Doo-wop singer Larry Chance dead at 82

Larry Chance, a doo-wop singer whose hits with the Earls included “Remember Then,” “Life Is But a Dream,” “I Believe” and “Never,” died Sept. 6, his daughter said. He was 82.

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Chance died at a hospital in Orlando, Florida, The New York Times reported. His daughter, Nicole Chance, said his cause of death was complications from lung cancer.

When he was 17 in 1957, Chance formed the doo-wop group the High Hatters, but band members didn’t like the name and changed it to The Earls. The group kept doo-wop alive through the decades, with Chance performing for the final time last year, the newspaper reported.

Lawrence Figueiredo was born on Oct. 19, 1940, in the New York City borough of the Bronx and was raised in South Philadelphia -- a neighborhood rich in musicians, including pop singers Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Chubby Checker, along with opera star Mario Lanza, the Times reported.

The group recorded “Life Is But a Dream” in 1961, then followed it up with “Remember Then” in 1962. The following year, the group recorded “Never” and “I Believe.”

“The Earls unknowingly became the forerunners of white doo-wop groups who took standards done by rhythm and blues balladeers and brought them to the attention of a new generation,” music historian Jay Warner wrote in “American Singing Groups: A History From 1940 to Today” (1992), according to the Times.

Bobby Tribuzio, the Earls’ drummer since 1963, said in a telephone interview that Chance was “a singer’s singer.” Chance also wrote songs, including “Get On Up and Dance (The Continental),” which he wrote with Jimmy Fracassi, according to the newspaper. The Earls recorded the song in 1976.

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