The Sunrays (previously known as the Renegades, the Renegade 5, Larry Tremaine & the Renegades, the Rangers and the Dirt Riders) were an American band from

Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside Los Angeles, Westside region of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. Pacific Palisades was formally founded in 1921 by a Chautauqua, Methodist organization, an ...

. The group was led by singer/songwriter/drummer Rick Henn, who was a friend of

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

member

Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...

. Other members of the band were guitarists Eddy Medora and Byron Case, keyboard player Marty DiGiovanni, and bassist Vince Hozier.

Career

Their first job as the Renegades (in the late 1950s) was at the Seaside Session at Palisades Park in Pacific Palisades. In 1961 they teamed up with Larry Tremaine, and became Larry Tremaine and the Renegades, a

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 ...

cover 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 ...

band, consisting of: Larry Tremaine, Steve O'Riley (now deceased), Marty DiGiovanni, Rick Henn, Eddy Medora (November 28, 1945 – October 27, 2006), and Vince Hozier (February 26, 1946 – March 18, 2007). Tremaine booked them every week at radio dances, UCLA, clubs, celebrity parties, and corporate events. They appeared at Crescendo Interlude on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

with

Joey Dee and the Starliters Joey Dee and the Starliters (also credited as Joey Dee and the Starlighters) is an American popular music group. The group is best known for their million-selling recording "Peppermint Twist" (1961). The group's most notable lineup is considere ...

, the Teen Age Fair at

Pacific Ocean Park Pacific Ocean Park was a nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, California in 1958. Intended to compete with Disneyland, it replaced Ocean Park Pier (1926-1956). After it closed ...

, the after party for the 1963

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, The

Bob Eubanks Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938) is an American disc jockey, television personality and game show host, best known for hosting the game show ''The Newlywed Game'' on and off since 1966. He also hosted the successful revamp version of ...

TV Dance Party, and every Friday night as the house dance party band at the

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

Civic Auditorium. In 1963, Tremaine went into the radio stations

KBLA KBLA (1580 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Santa Monica, California, KBLA serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting, through licensee Multicultural Radio Broadcas ...

and

KRLA KRLA (870 kHz) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, which also ...

, and later television, and became the host of the syndicated nationwide ''Casino Royale Dance Party''. In 1964, Murry Wilson, the father of

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

, Carl, and

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

, started managing them and changed their name to The Sunrays. Eddy Medora switched from the saxophone to rhythm guitar. Steve O'Riley, who played lead guitar and sang, left the band when "I Live for the Sun" began to break, saying "I don't wanna be in the group anymore, I think I can make it on my own." O'Riley was replaced by Byron Case. Their hits included " I Live for the Sun" (1965) (No. 51 US, No. 20

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

), "

Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

" (1966) (No. 41 US), and "Still" (1966) (No. 93 US). They toured the United States and opened for the Beach Boys in the U.S. and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Discography

Singles

*"Car Party" / "Outta Gas" — Tower 101—September 1964 *"I Live For The Sun" (Billboard #51) / "Bye Baby Bye" — Tower 148—August 1965 *"Andrea" (Billboard #41) / "You Don't Phase Me" — Tower 191—December 1965 *"Still" (Billboard #93) / "When You're Not Here" — Tower 224—March 1966 *"Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously" / "I Look Baby, I Can't See" — Tower 256—July 1966 *"Hi, How Are You" / "Just 'Round The River Bend" — Tower 290—November 1966 *"Loaded With Love" / "Time (A Special Thing)" — Tower 340—May 1967

Albums

*''

'' — Tower T-5017 (Mono)/ST-5017 (Stereo)—1966

Compilation albums

* ''Vintage Rays'' — Collectable Records—1996

References

External links

Sunrays718
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunrays, The American pop music groups Musical groups from California