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Posts Tagged ‘Terry Melcher’

Died On This Date (October 4, 2014) Paul Revere / Paul Revere & The Raiders

Posted by themusicsover on October 4, 2014

Paul Revere Dick
January 7, 1938 – October 4, 2014

paul-reverePaul Revere was the founder, keyboardist and iconic face of  late ’60s/early ’70s rock and roll band, Paul Revere & the Raiders.  Formed in Boise, Idaho in 1958 as the Downbeats (with Mark Lindsay on lead vocals), the band scored its first regional hit in 1961 with “Like, Long Hair.”  The song eventually found enough of a national audience to crack the Top 40 of the national charts.  By the mid ’60s, the group, now known as the Paul Revere & the Raiders, relocated to Los Angeles and began working with producer, Terry Melcher.  What followed was a string of future garage rock classics that positioned the band as America’s answer to the British Invasion.  Records like “Just Like Me,”  “Hungry,” “Good Thing,” and “Kicks” became radio staples throughout the second half of he 1960s.  For at least the year of 1967, the band was Columbia Records’ biggest-selling rock band.  The early ’70s found the Raiders’ style of music falling out of fashion, so they responded with 1971’s socially conscious “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)”, a #1 hit that went on to sell over six million copies.  The album from which it came, Indian Reservation, reached #19 on the album charts.  It was the band’s final appearance of any significance on the charts.  In 1976, Revere announced his retirement, only to return to the stage with a new Raiders lineup in 1978.  He continued to perform in front of cheering crowds along the oldies circuit until his second retirement in August of 2014.  In recent years, Paul Revere & the Raiders enjoyed a resurgence in popularity thanks to carefully curated reissues and Hall of Fame type accolades.  Paul Revere was 76 when passed away on October 4, 2014.  Cause of death was not immediately released. 

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Died On This Date (March 7, 2009) Jimmy Boyd / Sang “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

Posted by themusicsover on March 7, 2010

Jimmy Boyd
January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009

jimmy-boydJimmy Boyd was a popular ’50s and ’60s television actor as well as a singer and musician who is best remembered for his 1952 recording of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”  Recorded just before he hit his teens, the song as gone on to sell an astonishing 60,000,000 copies ever since.  Thanks to its popularity, Boyd became a popular fixture on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Frank Sinatra Show, The Tonight Show, and American Bandstand, to name a few.  Although Boyd had opportunities to make rock ‘n roll records, including with legendary producer Sam Phillips, he was working with Mitch Miller who hated the new style of music.  Boyd was very loyal to Miller who had signed him to Columbia Records, but as a pop singer.  During the mid ’60s, Boyd finally started making more rock-leaning records when he worked with the likes of Bobby Darin,Terry Melcher and Leon Russell.  One such record was for a song written by Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame – it helped Boyd land a recording contract with A&M.  Jimmy Boyd was 70 when he died of cancer on March 7, 2009.

What You Should Own

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Jimmy Boyd

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