The band was formed in 1955 at
Abraham Lincoln High School in
Brooklyn, New York, and was known first as
the Linc-Tones, The original members were
Neil Sedaka,
Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin; however, Rabkin was replaced in 1956 by Jay Siegel. In the same year the band
recorded its first single, "While I Dream", with Sedaka on lead vocals; the song was a local hit in New York. Sedaka and
Howard Greenfield wrote much of the group's early material. They were unusual among teen vocal groups of the time because they were not a
cover band. In 1957, Zolotin left the band. Briefly recording as
the Tokens and the Coins, Sedaka left the group in 1958 to launch his solo career. Siegel and Medress then recorded three singles under a
side project for
Roulette Records,
Darrell & the Oxfords in 1959, with two other musicians who never joined the band. Both "Tonight I Fell in Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" sold more than one million copies, and were awarded
gold discs. From 1962 to 1970, the group released nine more songs that made the Hot 100. In the middle of the
British Invasion and the height of
Beatlemania, they were one of the few American groups still finding success on popular radio. Jay Siegel was the lead vocalist on all the Tokens' hits including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" (1966) and "
Portrait of My Love" (1967). Brothers Mitch and Philip Margo continued to perform with new members Jay Leslie, Mike Johnson, and Noah Margo (one of Phil Margo's sons) who played drums. Mitch Margo's sons, Damien Margo and Ari Margo, also made occasional guest performances with the band, exemplifying Phil Margo's saying: "If you hang around long enough you can grow your own band". Siegel continues to perform with his own version of the Tokens. Until 2022 Siegel's Tokens performed featuring bass singer Bill Reid, who had previously sang background with The Halos and had featured on some early 1960s top hits including Curtis Lee's "
Pretty Little Angel Eyes" as well as Barry Mann's "
Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)". Siegel brought in
John "Jay" Traynor, the original lead singer (before Jay Black) of
Jay & the Americans and
the Mystics who sang with Siegel's Tokens until 2014. Siegel's son was also part of the group as keyboardist and occasional vocalist. The current members of Jay Siegel's Tokens are
Kurt "Frenchie" Yaghjian and Gabriel Dassa. Yaghjian appeared in the original Broadway cast of
Jesus Christ Superstar and the film version of
Hair. Dassa is an orthopedic surgeon and sings with the a cappella group Classic Sounds. Jay Siegel's Tokens and the Margo brothers reunited in 2000 to perform on the
PBS special
Doo Wop 51. At the time, Siegel's Tokens were Siegel, Reid and Eddy Rezzonico, who had replaced singer-songwriter Richie Grasso during the 1990s. Former band member Hank Medress died of lung cancer on June 18, 2007, at his
Manhattan home, aged 68. John "Jay" Traynor died of
liver cancer on January 2, 2014, at a hospital in
Tampa, Florida, aged 70.
Mitch Margo died of natural causes on November 24, 2017, at
Studio City, California, also aged 70.
Philip Margo died of a stroke on November 13, 2021, at a hospital in Los Angeles, aged 79. Bass singer Bill Reid of Jay Siegel's Tokens suffered a heart attack on April 11, 2022, and died shortly afterwards. Founding member Neil Sedaka died February 27, 2026, aged 86. ==Legal controversies==