Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.single with their song " Open Up Your Door".
History
The Young Lions originally performed under the name The Emeralds. When Richard Tepp saw the group perform, he was so impressed with the act, he joined the band, which resulted in changing their moniker to the Original Kounts. In addition to having a repertoire conceived of
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
cover versions
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
, the band members became known as one of the more rebellious acts as a result of the band members growing their hair long. After being discovered by Larry Brown, (a.k.a. L. Russell Brown), and Ray Bloodworth during a chance encounter in a Newark pizzeria and joining Bob Crewe Productions, the name was changed to Richard and the Young Lions. The core of the group consisted of Tepp (lead vocals and
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
), Bob Freedman ( rhythm guitar and vocals), Marc Lees (
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
and
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
), and Jerry Raff (
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
).
The Young Lions managed to produce one minor hit with their song "Open Up Your Door". The composition was the first ever recorded using an African hair drum. It reached number one in Cleveland, Ohio;
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
;
Elyria, Ohio
Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River (Ohio), Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles sou ...
; and
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
; number two in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, Canada; number three in
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
; and the Top 10 in many other cities in the US and Canada. Nationally, it peaked at number 99 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100chart on September 24, 1966, and number 91 on the Record World Top 100 Pops chart on October 8, 1966. The corresponding '' Cash Box'' listing was at number 70 on October 22, 1966. The band made several television appearances including The
Hy Lit
Hyman Aaron "Hy" Lit (May 20, 1934 – November 17, 2007) was an American disc jockey based in the Philadelphia area from the 1950s until 2005. In his 50-year career, Hy Lit broadcast from WIBG, WDAS/WDAS-FM, WKBS-TV, WIFI, WSNI/ WPGR, KPOL, W ...
Show and The
Jerry Blavat
Gerald Joseph "Jerry" Blavat (born July 3, 1940), also known as "The Geator with the Heater" and "The Big Boss with the Hot Sauce," is an American disc jockey and performer who has been a major influence in promoting oldies music on the radio. A P ...
Show out of Philadelphia, PA. They also appeared in the Detroit market on
Robin Seymour Robin Seymour may refer to:
*Robin Seymour (cyclist) (born 1971), Irish professional mountain bike racer and cyclocross racer
*Robin Seymour (DJ) (1928–2020), American radio and television personality and host
{{hndis, Seymour, Robin ...
's ''
Swingin' Time
''Swingin' Time'' was a music variety show, similar to ''American Bandstand'', hosted by WKNR (Keener 13, Detroit) personality Robin Seymour and also, for a time, CKLW radio's Tom Shannon. This show was broadcast on CKLW-TV Channel 9 (now CBET-D ...
'' show, out of Windsor, Ontario. A video of that appearance on ''Swingin' Time'' has survived to this day and can be found on line. And the band also made two appearances on the ''Upbeat'' TV show out of Cleveland, OH, hosted by Don Webster.
Their follow-up release, "Nasty", was chosen and released in late December 1966 and became a regional hit, but did not match the sales of their debut single. The Young Lions' final single, "You Can Make It" was released in February 1967 and received extensive radio play. However, the record company refused to distribute the single to the public, so "You Can Make It" failed to chart. The band sought to compose their own tracks, however they were no longer backed financially which led to their disbandment.
Original lead singer Richard Tepp died of leukemia on June 17, 2004.
Film
A documentary on the band was produced in 2004, entitled ''Out of Our Dens: The Richard and the Young Lions Story'' by James Hannon and Leon Leybs, and narrated by preeminent radio personality Pat St. John. It featured the group's history from their early days to their reunion shows in the early 2000s.
* " Open Up Your Door" b/w "Once Upon Your Smile": Philips 40381 (number 99 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100) (1966) (both US and Canadian pressings)
* "Nasty" b/w "Lost and Found": Philips 40414 (1966) (both US and Canadian pressings)
* "You Can Make It" b/w "To Have and to Hold": Philips 40438 (1967) (both US and Canadian pressings)
Compilation appearances
* "You Can Make It", their swan song, was compiled on Volume 12 of the ''
Pebbles series
''Pebbles'' is an extensive series of compilation albums in both LP and CD formats that have been issued on several record labels, though mostly by AIP. Together with the companion '' Highs in the Mid-Sixties series'', the ''Pebbles series'' m ...
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...