Herman Santiago (born February 18, 1941) is a Puerto Rican[1] rock and roll pioneer and songwriter who was previously a member of the vocal group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

Single releases followed at 3-month intervals, the next three, "I Want You to Be My Girl", "I Promise to Remember"—written by Jimmy Castor—and "The ABC's of Love" all making the charts, but at progressively lower positions.

The rest of the group continued touring and producing records without him until 1961, recruiting various lead singers, never achieving their previous commercial success.

[3][4][5][1] The surviving members of the group reunited in the 1970s, with Pearl McKinnon of the Kodaks (who sounds remarkably like Lymon) singing lead for a time.

Santiago and Merchant continued on with various new members including most notably Jimmy Castor, Lewis Lymon (Frankie's brother), and Timothy Wilson of Tiny Tim & the Hits, their most recent lead singer.

[3][4][5] In 1981, Diana Ross recorded a new version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", which again became a hit and the royalties on the song passed over a million dollars.

[3][4][5][6] In December 1992, the U.S. federal court ruled that the rights to the song belonged to Herman Santiago and that Jimmy Merchant and Emira Lymon (the true widow) were also entitled to receive royalties dating back to 1969.

[3][4][5] However, in 1996 the ruling was reversed by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit (on the basis of the statute of limitations), and authorship of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" currently remains solely in the names of Frankie Lymon and music publisher Morris Levy.