The Four Preps are an American
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
male quartet. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the group amassed eight gold singles and three gold albums. Their million-selling signature tunes included "
26 Miles (Santa Catalina)
"26 Miles (Santa Catalina)" is a popular song by the 1950s and 1960s pop band The Four Preps. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, ''Billboard'' R&B chart, and number 11 in ...
", "
Big Man", "Lazy Summer Night", and "
Down by the Station
"Down by the Station" (also known as "Down at the Station") is a popular song written by Paul Mills and Slim Gaillard and first recorded by The Slim Gaillard Trio in 1947. The song was most famously recorded by Tommy Dorsey in 1948.
Background
T ...
".
The Four Preps' numerous television and motion picture appearances included four years backing teen heartthrob
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...
on ''
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...
'' and appearing with
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénue ...
in the film ''
Gidget
Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenaged daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenaged girl and her surfing frie ...
''. The group's most recent television appearance was with the award-winning 2004 PBS special, ''Magic Moments: The Best of 50s Pop''.
The current incarnation of the Four Preps features co-founder and original lead singer Bruce Belland, Bob Duncan (formerly with the Diamonds and the Crew Cuts), Michael Redman (of the Crew Cuts), and Jim Armstrong. Their shows are currently an amalgamation of singing everything from doo-wop to
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...
standards and comedy.
Original line-up
* Bruce Belland, lead vocals (born October 22, 1936,
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
)
*
Ed Cobb
Edward C. "Ed" Cobb (February 25, 1938 – September 19, 1999) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most notably during the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for writing the song "Tainted Love" for Gloria Jones, which later ...
, bass (born February 28, 1938; died September 19, 1999)
* Marv Ingram, high tenor (born Marvin Inabnett July 29, 1938; died March 7, 1999)
*
Glen A. Larson, baritone (born January 3, 1937
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
; died November 14, 2014)
History
The four original members were students at
Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.
Histo ...
and were signed to a
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
by
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a
talent show
A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...
at that school in 1956.
They had a minor
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 ...
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
that year with "Dreamy Eyes" and between 1956 and 1964 reached the
''Billboard'' pop charts with 13 different songs. In 1957 they appeared with
Lindsay Crosby
Lindsay Harry Crosby (January 5, 1938 – December 11, 1989) was an American actor and singer. He was the youngest of four sons from Bing Crosby's first marriage to Dixie Lee (his older brothers being Gary and twins Phillip and Dennis). Lindsay ...
,
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
's son, in the television special ''
The Edsel Show
''The Edsel Show'' is an hour-long television special broadcast live on CBS in the United States on October 13, 1957, intended to promote Ford Motor Company's new Edsel cars. It was a milestone in the long career of entertainer Bing Crosby and is n ...
''.
Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," which was written by Belland and Larson in 1957 and reached number two early the following year. The
record sold over one million copies, earning a
gold disc
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 ...
.
Around this time,
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...
appeared with them at a Hamilton High School lunch hour assembly singing "
Blue Moon of Kentucky
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. "Blue Moon of Kentu ...
".
Belland and Larson also wrote "Big Man", which reached number three in 1958. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number two on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, thus becoming the group's biggest hit there. The pair also composed new lyrics for the older tune "
Down by the Station
"Down by the Station" (also known as "Down at the Station") is a popular song written by Paul Mills and Slim Gaillard and first recorded by The Slim Gaillard Trio in 1947. The song was most famously recorded by Tommy Dorsey in 1948.
Background
T ...
", which peaked at number 13 in 1960. Cobb wrote a handful of songs for the group, though not any of their chart hits; Cobb later became a noted writer and/or producer of hit material for other artists, especially
The Standells
The Standells are an American garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as a "punk band of the 1960s", and said to have inspired such groups as the Sex Pistols and Ramones. They are best known ...
' "Dirty Water",
Brenda Holloway
Brenda Holloway (born June 26, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter, who was a recording artist for Motown Records during the 1960s. Her best-known recordings are the soul hits, "Every Little Bit Hurts", " When I'm Gone", and " You've Ma ...
's "
Every Little Bit Hurts
"Every Little Bit Hurts" was originally a 1964 hit single for Motown soul singer Brenda Holloway, written by Ed Cobb.
Background
Though she was against recording the song again (she recorded it a couple of years before signing with Motown), she ...
" and
Gloria Jones
Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love" and has wo ...
' "
Tainted Love
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synthpop duo Soft Cell in 198 ...
," later recorded by
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...
. Many Four Preps records were arranged by their high school friend and piano accompanist
Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga (born March 28, 1937) is an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who has worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music.
Life and career
Pop music in the 1950s and '60s
Mayorga was born in Los Angeles, Ca ...
.
[ Lincoln Mayorga at Black Cat Rockabilly](_blank)
Accessed January 26, 2010.
In 1959, the group appeared as themselves in the film ''
Gidget
Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenaged daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenaged girl and her surfing frie ...
''. For a short period, Don Clarke replaced Ingram while the latter finished college at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, but he rejoined the group in 1960.
The group was known for its family-friendly comedic humor in live performances. In 1960, they recorded a
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
, "More Money for You and Me," which included single parody verses of several popular songs by
The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940).
Early history
The band mem ...
,
The Hollywood Argyles
The Hollywood Argyles were an American musical ensemble, assembled for studio recordings by the producer and songwriter Kim Fowley and his friend and fellow musician Gary S. Paxton. They had a US number one hit record, "Alley Oop" (Lute Records 5 ...
,
The Platters
The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...
,
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, and The Mel-Tones, founded in the barbershop tradition. The singers accom ...
,
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...
and
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts were an American vocal trio prominent throughout the 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In 1957, Dion DiMucci joined the vocal group the Belmonts. The established trio of Angelo D'Aleo, Carlo M ...
. The title parody, sung to the tune of "
Tom Dooley," went like this:
: ''Hang down the
Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...
,''
: ''Hang 'em from a tall
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
tree;''
: ''Eliminate the Kingston Trio;''
: ''More
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
for you and me.''
In 1962, they released another novelty record "The Big Draft", where they "suggest" a couple of American groups to go drafting themselves by parodying their songs. The record once again included single parody verses from popular hits of the day, this time from
The Platters
The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...
,
The Four Aces
The Four Aces are an American male traditional pop quartet popular since the 1950s. Over the last half-century, the group amassed many gold records. Its million-selling songs include " Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", " Three Coins in the Fou ...
,
The Marcels
The Marcels were an American doo-wop group known for turning popular music songs into rock and roll. The group formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and signed to Colpix Records with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, R ...
,
The Highwaymen (the folk band), and
Dion (who split with the Belmonts in 1960).
Both "More Money for You and Me" and "The Big Draft" were recorded live.
The group last appeared on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in 1964, when "
A Letter to The Beatles
"A Letter to the Beatles" is a novelty song by the Four Preps.
It was released as a single on March 9, 1964, by Capitol Records who had both the Beatles and the Four Preps signed to their roster.
"A Letter to the Beatles" rose to number 85 on t ...
" charted for a total of three weeks beginning March 21, peaking at number 85 before being pulled from sale.
The arrival of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, along with the rest of the
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 b ...
, coincided with the decline of popularity of the Four Preps and most other folk revival groups. In 1966,
David Somerville, formerly of
The Diamonds
The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet that rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with 16 ''Billboard'' hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville (lead), Ted Kowalski (tenor), Phil Levitt (baritone), and Bill Reed (ba ...
, joined the group, replacing Cobb.
In 1969, the group disbanded, as their type of music had become less popular. Belland and Somerville occasionally performed as a duo after the breakup.
Later careers
Belland continued writing songs for other singers, as well as writing television show scripts, eventually becoming a network executive. Belland was a producer on several game shows in the 1970s for
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards (June 13, 1913DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 86-87. – November 16, 2005) was an American radio ...
Productions. Cobb became a
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
. He composed and produced the top-twenty hit, "
Dirty Water
"Dirty Water" is a song by the American rock band The Standells, written by their producer Ed Cobb.
The song is a mock paean to the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and its then-famously polluted Boston Harbor and Charles River.
History
Accordin ...
" for
The Standells
The Standells are an American garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as a "punk band of the 1960s", and said to have inspired such groups as the Sex Pistols and Ramones. They are best known ...
in 1966 with Cobb; "
Every Little Bit Hurts
"Every Little Bit Hurts" was originally a 1964 hit single for Motown soul singer Brenda Holloway, written by Ed Cobb.
Background
Though she was against recording the song again (she recorded it a couple of years before signing with Motown), she ...
" for
Brenda Holloway
Brenda Holloway (born June 26, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter, who was a recording artist for Motown Records during the 1960s. Her best-known recordings are the soul hits, "Every Little Bit Hurts", " When I'm Gone", and " You've Ma ...
; "
Tainted Love
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synthpop duo Soft Cell in 198 ...
" for
Gloria Jones
Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love" and has wo ...
, which became a worldwide hit for
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...
in 1982.
Somerville went into
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
acting and providing
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
s. Larson became a
television producer
A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...
/
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
/
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
, creating ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
,'' ''
Knight Rider
''Knight Rider'' is an American entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three television series: the original ''Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequel series ''Team Knight Rider'' (1997–1998) ...
'' and variety television series; he and Somerville would reunite to collaborate on the song "
Unknown Stuntman
"Unknown Stuntman" is a single sung by Lee Majors, released in 1984, written by Glen A. Larson, Gail Jensen, and Dave Somerville, and with a 2-minute and 38 second running time. A shorter version (1:47 and with slightly different instrumentation) ...
," the theme song to another one of Larson's TV series, ''
The Fall Guy
''The Fall Guy'' is an American action/adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonli ...
''. Ingram became a
commodities broker. Clarke became a music teacher at Glendora High School. Don Clarke was a music director at
Mark Keppel High School
Mark Keppel High School (MKHS) is a four-year California Distinguished School located in the city of Alhambra, California, in the Alhambra Unified School District. The school is on the southern edge of Alhambra, adjacent to the city of Monterey ...
, Alhambra, California, from 1965 to 1967.
In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of
the Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contempor ...
) eventually formed a new "Four Preps" group and went on to perform. Jim Yester, formerly of
The Association
The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...
, replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the "New Four Preps".
In March 1999, Ingram died of a heart attack; Cobb died of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
later the same year.
Yester, Belland and Somerville then recorded and toured for a short time as “Triple Gold – The Three Tenors of Pop” and then moved on to pursue individual opportunities. In 2004 PBS asked Bruce to put together a one shot version of the Four Preps for “Magic Moments”, a PBS Special saluting the hit makers of the 1950s. Bruce, Glen Larson, Jim Yester and David Somerville performed on that show as The Four Preps and the program has become one of Public television's biggest fund raisers. Somerville died on July 14, 2015.
Belland's daughters, Tracey Bryn Belland and Melissa Brooke Belland, followed in their father's footsteps as singers, forming a group named
Voice of the Beehive
Voice of the Beehive are an Anglo-American alternative pop rock band formed in London in 1986.
The group featured Californian lead vocalist sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland (daughters of The Four Preps singer Bruce Belland). Th ...
.
Discography
Albums
* ''The Four Preps'' (1958)
* ''The Things We Did Last Summer'' (1958)
* ''Dancing and Dreaming'' (1959)
* ''Down by the Station'' (1960)
* ''The Four Preps on Campus'' (1961)
* ''Campus Encore'' (1962)
Singles
References
External links
*
*Biography o
The Icebergsite
Accessed January 7, 2009.
Printable Biography of the New Four Preps(pdf format)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Four Preps, The
1956 establishments in California
Capitol Records artists
American pop music groups
American vocal groups
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical groups established in 1956
Vocal quartets
Traditional pop music singers