Drumroll Please: It’s Bobby Mapp

A local music legend got his due Wednesday night during a celebration at The Towers of Bobby Mapp, who was the original drummer for The Five Satins and is now a resident at the senior living community located at 18 Tower Ln.

Residents of The Towers gathered to hear from and recognize one of their own who secured a spot in music history as the drummer for a doo-wop group from the 1950s best known for their hit song ​“In The Still of the Night.”

Mapp joined host Charles Rosenay to discuss his career and memories as one of the members of a group that inspired artists and listeners alike, including big-name bands like The Beatles.

Mapp and Rosenay were joined via Zoom by Plastic EP, a world-renowned interviewer hailing from Melbourne, Australia, and Cha-Chi Loprete, a Beatles historian from Boston. They all pitched in with questions to prompt Mapp’s recollections as he detailed the story of The Five Satins and their hit song. 

Mapp and the other original Satins grew up together in New Haven, and recorded ​“In the Still of the Night” in the basement of St. Bernadette church on Townsend Avenue.

“How many people were actually in The Five Satins?” asked Loprete. The band, which went through multiple iterations in the name and lineup, currently has 24 members listed on its Wikipedia page (not even including non-vocalists like Mapp).

“Every time you came in there was a new guy,” said Mapp with a chuckle.

“People think of the band as a vocal group,” said Rosenay. ​“That’s fine if you’re in the studio, but they were out playing gigs.” That’s where drummers like Mapp came in. He recalled playing ​“In the Still of the Night” on a 26-inch bass, with a snare drum and a symbol, to create a deep and almost mournful sound. It was one of perhaps a dozen drums that Mapp had owned at the time.

“In the Still of the Night” remains famous 67 years after its release, popularized in movies such as Dirty Dancing and The Irishman long after it had dropped off the charts. Rosenay shared a story about playing the song as the final track each night at the bar he worked at (right after Frank Sinatra’s ​“New York, New York” which signaled last call to hangers on). 

The group discussed the different titles of the song, sometimes called ​“In the Still of the Nite” or “(I’ll Remember) In the Still of the Night.” Why the variation? ​“You got me on that one,” said Mapp. Rosenay theorized that the title changed with the different labels that put it out, or in order to differentiate it from a different, older song bearing the same name.

Rosenay placed a phone call to Emma, the wife of the late Fred Parris, the founder of The Five Satins, to get another perspective on the band’s legacy and success. ​“If Fred were here to tell you himself he would say he is honored and humbled that his music means so much to people all over the world,” Emma said. She described how fans and their well-wishes and gratitude had helped her through the death of her husband, ensuring that his work lived on.

Next, local DJ Richard Phillips or ​“Rockin’ Richard” joined the group to ask some questions of his own. Phillips, a dedicated fan of Mapp, was surprised to learn the admiration went both ways. ​“I hear you every Tuesday,” Mapp told him.

“You listen to my show?” asked Phillips. ​“I’m gonna use you as a promoter.”

Mapp wanted to be a musician from an early age. He came from a musical family; his father played the saxophone for Chick Webb. But even if Mapp’s father had wanted him to play the sax, Mapp’s inclination always lay towards drumming. ​“I got into my mom’s pots and pans,” he remembered. ​“That’s how that happened.”

Mapp played with The Five Satins until the 70s or early 80s, when he left the band. He went on to work with cultural icons like James Brown (a ​“strict guy to to work with”) and Wilt Chamberlain (the professional basketball player). ​“Then I switched to jazz, and now retirement,” said Mapp. ​“Hanging out at the Towers.” The 85 year old has been at the Towers for a year and a half, although he still attends occasional jam sessions at places like Café Nine.

Rosenay opened the floor to questions from the residents of the Towers. ​“These people know you, they see you all the time, but they’ve probably never asked you about your career,” said Rosenay. Mapp’s peers wanted to know about other stars he might have encountered in the glory days — yes to Aretha Franklin, no to the Supremes and the Beatles.

Dean Tinari, the healthy living coordinator for the Towers and one of the organizers of the event, had a question for Mapp. ​“What style was the most difficult to fit in and who was the artist you played with that was the hardest to jive with?” he asked.

Mapp said that he could work with any member of the Five Satins. Anyone not up to par would have been cut during the audition process. ​“If you can cut it, you’re fine, and if you can’t, go home and work on it and come back,” he said, describing the band’s mentality on accepting newcomers.

Tinari highlighted Mapp’s versatility as an artist, but he humbly brushed off the compliment. ​“Whatever you want to play, I’ll play it,” Mapp shrugged.

Despite his modest attitude towards his career as one of the great American drummers, everyone in the room was familiar with Mapp and his work. The crowd, jam-packed with New Haven lifetimers, shared their memories of the Five Satins and ​“In the Still of the Night.” One woman recalled the band playing at her sweet sixteen in 1964. ​“You used to play at Dinky’s,” chimed in another. ​“I have a picture of me on the stage playing the tambourine. I had no idea what to do, just shake it.”

“You know the world loves you, it’s something you’ve done that’s gonna last forever,” Plastic EP told Mapp. The days of The Five Satins might be over, but their memory lived on in the minds of every person in The Towers. Rosenay ended the night by playing ​“In the Still of the Night,” and everyone sang along: ​“So before the light / Hold me again with all your might / In the still of the night.” They knew the words by heart.