bus tours, but things were changing.
“He was kind of on the way down,” Contrera said. “You sensed he knew it was the end of an era and he was shattered.”
Dick Clark was the new power of promoting rock acts. The Mystics made it to Clark’s ABC Saturday night “Beechnut” show.
“I listened and watched Dick Clark all the time, and now we’re on his show,” Contrera said. “I kept thinking: ‘Am I worthy?’ Having a hit record was like winning the lottery.”
But you have to follow a hit with another to have staying power. The Mystics tried. Their next single, “Don’t Take the Stars,” was a hit, but nowhere near “Hushabye.”
And there were serious and tragic problems off stage by the end of 1959.
Phil Cracolici, the lead singer, was witness to a holdup and accidental shooting, and “mistakenly jailed for two years,” Contrera writes.
“We thought Phil would get out in a couple weeks,” Contrera said. “It was a big blow. I consider Phil a brother but we had to keep going. We had a dream to follow.”
The Mystics search for a new lead singer included a kid from Queens named Paul Simon, who later teamed with his pal Art Garfunkel.
“Believe me, we had no way of knowing then what Paul Simon would become – he was just a kid who hung out at the recording studio,” Contrera said.
Another singer who did make it into The Mystics was the late Jay Traynor, who later became lead for Jay and the Americans. Traynor sang lead on “White Cliffs of Dover,” “Blue Star” and “Over the Rainbow.”
“Jay was a special guy and a great singer,” Contrera said. “When Phil got in trouble, Jay came into The Mystics and we became a group again. I miss him.”
After a few years, all The Mystics went their separate ways. Contrera became a successful mechanical engineer and still works in New York City.
During the 1970s and beyond, The Mystics became part of the oldies revival. Contrera has been performing ever since, with The Mystics, as well as the Classics and the Brooklyn Reunion.
He spent nearly a decade writing his book, and it is an honest look at the past filled with joy and heartbreak. Like many groups of that early musical era, The Mystics never saw most of the money they earned.
“I can’t be bitter,” Contrera said. “It’s like I tell my kids – life isn’t fair. As I get older, the more I realized what really matters is your family and your friends.”
And he still gets to sing the old songs in front of appreciative crowds.
“I’ve played The Villages before, I know how much people there love doo-wop music,” Contrera said. “It’s hard to describe what it’s like to be up there singing those songs at this stage of my life. It’s like when you first started playing baseball and you hit a home run.
“I get that same feeling when we go out there and sing – it’s like hitting a home run and feeling that feeling all over again. And I look out in the audience and I see those happy faces, and I believe those people feel the same way about our music.”
Tony Violanti is a veteran journalist and writes for Villages-News.com.
