# Deborah Chessler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Deborah_Chessler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Deborah_Chessler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Chessler > Source revision: 1334725643 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American songwriter (1923–2012)}} {{Infobox person |name = Deborah Chessler |image = |caption = |birth_name = Shirley Reingold |birth_date = |birth_place = [Baltimore](/source/Baltimore), Maryland, U.S. |death_date = October 10, 2012 |death_place = [Aventura, Florida](/source/Aventura%2C_Florida), U.S. |other_names = Shirley Reingold |occupation = songwriter |known_for = "[It's Too Soon to Know](/source/It's_Too_Soon_to_Know)" }} '''Shirley Reingold'''{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-shirley-reingold-19-o/178995648/ |title=Shirley Reingold |date=2012-10-19 |newspaper=[The Baltimore Sun](/source/The_Baltimore_Sun) |page=A20 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com) |access-date=2025-08-15}}{{Open access}} (1923 – October 10, 2012), professionally known as '''Deborah Chessler''', was a songwriter whose song "[It's Too Soon to Know](/source/It's_Too_Soon_to_Know)" was number one on the American rhythm and blues charts in November 1948 and is considered by some to be the first [rock and roll](/source/rock_and_roll) song.{{cite web | last=Hinckley | first=David | title=Deborah Chessler, rhythm & blues pioneer, dead at 89 | website=nydailynews.com | date=2012-10-12 | url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/deborah-chessler-rhythm-amp-blues-pionner-dead-89-article-1.1182043 | access-date=2019-01-19}}{{cite magazine|last1=Marcus|first1=Greil|date=June 24, 1993|title=Is this the woman who invented rock & roll?|magazine=Rolling Stone|issue=659|pages=41–47}} Chessler had songwriting credits on recordings every decade since then.{{cite web | title=Deborah Chessler | website=Discogs | url=https://api.discogs.com/artists/750365 | access-date=2019-01-19}} Chessler pitched her songs to well-known musicians by singing them aloud, as she didn't read or write music or play piano. Some of her first sales were to [Desi Arnaz](/source/Desi_Arnaz) and [Lionel Hampton](/source/Lionel_Hampton). She began to manage the Vibra-naires, a group that would become the [Orioles](/source/The_Orioles).{{cite book | last=Groia | first=Philip | title=They all sang on the corner : a second look at New York City's rhythm and blues vocal groups | publisher=P. Dee Enterprises | location=West Hempstead, N.Y | year=1983 | isbn=0-9612058-0-6 | oclc=10605179 | page=16}} She got them booked on [Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts](/source/Arthur_Godfrey's_Talent_Scouts) TV show, where they came in third but were a popular success. Their first record, a single called "[It's Too Soon to Know](/source/It's_Too_Soon_to_Know)," had been previously recorded by [Savannah Churchill](/source/Savannah_Churchill).{{cite web | title=Deborah Chessler - Biography & History | last= Chadbourne| first=Eugene|website=AllMusic | url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/deborah-chessler-mn0000192894 | access-date=2019-01-19}} The group's version of the song, which came out in June 1948, was considered one of the first [rhythm and blues](/source/Rhythm_and_Blues) songs, and was said to have "ushered in the [doo wop](/source/Doo-wop) era."{{cite web | title=Deborah Chessler | website=Pismotality | date=2012-10-17 | url=http://sweetwordsofpismotality.blogspot.com/2012/10/deborah-chessler.html | access-date=2019-01-19}} Her relationship with the band was notable because she was "a young Jewish woman managing a black vocal group in an age when the entertainment industry...was rigidly segregated." The group recorded other Chessler songs, including "Tell Me So," "I Need You Baby," and "Forgive and Forget." Chessler left the group in 1954 in order to spend less time on the road. and did not see the group again until the [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame](/source/Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame) induction ceremony in 1995.{{cite web | title=History of the Orioles | website=Sonny Tils Orioles | date=2012-05-23 | url=http://www.sonnytilsorioles.com/History.html | access-date=2019-01-19 | archive-date=2018-08-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814140619/http://sonnytilsorioles.com/History.html | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | last=Goldberg | first=Marv | title=THE ORIOLES | website=Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks | date=1952-01-10 | url=http://www.uncamarvy.com/Orioles/orioles2.html | access-date=2019-01-19}}{{cite web | title=The Orioles | website=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame | date=1950-11-05 | url=https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/orioles | access-date=2019-01-19}} Her time with the band was turned into a musical, ''Soul Harmony: The Story of Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til & the Orioles''.{{cite web | title=Soul Harmony, Musical About Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til & the Orioles review and photos | website=Classic Urban Harmony | date=2018-07-04 | url=http://classicurbanharmony.net/2018/07/04/soul-harmony/ | access-date=2019-01-19}} ==Personal life== Chessler grew up in [Baltimore, Maryland](/source/Baltimore). She dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to get married; she divorced her first husband in the 1950s. She later married Paul Reingold and moved to Florida. They had one daughter, Wendy.{{cite web | last=Kelly | first=Jacques | title=Shirley Reingold, manager of vocal group The Orioles | website=baltimoresun.com | date=2012-10-18 | url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-shirley-reingold-20121018-story.html | access-date=2019-01-19 | archive-date=2019-01-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119230838/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-shirley-reingold-20121018-story.html | url-status=dead }} ==See also== * [Origins of Rock and Roll in the 1940s](/source/Origins_of_rock_and_roll) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Chessler, Deborah}} Category:1923 births Category:2012 deaths Category:People from Baltimore Category:American women singer-songwriters Category:Jewish American songwriters Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American women --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Deborah Chessler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Chessler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Chessler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.