In 1965, the group released "Leader of the Laundromat," a parody of the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack." By 1964, Dante, Jordan and Wynn were all staff writers and session singers for
Aldon Music, the music publishing company that had been founded by
Don Kirshner and
Al Nevins. That year the three eighteen-year-olds had collaborated in writing the Ronnie Dante single "Little Lollypop," and as the Cabin Kids the trio were recording
surf music style songs for planned release on the
Screen Gems label, when Vance approached them to record "Leader of the Laundromat" as the Detergents. The success of "Leader of the Laudromat" prompted the abandonment of the Cabin Kids in favor of the Detergents, and as such Dante, Jordan and Wynn appeared on several music-oriented
television shows of the day, such as
Shindig! and
Hullabaloo, as well as touring with
Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars. The group was active from 1964 until 1966. After "Leader of the Laundromat" was released, the composers of "Leader of the Pack",
Jeff Barry,
Ellie Greenwich and
George "Shadow" Morton, filed a
lawsuit against the
group. The suit was ultimately settled out of court. However, just three years later, in 1968, Dante began working alongside
songwriter/
producer Jeff Barry as the lead vocalist for the briefly, hugely successful
cartoon group,
The Archies. ==Later singles==