To whom does this story belong? Does it belong to the young and hopeful girl group? To the ambitious and unknown writing/production team? To the ambitious and even more unknown trumpet player?

Let’s do this Quentin Tarantino style (not with bloodshed; with multiple storylines).

The 3 Girls

The Angels formed in New Jersey in the late 1950s when sisters Barbara and Phyllis got together with a couple of friends to start a vocal group. They scored some gigs and did a little studio session work as background singers, but after a failed audition for a record producer they split up. Phyllis went to teacher’s college and Barbara went to Julliard; however, both dropped out when the producer changed his mind and asked them to record a single of one of their audition songs. “Till” hit the Top 20 in 1962, but their lead singer left to go solo (the second time they’d lost a lead singer to a solo career) and they brought in Peggy, a pro who had sung commercial jingles and appeared on Broadway. Each of their next four singles performed worse than the previous one and it looked like the trio might have already peaked.

The 3 Guys

Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer met in the late 50s in New York at the Brill Building, the bustling hub for songwriters both veteran and rookie. They managed to get some of their songs placed with well-known artists over the next few years, but a hit record proved elusive. In 1962, a new girl group called The Angels recorded one of their songs which later became the B-side of an unsuccessful single. As it happens, Jerry was dating Phyllis, and the writers started employing The Angels for background vocals and to sing demos of their new songs.

The Trumpet Player

Ronald Padavona grew up in Cortland, New York with a love for opera star Mario Lanza and also for playing the trumpet. Then rock & roll came along and Ronald immediately formed the first of a series of groups with himself as the frontman. They toured all over New York at any clubs, schools or parties which would have them and even recorded a one-off single for Atlantic Records in 1962 (along with numerous failed singles for small indie labels). Padavona kept up his trumpet playing during this time and occasionally took on session work for a little extra cash.

The Song

When songwriter Bob Feldman learned that his high school hangout, a Brooklyn soda shop, was scheduled for demolition, he decided to drive over and hang out one last time. While saying his goodbyes, a loud argument began between a teenage girl and a leather-jacketed guy straight out of Grease. As things escalated, she pointed at him and shouted, “My boyfriend’s back and you’re gonna be in trouble! You’ve been spreading lies about me all over school and when he gets a hold of you, you’re gonna be sorry you were ever born!”

Like any good songwriter, Feldman made a mental note and relayed the tale to his partners Goldstein and Gottehrer that night. The resulting song, “My Boyfriend’s Back,” practically wrote itself since the young girl provided half of the lyrics.

However, not everything was going to be that easy. The publishing company the guys worked for wanted to give the song to The Shirelles, an established act. The guys refused — probably in part due to Jerry and Phyllis’s romance — and told their boss they were going to proceed with The Angels and produce the song themselves. A month later, they were out of a job, but this allowed them to go into business for themselves as a freelance team. It would work out well.

In the meantime, the fledgling producers took The Angels into the studio to record the track and everyone agreed it was a smash. The arrangement called for handclaps (one of the Top 5 handclap songs of all time) and horns, and somebody brought in Ronald Padavona to play trumpet. (He and his band had been hustling to break into the business for years so he could have been hanging around the studio, but he also had a connection to an artist the production team had previously worked with so maybe they already knew each other.)

Mercury Records liked the song so much they bought the rights to it from The Angels’ current record label and then signed the group. Smart move. Released as a single on the Smash subsidiary in August of 1963, “My Boyfriend’s Back” took only four weeks to reach the top of the US charts.

The Aftermath

The Angels scored two more minor hits with their follow-up singles but subsequent releases over the next five years failed to chart. They found success performing on the nightclub circuit and eventually as part of “Oldies” revues.

Feldman, Goldstein, and Gottehrer would produce another #1 two years later (“Hang On Sloopy” by The McCoys) and even charted a couple of hits as performers themselves in 1965. But that’s another story.

And what of would-be rock star and trumpet player Ronald Padavona? He had a string of unsuccessful singles with his group The Prophets throughout the 1960s before eventually being hired in 1975 as the lead vocalist for Rainbow, a band started by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Under the name Ronnie James Dio, the singer would help shape the history of hard rock and heavy metal fronting Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own band, known as Dio. He has sold millions of records, but “My Boyfriend’s Back” remains the highest-charting single he ever appeared on.

So hey la, hey la … with The Angels.

Let’s throw in one of their last singles, from 1968, the overlooked “The Boy With The Green Eyes,” written by a young Neil Diamond: