David Appell (March 24, 1922 – November 18, 2014) was an American musician, musical arranger and record producer born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.
Career
Appell (pronounced "AP-el") is associated mainly with the Cameo-Parkway record label, in whose history he played a substantial part. He started working as an arranger for several
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
s in the mid-1940s during his service in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, including
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.
Early life
Lunceford was born on a farm in the Evergreen community, west of the Tombigbee River, near Fulton, Mis ...
's black orchestra.
He later arranged for dance orchestras, including
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...
and
Earl "Fatha" Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "o ...
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
as the Dave Appell Four, until
Paul Cohen
Paul Joseph Cohen (April 2, 1934 – March 23, 2007) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his proofs that the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice are independent from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, for which he was award ...
of Decca suggested he change the group name to the Applejacks. Appell also became a publisher, joining
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
in 1955, collaborating with
Max Freedman
Max Charles Freedman ( Friedman; January 8, 1893 – October 8, 1962) was an American songwriter and lyricist, best remembered for co-writing the song " Rock Around the Clock" .
Background
Freedman was born in Philadelphia, and became a radi ...
.
He appeared prominently in the 1956
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...
film, ''
Don't Knock the Rock
''Don't Knock the Rock'' is a 1956 American musical film starring Alan Dale and Alan Freed. Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film also features performances by Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, The Treniers, and Dave Appell and the App ...
'', and worked for a while as the studio band and music director on the
Ernie Kovacs
Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer.
Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...
TV and radio shows in Philadelphia. Next Appell and the Applejacks were playing in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, but they soon began to pine for their hometown and returned to Philadelphia, where they started working for
Cameo Records
Cameo Records was an American record label that flourished in the 1920s. It was owned by the Cameo Record Corporation in New York City.
Cameo released a disc by Lucille Hegamin every two months from 1921 to 1926. Cameo records are also noted ...
, a label founded by
Kal Mann
Kal Mann (born Kalman Cohen; May 6, 1917 – November 28, 2001) - accessed June 2010 was an American
Bernie Lowe.
Appell did
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, arranging and producing. The first
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
artist on the Cameo label was
Charlie Gracie
Charles Anthony Graci (May 14, 1936 – December 16, 2022), known professionally as Charlie Gracie, was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. His biggest hits were "Butterfly" and " Fabulous", both in 1957.
Care ...
with "
Butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
". Appell's band backed Gracie on that million-seller in 1957, and on the singer's subsequent hits, "Fabulous", "Ninety-Nine Ways" and "Wander in' Eyes". In 1958 Appell and his group backed
John Zacherle
John Zacherle ( ; sometimes credited as John Zacherley; September 26, 1918 – October 27, 2016) was an American television host, radio personality, singer, and voice actor. He was best known for his long career as a television horror host, oft ...
novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
hit "Dinner With Drac".
In the summer of 1958, Appell got an idea for a song from the Philadelphia String Band of a marching-type song with a dance beat. He wrote an
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
song called "The Mexican Hat Rock", a jumped-up version of the old "
Mexican Hat Dance
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
", that he had his studio band record. The song was released under their own name on Cameo that fall and became a big dance hit on ''
American Bandstand
''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...
'', reaching # 16 on the
charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...
. The Applejacks also charted with "Rocka-Conga" (# 38) later in the year.
Appell went on to become the leader of Cameo-Parkway's house band, backing such artists as
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including The Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighte ...
,
Bobby Rydell
Robert Louis Ridarelli (April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022), known by the stage name Bobby Rydell, was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s he was considered a teen idol. His ...
,
The Dovells
The Dovells were an American doo-wop band (music), group, formed at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1957, under the name 'The Brooktones'. The original members were Arnie Silver, Len Barry, Len Borisoff, Jerry Gross (alias ...
,
Dee Dee Sharp
Dee Dee Sharp (born Dione LaRue; September 9, 1945, in Philadelphia) is an American R&B singer, who began her career recording as a backing vocalist in 1961.
Career
Although Sharp had been playing the piano from an early age and directed chur ...
and
The Orlons
The Orlons are an American R&B group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1960. The group won gold discs for three of their singles.
Career
The quartet consisted of lead singer Rosetta Hightower (June 23, 1944 – August 2, 2014), Shi ...
. In the cases of the aforementioned act's
records
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
Appell also arranged and, in many instances, produced, and even co-wrote with Kal Mann, songs such as "
Let's Twist Again
"Let's Twist Again" is a song written by Kal Mann and Dave Appell, and released as a single by Chubby Checker. One of the biggest hit singles of 1961, it reached No.8 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' pop chart (No.3 on ''Cash Box'') in August of that ye ...
", "
Bristol Stomp
"Bristol Stomp" is a song written in 1961 by Kal Mann and Dave Appell, two executives with the Cameo-Parkway record label, for The Dovells, a doo-wop singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who recorded it for Cameo-Parkway late that year. ...
", "
Mashed Potato Time
"Mashed Potato Time" is a 1962 single written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe, and performed by Dee Dee Sharp, with backing vocals by The Orlons, on her debut album ''It's Mashed Potato Time''. The song refers to the Mashed Potato dance move, which w ...
", and " South Street". These were the years of the
twist
Twist may refer to:
In arts and entertainment Film, television, and stage
* ''Twist'' (2003 film), a 2003 independent film loosely based on Charles Dickens's novel ''Oliver Twist''
* ''Twist'' (2021 film), a 2021 modern rendition of ''Olive ...
and other dance crazes, in the launching of which Appell played a vital role. Appell left Cameo in 1964.
In the 1970s he had success with his productions for
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits include "Candida (song), Candida" ...
, including the # 1 hits "
Knock Three Times
"Knock Three Times"
is a popular song credited simply to "Dawn". Tony Orlando was not named on the record. The actual singers were Tony Orlando, Toni Wine, and Linda November, prior to the creation of "Dawn" with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent ...
" (1970) and "
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn.
It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce V ...
" (1973), on
Bell Records
Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny ...
in New York City. Appell's co-producer at the time was
Hank Medress
Henry "Hank" Medress (November 19, 1938 – June 18, 2007) was an American singer and record producer, best known for his taking part in the American band The Tokens.
Biography
Medress was born in Brooklyn, New York City, where he attended "Abra ...
, a founding member of
The Tokens
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group has had four top 40 hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit singl ...
musical group.
Appell died on November 18, 2014. Cause of death is unknown. He was survived by his children Roz (Robert Purdy) Appell Purdy, Lynda Appell and granddaughter Sara Millett.