The Pets were formed in 1958 in Los Angeles, California from a group of top session players – saxophonist

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and baritone sax ...

, guitarist Rene Hall, guitarist

Richard Podolor Richard Allen Podolor (January 7, 1936 – March 9, 2022) was an American musician, record producer and songwriter. His career started as a session musician in the 1950s, and he was best known as the producer of Three Dog Night. Life and career ...

and drummer

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of al ...

Background

They recorded their only hit "Cha Hua Hua" in 1958 for

Arwin Records Arwin Records was an American label that operated from the late-1950s to mid-1960s. Artists to have releases on the label include Dave Barbour and his Orchestra Hadda Brooks, Mel Carter, The Cascades (band), The Cascades, Doris Day, Jan & Arnie, D ...

, owned by

Marty Melcher Martin Melcher (August 1, 1915 – April 20, 1968) was an American motion picture and music executive. He was married to popular singer and actress Doris Day, with whom he owned a series of business ventures named Arwin. Melcher produced severa ...

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

's husband. "Cha Hua Hua" reached #34 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1958.

Hugo & Luigi Hugo & Luigi were an American record producing team, made up of songwriters and producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who shared an office in New York's Brill Building. Besides their working relationship, they were cousins. Background First ...

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

the song for

Roulette Records Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed direc ...

in '58, however their more MOR version failed to

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 ...

. Subsequent releases by The Pets on

Arwin The following is a list of recurring and minor characters in the Disney Channel Original Series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''. These characters were regularly rotated, often disappearing for long periods during the series. Tipton staff Arwi ...

went nowhere, however the individual members continued on as regular sessionmen, featuring on many classic recordings by a huge array of artists during the golden years of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

. Podolor eventually went on to work as an independent producer for a number of acts including

Three Dog Night Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, with founding members consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup ...

and Steppenwolf.

Career

By May, 1958, while Arwin was still regarded as a new label, "Cha Hu Hua" bw "Cha-Kow-Ski" was out on Arwin 109. The reviewer in ''Billboard'' said it was one to watch. It would eventually reach #34 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1958. Their next release on the label was backing a clean cut sounding powerful voiced singer, Seph Acre with "You Are My Love" bw "Rock And Roll Cha Cha". After that they released "Wow-Ee!!!" bw "Beyond The Sea". Their last single for 1958 was "Guitarro" bw " Whatever Will Be, Will Be". The next release involving them was backing B grade horror director and producer

Jerry Warren Jerry Warren (March 10, 1925 – August 21, 1988) was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in s ...

who in 1956 turned out ''

Man Beast The Man-Beast is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history Man-Beast first appears in ''Thor'' #134 (Nov. 1966) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He is first referred to ...

'' and would later turn out ''

Teenage Zombies ''Teenage Zombies'' is a 1959 science fiction horror film written, produced, edited and directed by Jerry Warren, and starring Katherine Victor, Don Sullivan, Chuck Niles and Warren's then-wife and production manager Brianne Murphy. Warren wrote ...

''. The record was released in 1959. The song "Monkey Walk" which ''Billboard'' described as bouncy rocker was about a new dance called The Monkey Walk. The B side "Street of Love" was a ballad with a beat. An act with a Pets name on the Arwin roster had a release in 1964. The act was Pepe-Y-Los Pets with "

Que Sera Sera "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is a song written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was first published in 1955. Doris Day introduced it in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), singing it as ...

: bw "Midnight Lace" on Arwin 126. It was an instrumental version of the

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 ...

.''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'', August 8, 1964
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Discography

References

Musical groups from Los Angeles American pop music groups Arwin Records artists {{US-band-stub