The Gestures were a teenage

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band based in

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 United States ...

. The members of the band were Gus Dewey (guitar), Tom Klugherz (bass), Dale Menten (guitar/vocals), and Bruce Waterston (drums). The group was known as The Jesters, until they changed their name concurrent with the release of their first

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 ...

. They are primarily known for their chart hit, "Run, Run, Run", from the fall of 1964. "Run, Run, Run" has been favorably cited by some rock historians as containing a

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development ...

-esque, British Invasion sound, with crisp guitar playing and a quick beat. The song came about in 1963 when Dale Menten decided to write original material for the band. In 1964, the band recorded a demo of the song to present it to a DJ on

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radio. The DJ favored the recording and it made it to Jim Madison, who recorded the song, along with three other tracks, with the band. On August 24, 1964, the band had a session at Kay Bank Recording in

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. Two weeks later they re-recorded "Run, Run, Run" with a faster beat. This version was used for the group's debut single. "Run, Run, Run" was released on the

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label in October 1964 and became a major hit in the

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. Nationally, the song hit number 44 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart on December 20, 1964. The song also reached number 60 on the '' Cashbox'' charts earlier in the month. On the ''Twin Cities'' charts it reached number one. In

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and

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it peaked at number three. In 1965, the band made an appearance on ''

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'', and then toured across the Midwest and

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. Their single, despite being heard on Canadian radio stations, was not available in stores. They discovered their single was being back-ordered instead of being actually purchased. The Gestures released only one more single, "Don't Mess Around" b/w 'Candlelight." It was almost as big as "Run, Run, Run" regionally, but didn't chart nationally since there was confusion over which side was the A side ("Don't Mess Around" was the initial A side but it flipped over soon after), and limited distribution by the small label. The group broke up soon after. "Run, Run, Run" has been featured on numerous compilations, most notably

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's 1998 re-release of '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968''. Dewey (born Daniel Gregg Dewey on January 19, 1946, in Mankato) died of laryngeal cancer on January 4, 2004, at age 57. In 2008, the Gestures were inducted into the Minnesota Rock & Country Hall of Fame.

References

Garage rock groups from Minnesota Musical quartets {{US-rock-band-stub