Richard Delvy (April 20, 1942 – February 6, 2010) was an American music entrepreneur. He started in the music business as a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

who played with

The Bel-Airs The Bel-Airs were an early and influential surf rock band from South Bay, Los Angeles, active in the early 1960s. They were best known for their 1961 hit "Mr. Moto", an instrumental surf rock song that featured a flamenco-inspired intro and cont ...

and took his experience to broader appeal with The Challengers, who were in the forefront of the

surf music Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental s ...

explosion in southern California. He also worked as a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

music manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of entertainer, artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee t ...

, producer, and

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

. He owned the rights to several iconic surf and rock songs including " Wipe Out", "Mr. Moto" (written by him with Paul Johnson), and "

Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It) "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)" is a song written by Janice Lee Gwin and Linda Martin and performed by Daddy Dewdrop. It was featured on his 1971 album, ''Daddy Dewdrop''. The lyrics in the verses are spoken, rather than sung. "Chick-A-B ...

". He is well known as being one of the first pioneers of

Overview

Richard Delvy was a

pioneer. In 1960, the first band he played drums in was called

, and in late 1962 he founded The Challengers. They produced a smash hit album titled ''

Surfbeat ''Surfbeat'' was the first album recorded by the Los Angeles-based surf rock group The Challengers. They recorded the album in a 3½ hour session at the end of 1962. The album was released in early 1963 and became a huge hit, helping to propel ...

'', released in January 1963. ''Surfbeat'' took the California Sound and surf music to new levels of acceptance and remains the best selling surf album of all time. His band released 15 Challengers albums throughout the sixties as well as others recorded under different names for the US and foreign markets. Delvy also worked as a record producer through the rest of the 60's evolving with

hot rod rock Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental s ...

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

, pop,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

music as they developed. In the early 1970s, Delvy toured as the music director 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" ...

and with the teen sensation

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

, star of ''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

'' TV show. During Delvy's career, he also worked for

MGM Music Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

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 ...

, and Carousel Records. ''Billboard'' recognized Delvy as a multi-talented music entrepreneur and promoter who had the talent to join many different attributes needed as a performer and to manage artists' output effectively.

Death and legacy

Richard Delvy died on February 6, 2010, after suffering from a long illness. He helped produce many known and unknown artists, and was involved in all aspects of the music business. He was survived by his wife Bonnie, three children, and one grandchild.

Credits (incomplete)

Bands and music

* The Outsiders *

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

* The Other Half *

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Buzz Clifford Reese Francis Clifford III (October 8, 1941 – January 26, 2018), known professionally as Buzz Clifford, was an American pop singer and songwriter. His biggest success came with his recording of "Baby Sittin' Boogie" (1961), which peaked at No. ...

Peanut Butter Conspiracy The Peanut Butter Conspiracy was an American, Los Angeles-based, psychedelic pop/ rock group from the 1960s. The band is known for lead singer Barbara Robison and for briefly having Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane as a band member. Hist ...

* A.B. Skhy *

The Surfaris The Surfaris are an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California, United States, in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" and " Wipe Out", which ...

* The Challengers * The Great Scots * The Citations * Dick Monda * Colours * Formula IV * Thom Starr & The Galaxies * Thunder & Lightning * Hamilton Streetcar * The Good Guys * The Surfriders * The Clee-Shays * The De-Fenders * Daddy Dewdrop aka The Groovy Ghoulies

Films

*''

The Green Slime is a 1968 tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Kinji Fukasaku and produced by Walter Manley and Ivan Reiner. It was written by William Finger, Tom Rowe and Charles Sinclair from a story by Reiner. The film was shot in Japan with a Japane ...

'' (1968)

Television

*''

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' is an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Fil ...

'' *''

Groovie Goolies ''Groovie Goolies'' is an American animated television show that had its original run Saturday mornings on CBS between 1970 and 1971. It was rebroadcast the following season on Sunday mornings. Set at a decrepit castle, the show focused on its mo ...

'' *''

The Archie Show ''The Archie Show'' (also known as ''The Archies)'' is an American musical animated sitcom television series produced by Filmation for CBS. Based on the Archie Comics, created by Bob Montana in 1941, ''The Archie Show'' aired Saturday mornings ...

'' (also called ''The Archies'')

References

External links

Richard Delvy's IMDB page {{DEFAULTSORT:Delvy, Richard 1942 births 2010 deaths Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut American drummers American male composers American composers American music managers Record producers from California