Steam was 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 ...

music group, best known for their 1969 number one hit single, "

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" is a 1969 song written and recorded by Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer, attributed to a then-fictitious band they named "Steam". It was released under the Mercury subsidiary label Fontana and became a ...

". The song was written and recorded by studio musicians Gary DeCarlo (aka Garrett Scott), Dale Frashuer, and producer/writer

Paul Leka Paul Leka (February 20, 1943 – October 12, 2011) was an American songwriter, record producer, pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, most notable for co-writing the 1960s hits "Green Tambourine" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", the latter of ...

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The single was attributed to the band "Steam", although at the time there was actually no band with that name. Leka and the studio group also recorded the first album of the band from which four other songs were released as singles in 1970.

History

Background

In the early 1960s, Frashuer and DeCarlo (born Gary Richard DeCarlo in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

on June 5, 1942) were members of a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group from

variously known as the Glenwoods, the Citations, and the Chateaus, for which Leka played piano. The group separated but kept in contact. Leka became a songwriter with Circle Five Productions and in 1967, he wrote and produced

the Lemon Pipers The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s American psychedelic rock band from Oxford, Ohio, United States, known chiefly for their song " Green Tambourine", which reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. The song has been credited as being the first bub ...

' "

Green Tambourine "Green Tambourine" is a song written and composed by Paul Leka (who also produced it) and Shelley Pinz. It was the biggest hit by the 1960s Ohio-based rock group the Lemon Pipers, as well as the title track of their debut album, ''Green Tambouri ...

" and other Pipers songs with Shelley Pinz.

Steam

In 1969, Leka was working at

and convinced the label's A&R to record DeCarlo. With Leka producing, DeCarlo (under the professional name Garrett Scott) recorded four singles, all of which Bob Reno, the label's head, thought would do well issued as an

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

. DeCarlo's first single was to be " Workin' On a Groovy Thing", but it was beaten by

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway. Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Betwee ...

version released a week earlier. Then the company and Leka decided on "Sweet Laura Lee" as the next single and a B-side was needed. DeCarlo and Leka were asked to cut a B-side along with Frashuer. The trio chose to use a previously unrecorded song from their Chateaus days, which became "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye". To the musicians' surprise, Reno decided that "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" should be an A-side. Leka thought the song was "an embarrassing record... Not that Gary sang it badly. But compared to his four songs, it was an insult." To avoid a clash with DeCarlo's planned solo career, Mercury issued the single on its Fontana subsidiary under the name "Steam". Leka said the name was conceived after he saw steam rising from a manhole cover in the street outside the recording studio. Released late in 1969, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" reached number one in the United States for two weeks in December 1969. The song was also a Top 10 hit in the UK and Canada. Leka hastily put together a touring group to support the hit single, none of whose members had actually played on the recording. Leka, DeCarlo, and Frashuer did not take part in the touring group, although the three were credited as songwriters for Steam's self-titled album. The second single from the album, "I've Gotta Make You Love Me", reached number 46 in the U.S. on Billboard and 44 in Canada in February 1970.

Later years

Frashuer stepped out of the public eye. He died in 1998 at age 59. Leka became a successful songwriter and producer before his death in 2011. DeCarlo, whose solo career as Garrett Scott did not achieve chart success, left the music industry until making a comeback in 2014, performing at oldies shows. By the beginning of the 21st century, sales of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" had exceeded 6.5 million records. In 1977,

Nancy Faust Nancy Faust (born March 11, 1947) is an American former stadium organist for Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox. Biography Early life Faust grew up in the Chicago area, and began playing the organ at age 4 by learning from her mother, Jac ...

, the organist for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

began playing the song to taunt the visiting team. Since then it has been used across the worlds of sport (particularly in relation to player ejections and strutting post-victory celebrations) and politics (at rallies to mock political opponents). In 2014, DeCarlo released the album ''Long Time Comin, which included a new version of his hit. He died on June 28, 2017, after a battle with lung cancer, twenty-three days after his 75th birthday.

Musicians

;Key musicians on the record, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye": *

: Producer, co-writer, keyboards *Dale Frashuer: co-writer *Gary DeCarlo: (as "Garrett Scott") co-writer, lead vocalist and percussion *David Chester: Guitar *Paul Plancon: Lead singer

Discography

Album

Singles

References

External links

Steam's Gary DeCarlo Dead at 75
(LiteFavorites.com) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steam (Band) American pop rock music groups Fontana Records artists Mercury Records artists Musical groups from New York City