The Euclid Beach Band was a

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

from

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

best known for their local hit song "There's No Surf in Cleveland". The band was formed in 1978 by ''

Scene Scene (from Ancient Greek, Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers * The S ...

'' magazine editor Jim Girard and Rich Reising, a guitarist in

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

's band who also worked at ''Scene''. The group took its name from

Euclid Beach Park Euclid Beach Park was an amusement park located on the southern shore of Lake Erie in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, which operated from 1895 to 1969. Originally incorporated by investors from Cleveland and patterned after New ...

, a defunct

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

which closed in 1969. "There's No Surf in Cleveland" was written by Girard and Reising as a "pro-Cleveland song" at a time when the city's reputation was waning. The song is performed in the style of

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

with elaborate vocal harmonies by Pete Hewlett and John Hart. It was recorded with various local musicians during the

Great Blizzard of 1978 The Great Blizzard of 1978 was an historic winter storm that struck the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes regions of the United States as well as Southern Ontario in Canada from Wednesday, January 25 through Friday, January 27, 1978. It is often cited ...

and after seeing television coverage of Red Cross volunteers rescuing people during the storm, all proceeds from the record were donated to the Cleveland Chapter of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. The record was released in May 1978 and quickly became the top selling single in the Cleveland area and reached No. 80 on the ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' singles chart and No. 103 in ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

''. Following the success of "There's No Surf in Cleveland", Reising was offered a recording contract by

Steve Popovich Steve Popovich (July 6, 1942 – June 8, 2011) was an American record company executive. As the founder of Cleveland International Records, he launched and guided the careers of many famous artists through his work with the CBS label family, inclu ...

Cleveland International Records Cleveland International Records is an independent record label formed in 1976 by Steve Popovich, Sr. originally founded in Willoughby, Ohio and moved to Nashville. History One of the first albums the label released was ''Bat Out of Hell'' (1977) ...

. The band's self-titled debut album, produced by Eric Carmen, was released in August 1979 but did not chart. The album was preceded by the single " I Need You", a song written by Carmen. The single reached No. 81 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1979. The group disbanded in 1980. Reising and Hart reunited as the Euclid Beach Band in 1982 to record another single, "Headlands", a tribute to

Headlands Beach State Park Headlands Beach State Park is a public beach in Mentor and Painesville Township, Ohio, United States. It is the longest natural beach in Ohio and attracts two million visitors annually. The breakwall at the eastern end of the park, frequented by ...

Mentor, Ohio Mentor ( ) is the largest city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 47,450 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Mentor was first settled in 1797. In 1876, James A. Garfield purchased a home in Men ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Euclid Beach Band Musical groups from Cleveland Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Epic Records artists