A set of studio musicians were assembled by Don Kirshner in 1968 to perform various songs. The most famous is “Sugar, Sugar”, written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, which went to #1 on the pop chart in 1969 and earned the group a gold record (in fact, in Billboard magazine’s Hot 100, it was ranked as the number one song of that year, the only time a fictional band has ever claimed Billboard’s annual Hot 100 top-spot). Other Top Forty songs recorded by The Archies include “Who’s Your Baby?,” “Bang-Shang-A-Lang,” and “Jingle Jangle.”

Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided by Ron Dante and female duet vocals were provided by Toni Wine. Wine was succeeded in 1970 by Donna Marie, who in turn was replaced on the final recordings by Merle Miller. The only Archies song not to feature Ron Dante on lead was 1971’s “Love Is Living In You,” sung by Richie Adams. Jeff Barry, Andy Kim, Susan Morse, Joey Levine, Maeretha Stewart, Ellie Greenwich, Bobby Bloom and Leslie Miller contributed background vocals at various times, with Barry contributing his trademark bass voice (portrayed as being sung by Jughead in the cartoon) on cuts such as “Jingle Jangle,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”, “A Summer Prayer For Peace” (which hit #1 in South Africa in 1971) and “You Little Angel, You.” Musicians on Archies records included guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassists Chuck Rainey and Joey Macho, keyboard player Ron Frangipane and drummers Buddy Saltzman and Gary Chester.

Most of the Archies’ songs were produced, written or co-written by Jeff Barry.

Ron Dante (born Carmine Granito, August 22, 1945, in Staten Island, New York) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer.

Dante is best known as the lead vocalist for the cartoon group The Archies from 1968 to 1971. Their third single, “Sugar, Sugar”, written by producer Jeff Barry with Andy Kim, was the number one selling record of 1969. Prior to his stint with The Archies, in 1965, Dante was a member of the parody group The Detergents, who recorded a song jokingly entitled “Leader of the Laundromat”.

Concurrent with his work on the Archies project, Dante was also employed as a session singer, recording demonstration records, and also sang many television and commercial jingles.

In 1969, Ron recorded an album under the group name of The Cufflinks for his old Detergents songwriter-producers Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. Providing both lead and background vocals through overdubbing (as he did with most of the male Archies’ vocals) Dante hit the U.S. Top Ten with the single “Tracy”, at the same time that The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” was at the top spot on the same chart. (Dante was anonymous on both tracks, as with all Archies and Cufflinks recordings).