RIP Hank Medress
The vocal talent credited with making "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" a number one hit has died, at the age of 68. Hank Medress recorded "Lion" with the Tokens in 1961. The song had been a folk standard (originally performed by The Weavers in the 1950’s) but acheived number one on the Top-40 chart with the Tokens version.
The Tokens were the second band for Medress, his fisrt was the Linc-Tones with fellow Lincoln High School buddy Neil Sedaka.
Medress moved into music production and was credited for the success of the Chiffons "One Fine Day" and "He’s So Fine" in the 60’s.
After he broke off from the Tokens in the 70’s, his first solo production effort was convincing a record company executive, Tony Orlando, to handle lead vocals for a band called "Dawn", which was recording a new song called "Knock Three Times". Medress also produced "Candida".
In the 1980’s, he was responsible for re-inventing New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen as "Buster Poindexter" and producing his first hit single "Hot, Hot, Hot".
Rest in Peace, Hank Medress