She Say (Oom Dooby Doom) - The Diamonds

Rare video clip of The Diamonds singing "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)" from 1959. This is one of the first actual pop video clips - as opposed to a filming of a stage performance. Hear the superb Dave Somerville singing the falsetto lead to this song. Hard to believe the same guy joined The Four Preps a few years later as their Bass Singer! Dave is still knocking them dead somewhere tonight.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• The Diamonds
• She Say
• Little
• Darlin'
• Stroll
• Dave Somerville
• David Somerville
• Mike Douglas
• She
• Say
• Ric
• Tester
• Doo
• Wop
• Rock

[chg657]

Wow...LOVE the Bass singer...I'm a baritone/bass, but nothing like this...

[RicTester]

@chg657 That is John Felten who Joined The Diamonds back in late 1958 - and he was with the group for 10 years. I have a recording of John and The Diamonds doing Old Man River, where John takes the lead. Wonderful performance. To hear more of The Diamonds, visit the authorised website of the original Diamonds "the diamonds music dot com" (all one word) Tragically, John and his wife Linda lost their lives in a light aircraft crash in the early eighties.

[RicTester]

The Diamonds loved and respected the black R&B groups. They jammed and performed alongside them. In many instances they were unfairly criticised for their covers of the black groups, Their earliest musical mentors were the guys in a black group called the Revelaires. The Revelairs wrote "Land of Beauty" which The Diamonds recorded and put on the B side of their million seller - The Stroll.

[twasbrillig33]

Hey Ric, I know Dave personally, Bruce Belland (of the 4 preps ) is my step dad. =). I've not been keeping abreast of what Dave's been up to lately, I think he's back with the Diamonds performing whenever they can. Same with Bruce with the OG 4 preps. Both still sound great. Bruce and David were together for a number of years in the 90s along with Jim Yester of the Association.

I had no idea this existed, and appreciate seeing it, I'm sure Dave would love and appreciate seeing this too.

[RicTester]

@twasbrillig33

Thanks for the posting. I have spoken to Dave a few times over the phone - real nice guy. I have also spoken to Bruce B over the email. To see a really early picture of the preps, see my website dedicated to The Diamonds - Bruce is there.

the site is thediamondsmusic (dot com)

Thanks for dropping by!

Cheers

Ric

[440rko]

like to know if the girl is still alive...my favorite song when i was 9 years old...

[RicTester]

@440rko

The girl was a dancer who was brought in to "spice up" the video. She would be 70+ years of age now. The only member of the video clip who is definitely no longer with us is bass singer John Felten, who lost his life in an air crash in 1982. The rest of The Diamonds in that clip are alive and well.

[Donkey9900]

Interesting story about this song-according to David Somerville (the lead singer) with an interview with the oldies DJ Norm N. Nite in the early to mid 90's, the song was originally recorded without the high part. After leaving the studio, Dave felt something was still missing from the song, & then later that night, went back down to the studio & added the high falsetto part to the mix of the tape.

[wolf1728]

I liked that video when I first saw it 52 years ago! It was great to see it again after all these decades. Even as a kid I could tell that was much better than the usual lip-syncing "performance" done by so many bands. I never thought it was a video and figured they acted this out on American Bandstand.

I also remembered that lovely lass dancing around. She definitely cinches that video.

And (like everyone else posting here) I'd like to know who she is and what else she may have done.

[MisterClockTower]

This is the best dubstep I've ever heard.

[MrTommy001]

These guys were just plain great. All my life, since I'd never seen them live or even in a picture, I thought they were black. Yup. Imagine my surprise when, one day on TV when they were advertising one of those oldie sets, I saw a few second clip of them singing "Little Darlin" - and THEY WERE WHITE! Holy crap! Over 50 years of knowing nothing about the Diamonds. I'm SO ashamed! Ha.

[SouthJerseykeith]

Actually, what I meant to say was that I find what she does with her hands and tilting her head (after she shrugs her shoulders just a little bit) kind of amusing. So yes, I guess I do write first and think later sometimes...

[474TFW]

@SouthJerseykeith......Do you write...........And then think?

[Ezdduf4kuZ]

I do remeber this song and the band, but never heard them much as in flashbacks. It seems to me it was the bigger names I heard most often excluding Elvis who seemed to be overplayed by the dj's. Hey!, now I call the plays and I don't have to listen to Elvis, right.

[SouthJerseykeith]

Who is the girl in this video clip? I just love the part of her dance when she first comes out and starts dancing and shrugs her shoulders. She does a great job and should be recognized for it.

The only thing I don't like about the lyrics is when the singer says she is "...the captain of my soul." The Captain of my soul is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He should be everyone's Captain. Don't mean to get religious on you, but that's just the way it is. Otherwise, I LOVE the song and the video.