The '50s conjure thoughts of poodle skirts, roller rinks, sock-hops, and doo-wop. Songs like "Sh-Boom" and "Runaround Sue" might take boomers back to that era.

Arlene Smith, one of the first “girl group” stars who as a teenager and a founder of the Chantels co-wrote and sang lead on the 1950s doo-wop classic “Maybe,” has died at ...