Looking Glass is an American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

group of the early 1970s that was part of the

Jersey Shore sound The Jersey Shore sound is a genre of rock and roll popularized at the Jersey Shore on the Atlantic Ocean coast of New Jersey, United States. The Jersey Shore sound evolved from the mixing of pre-Beatles rock and roll, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, ...

. Their 1972 song " Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was a #1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''Cash Box'' Top 100 charts, remaining in the top position for one week.

Career

The group was formed in 1969, at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, New Jersey. The original version of the band broke up after college, with original members

Elliot Lurie Elliot Lurie (born August 19, 1948) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the band Looking Glass from 1969 to 1974. He wrote and sang lead on their 1972 #1 hit single " Brandy (You're a Fine Gi ...

and Larry Gonsky recruiting two new members to form the classic Looking Glass lineup: *

(lead guitar and vocals) * Jeff Grob (drums) * Larry Gonsky (piano and vocals) * Pieter Sweval (bass and vocals) The group had the #1

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

for the week of August 26, 1972 with " Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", written by Lurie; and also a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hit "

Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" is a 1973 song written and composed by Elliot Lurie and recorded by Lurie's band, Looking Glass. It was the first track on their second and final album, ''Subway Serenade.'' The title has also been spelled "Jimmy Loves Ma ...

" (1973), subsequently recorded by

Josie Cotton Josie Cotton (born 1956) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for " Johnny Are You Queer?" and "He Could Be the One" from 1982. "Johnny Are You Queer?" was used on the soundtracks to ''Jackass Number Two'' and ''Valley Girl''. "He Co ...

. "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was released in the US in June 1972. It topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for one week and remained on the chart for 16 weeks. This disc, their only million seller, was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on August 9, 1972. Guitarist Brendan Harkin joined Looking Glass in early 1974, and Lurie left soon afterward to pursue a solo career, replaced by Michael Lee Smith, a singer from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Later that same year, the group changed its name to Fallen Angels. After Richie Ranno joined as second guitarist in September 1975, keyboardist Gonsky departed, and by late 1975, Fallen Angels's name had changed once again to Starz. Lurie appeared as a solo artist with "Your Love Song," an entry on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

's "Easy Listening"

chart 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 tabu ...

in 1974. Sweval died on January 23, 1990, having succumbed to

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. New York radio station WPLJ-FM reunited Looking Glass, along with several others acts as part of a "70s Reunion Concert" on March 24, 1995. It was held at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden. Among the acts who took the stage at the sold-out concert were original lead singer Elliot Lurie and members of Looking Glass, Three Dog Night, Rupert Holmes, Andrew Gold, Alan O'Day, Ian Lloyd (lead singer of Stories), Sonny Geraci (lead singer of the Outsiders and Climax), and Robert John In 2003, Lurie reconstituted the group with new musicians.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Lyrics to "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
American pop music groups Musical groups from New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Epic Records artists Jersey Shore musical groups {{US-pop-band-stub