The Ad Libs were an American vocal group from Bayonne, New Jersey, United States, primarily active during the early 1960s.
Featuring their characteristic female lead vocals with male "doo-wop" backing, their 1964 single "The Boy from New York City", written by George Davis and John T. Taylor, was their only major Billboard Hot 100 hit.
Known originally as The Creators, the group formed in 1964 in Bayonne with Hugh Harris, Danny Austin, Dave Watt, Norman Donegan and Mary Ann Thomas.
[2] The next two singles failed to chart, and The Ad Libs' contract was not renewed by Red Bird Records company.
[5] The following year Beach Boys songwriter and arranger Brian Wilson took further inspiration from the rhythm of the original Ad Libs song in conceiving a new R&B-inflected composition that would eventually become “Good Vibrations.”[6] Cover versions of "The Boy from New York City" brought the song back to the charts, for in the UK for Darts in 1978, and then in the US for The Manhattan Transfer in 1981.