Stephen C. "Steve" Propes (b. about 1943)Satin-Toned '50s Crooners Find a Home : Doo-Wop: The Southern California society will have a shindig Sunday in Lakewood
Steve Hochman, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', July 20, 1990, accessed December 27, 2013. is a

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

record collector, disc jockey, and writer. During the 1980s, Propes hosted an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

radio show on KLON which had a large effect on the classic R&B revival of the time. He interviewed dozens of blues and R&B legends, such as Joe Turner,

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most imp ...

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

Hank Ballard Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of The Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an inte ...

Bobby Day Robert James Byrd (July 1, 1930 – July 27, 1990), known by the stage name Bobby Day, was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and songwriter. He is best known for his hit record " Rockin' Robin", written by Leon René und ...

, Richard Berry, Don Julian,

Brenton Wood Alfred Jesse Smith (born July 26, 1941), better known as Brenton Wood, is an American singer and songwriter known for his two 1967 hit song, hit single (music), singles, "The Oogum Boogum Song" (peaking at No. 34 on the US ''Billboard (magazin ...

, and

Eugene Church Eugene Church (January 22, 1938 – April 3, 1993) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singing, singer and songwriter. Church was born in St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri. In the 1950s, he collaborated with Jesse Belvin releasing sing ...

, as well as

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 ...

enthusiast

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...

. He has since hosted a similar show on Simmons Cable television in Long Beach. He is known for his collectors' books listing the monetary value of rock 'n' roll records.Harrington,Richard (1993) "Jingle Bells and Whistles", ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', December 10, 1993, p. N07Grushkin, Paul (2006) ''Rockin' Down the Highway'', Voyageur Press, , 'Author acknowledgements' In 1989, Propes founded the Southern California Doo-Wop Society, with the help of some students from a rock 'n' roll history class he taught at

Cal State Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

in the mid-'80s. According to his entry at "L.A. Radio People", "Steve does consulting work in the history of rock & roll, record evaluation for the biggest company in the rare record business, Good Rockin' Tonight and he is heard on RockitRadio.net." Steve Propes writes for ''Beachcomber'', a Long Beach-based magazine. In February 2015, he wrote a lengthy article detailing the history of Long Beach radio stations.The City Radio Left Behind
by Steve Propes, in Volume XXIII - Number 4, accessed March 1, 2015.

Books

*''Those Oldies But Goodies: A Guide to 50's Record Collecting'',

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

, 1973 *''Golden Oldies: A Guide to 60's Record Collecting'', Chilton, 1974 *''Golden Goodies: A Guide to 50's & 60's Popular Rock & Roll Record Collecting'', Chilton, 1975 *''What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record'' (with

Jim Dawson Jim Dawson (born September 10, 1944) is a Hollywood, California-based author who has specialized in American pop culture (especially early rock and roll) and the history of flatulence. A self-proclaimed "fartologist", he has written three book ...

; introductions by

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...

and

Billy Vera Billy Vera (born William Patrick McCord; May 28, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, and music historian. He has been a singer and songwriter since the 1960s, his most successful record being "At This Moment", a US number 1 h ...

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 1992 *''Merry Christmas Baby: Holiday Music From Bing to Sting'' (with

Little, Brown & Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

, 1993 *''L.A. R&B Vocal Groups 1945-1965'' (with Galen Gart), Big Nickel, 2000 *''45 RPM: The History, Heroes & Villains of a Pop Music Revolution'' (with

), Backbeat Books/

Hal Leonard HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...

, 2003 *''The Hobo Diaries: Nickerson Days - The Thousand Miler'' (with Clarence Bernard Propes), 2011 *''OLD SCHOOL: 77 Years of Southern California R&B & Vocal Group Harmony Records 1934-2011'', 2013''Stephen C. Propes: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle''

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

, is the source of this information on Propes' books, and of his real name.

Additional information

There is differing information on when Steve Propes worked at KLON. According to a ''Los Angeles Times'' article, it was from 1980 to 1989. According t
Steve's information
at Rock-it Radio, he was on KLON from 1981 to 1990, while his ''L. A. Radio People'' entry lists his KLON stay as 1981 to 1992.

References

External Links

Steve Propes Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Propes, Steve Living people American writers about music Year of birth missing (living people)