The Independent

August 10, 1998

During his 25 years’ tenure as singer and bass-player with the American revival group Sha Na Na, Chico Ryan became one of the torch-bearers for a musical style that combined doo-wop, rock ‘n’ roll, homage and pastiche in equal measures. So successful was the Sha Na Na recipe that, in the Seventies, they hosted their own syndicated television show and appeared in the film Grease.

Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1948, David-Allen Ryan first came to prominence with the Happenings, a New Jersey vocal quartet who specialised in reviving older songs for a Sixties audience. With Bob Miranda at the helm and under the guidance of the former Neil Sedaka sidekicks the Tokens, the Happenings covered “See You In September”, a catchy teenage love-song which had been a Top Forty hit for the Tempos in 1959. Seven years later, the Happenings’ rendition reached No 3 in the American charts.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-chico-ryan-1170757.html