Janet Vogel and the Skyliners

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Even if you're not familiar with the Skyliners, you probably know their hit single Since I Don't Have You from 1959. The teenage vocal harmony group was formed a year earlier, in 1958, as the Crescents in the Allentown area of Pittsburgh and was one of the first to include a female voice. Janet Vogel, who sang soprano, was all of 16 at the time, and late that year she managed to persuade the owner of Pittsburgh's newly formed Calico label to record the group singing Since I Don't Have You, a song they had been singing locally. Calico's owner was wary until he heard Vogel sing the first few notes of the song.

A string arrangement was written and 18 musicians were contracted for the date in New York in early December. Toward the end of the recording, Vogel unleashed a series of "you-ooo" soprano notes behind lead singer Jimmy Beaumont that sounded like a soaring falsetto and then crushed the ending with a vocal line that went up, came down slightly and then shot way up to end the song. They were electrifying notes that capped a perfect recording.

Soon after the single was released, the Skyliners appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in February 1959 to sing it. By March, the song had peaked #12 on the Billboard pop chart, and the Skyliners all dropped out of high school to tour. The group had several additional hits that were included on The Skyliners, their first album for Calico, including This I Swear (written by Vogel) and Pennies From Heaven. The Skyliners left Calico in 1961 and released singles on several different labels. 

Those wouldn't include Vogel, who quit the group in '61 to return to Pittsburgh. Back home, she began a solo career in 1963 as Janet Deane, releasing Another Night I'm Alone. She married Pittsburgh police office Kerry Rapp (above) and had three children. After reuniting in 1968 with the Skyliners for an oldies concert at Madison Square Garden, Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners with Janet Vogel-Rapp were signed to Capitol for a series of singles. The group also went out on the road.

Unknown to fans and members of the Skyliners was that Vogel-Rapp's home life was falling apart. Her husband was domineering and angry that she was putting her late-stage career ahead of her family. There were jealousy and addiction issues as well. It's unclear whether postpartum issues, a career not fully realized and a bullying husband sent Vogel-Rapp into periods of depression or her depression was already in place. Scheduled to receive a local award in honor of her work with the Skyliners on February 21, 1980, Vogel-Rapp loaded her car with memorabilia. But for whatever reason, rather than put the car in gear, she decided instead to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Janet Vogel-Rapp was 37 and was survived by her husband and three children.

A dramatized feature firm was made of the events surrounding Vogel-Rapp's life and death between 1975 and 1990 by her son Garvin. The film was screened in 2011 in Pittsburgh.

JazzWax clips:
Here's Since I Don't Have You (all those high notes at the end are Vogel's)...

Here's Janet Rapp in 1959 singing lead vocal on I Can Dream Can't I...

Here's How Much...

Here's Pennies From Heaven...

Here's footage of Vogel hitting or lip-syncing high notes at 1:10 on This I Swear, though this clip is clearly film of the group's appearance on Dick Clark's Beech-Nut Show in New York with the studio single poorly mounted on top rather than the show version...

Here's Janet Vogel as Janet Deane in 1963 singing Another Night Alone...

And here's Since I Don't Have You, during the Skyliners' appearance on the Dick Clark Beech-Nut Show...

JazzWax note: For more on the Skyliners, go here.

Used with permission by Marc Myers