In 1956, a 19-year-old Fred Parris was working guard duty in Philadelphia with the U.S. Army, lovesick for his sweetheart, Marla, who was in Connecticut, living with her fiancé’s parents.
The young soldier – known now as the visionary leader of the Five Satins – had just spent a weekend with “the girl of [his] dreams” and couldn’t shake her from his mind.
“There were other nights that we spent together,” the late singer told Smithsonian Magazine in 2004. “But there’s only one first time.”
“When I arrived at camp, I went straight to the day room. There was a piano there and I started playing the chord in my head and the words in my heart. Before I realized it, it was time to go to guard duty. It was a cold, black night, and the stars were twinkling. The setting was very apropos for
