The Sunshine Company was an American

sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Originally the duo of Mary Nance (November 7, 1947 – November 24, 2019) and Maury Manseau, the group later added the rhythm section of bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante and signed to

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

, releasing their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

in 1967. They scored three hit singles on the U.S. singles chart over the next two years before disbanding after their third album, 1968's self-titled effort. Sims and Bregante later backed

Loggins and Messina Loggins and Messina was an American rock- pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved their success in the early to mid-1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song", "House at Pooh Corner", and " Your Mama Don' ...

History

The group was discovered by the manager of the

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

, Bill McEuen. McEuen proposed they record a single, titled Up, Up and Away, which would have been released had not

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway. Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Betwe ...

released their own top ten versions. Their first single, "Happy", charted at number 50 nationally, while competing with another version by the Blades of Grass (which had less chart success). Guitarist Douglas Mark then joined to form a quintet as the band released their biggest hit, "Back On the Street Again" (#36 on Billboard), but the band never again achieved such success. By the fall of 1967, the band released their debut LP on Imperial Records, titled ''Happy Is The Sunshine Company''. It included their two charting singles and peaked at number 126 on the ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

''. In 1968, the group released their last top 100 charting single, "Look Here Comes The Sun", peaking at number 56. A further two albums were released in the same year but success eluded the band. There was a proposed fourth album, ''Think'', but the Sunshine Company broke up before recordings were complete. , Bregante lives in

Liberty Hill, Texas Liberty Hill is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Liberty Hill is part of the metropolitan area. Geography Liberty Hill is located at (30.664219, –97.911261), about 29 miles nor ...

, where he has his own recording studio. Sims died in December 2014. Nance, born in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

, resided in San Pedro, California in her later years. She died on November 24, 2019, at the age of 72.

Members

*Mary Nance -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(died 2019) *Maury Manseau - vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

*Douglas Mark -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, guitar *Larry Sims -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(died 2014) *Merel Bregante - drums (usually referred to as Merel Brigante) *Dave Hodgkins - acoustic guitar (1968)

Discography

Albums

*''Happy Is the Sunshine Company'' (

, 1967)

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

#126 *''The Sunshine Company'' (Imperial, 1968) *''Sunshine & Shadows'' (Imperial, 1968)

Charting singles

*"Happy" (15 July 1967) U.S. #50 *"Back on the Street Again" (25 November 1967)

#36 *"Look, Here Comes the Sun" (10 February 1968) U.S. #56 *"Let's Get Together" (18 May 1968) U.S. #112 *"On a Beautiful Day" (27 July 1968) U.S. #106 *"Willie Jean" (19 October 1968) U.S. #111

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunshine Company, The Musical groups from Los Angeles Imperial Records artists Musical groups disestablished in 1968 Sunshine pop