Who Sang "Doo Wah Diddy?"

There are actually a few people who sang "Doo Wah Diddy" and the version you are most familiar with is probably not the one sung by the original singer.

“Doo Wah Diddy” is a classic American song first recorded in 1963 by The Exciters, a popular vocal group of the time headed by singer Brenda Reid.

That isn’t the version of the song that most people know, however: it was re-recorded by the British group Manfred Mann one year later, and that’s the one (with a male singer) that gained real commercial success. Manfred Mann is therefore likely to be the answer you get if you ask most people who sang "Doo wah Diddy."

Composers of Doo Wah Diddy

In addition to knowing who the singer of "Doo Wah Diddy" was, you may also want to know who wrote it. The song was originally written by composers Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, a married couple who, together with Phil Spector, wrote a large percentage of the hits of the time and contributed to the “girl group” sound of the sixties more than any other songwriters.

Manfred Mann and Doo Wah Diddy

Manfred Mann was already enjoying some commercial success by the time they stumbled across the song. The British pop group had hit number five on the UK Singles Chart with a song for a pop music television show. “Doo Wah Diddy” was what really got them started, though: the song had been a minor hit in the hands of the Exciters, but the Manfred Mann cover shot to number one on the charts in the UK, US, and Canada. 

Since then, the song has been covered by all kinds of bands in a huge variety of styles and languages, and it’s one of the most well-known songs in American pop history as well as a lovable, familiar sign of the times.