The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, with one male member being added afterwards. At the height of their popularity the group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker.

Career

Brenda Reid, Carolyn (Carol) Johnson, Lillian Walker, and Sylvia Wilbur formed the group while at high school together in Queens, New York, in 1961. They were originally called the Masterettes, as a sister group to another group called the Masters, and released their first recording, "Follow the Leader", in early 1962. Wilbur then left the group to be replaced by Penny Carter, and they auditioned for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, winning a recording contract. Penny Carter then left, and was replaced by Herb Rooney, a member of the Masters; Reid and Rooney later married.

The group's name was changed to the Exciters, and their first hit record, arranged by Teacho Wiltshire and produced by Leiber and Stoller for United Artists Records, was "Tell Him", The song had previously been released unsuccessfully, as "Tell Her", by Gil Hamilton later known as Johnny Thunder.

Other songs by the group included "He's Got the Power" (written by Ellie Greenwich and Tony Powers), "Get Him", and Northern soul classic "Blowing Up My Mind". During this tour, they became the first black musicians to perform at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida; the stadium's management had initially refused to allow the Exciters to perform because of their race, but when the Beatles said they would refuse to perform too, the group was allowed to go on.

In 1965, the Exciters left the Leiber-Stoller management team, and the United Artists label, for Roulette Records. There they issued a remake (with revised lyrics) of the Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' song "I Want You to Be My Boy". The group broke up in 1974. As Brenda & Herb, Reid and Rooney had a final R&B chart hit in 1978 with "Tonight I'm Gonna Make You A Star". The pair later separated, and Reid later launched a new version of the Exciters with members of her family. Brenda and Herb Rooney's son, Mark Cory Rooney, is a music business executive. Lillian Walker-Moss died on February 5, 2023, at the age of 78. She had been battling angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Brenda Ried died on April 29, 2026, at the age of 80.

Discography

Chart singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="3"| Chart Positions

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! width="40"| US Pop

! width="40"| US<br>R&B

! width="40"| UK

|-

| rowspan="1"| 1962

| align="left"| "Tell Him"

| 4

| 5

| 46

|-

| rowspan="2"| 1963

| align="left"| "He's Got the Power"

| 57

|

|

|-

| align="left"| "Get Him"

| 76

|

|

|-

| rowspan="1"| 1964

| align="left"| "Do-Wah-Diddy"

| 78

| n/a

|

|-

| rowspan="1"| 1965

| align="left"| "I Want You to Be My Boy"

| 98

| n/a

  • The Exciters (Roulette, 1965)
  • Caviar and Chitlins (1969)
  • Black Beauty (1971)
  • Heaven Is Where You Are (1976)
  • The Exciters (1977)

See also

  • List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States
  • United Artists Records
  • List of doo-wop musicians

References

  • The Exciters biography on History of Rock
  • The Exciters discography on Soulful Kinda Music