The Mojo Men was an American rock band based in San Francisco. Formed in 1965, the group underwent several name and personnel changes until their 1969 breakup. Their highest-charting ''Billboard'' Hot 100 single was a cover of

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song " For What It's Worth", r ...

's "

Sit Down, I Think I Love You "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" is a 1966 song composed by American singer-songwriter Stephen Stills and originally recorded by American-Canadian rock band Buffalo Springfield. A cover version by The Mojo Men was released as a single in 1967 and re ...

", which peaked at number 36 in 1967.

History

Singer/bassist Jim Alaimo (), guitarist Paul Curcio, drummer Dennis DeCarr (Potokar), and keyboardist Don Metchick were bandmates in Florida who moved to San Francisco in 1964 to form a new band. There they met Sylvester Stewart, later known as

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

, then a record producer at

Autumn Records Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Among the notable acts on its roster was The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and " Just a Little". Also on the Autumn Records roster w ...

for acts such as

The Beau Brummels The Beau Brummels was an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino (lead vocals), Ron Elliott (lead guitar), Ron Meagher (bass guitar), Declan Mulligan (rhythm guitar, bass, harmo ...

and The Vejtables. Stewart and the band recorded a few songs under the name Sly and the Mojo Men but Stewart, unsatisfied with the results, chose not to release them. He continued working with the band as a songwriter and producer on "Dance with Me" (1965), the Mojo Men's first song to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, and "She's My Baby" (1966). DeCarr (Potokar) left the group in 1966 and was replaced by drummer/vocalist

Jan Errico Jan Errico is a drummer and singer who was a member of two San Francisco rock groups in the 1960s, The Vejtables and The Mojo Men. Background She is the daughter of Vincent Errico who, himself was an accomplished drummer. She is the cousin of ...

, formerly of the Vejtables. The Mojo Men then moved from Autumn to

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, where the band's earlier

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" o ...

-influenced

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

style evolved into pop/

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

. In 1967, the band released a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

's "

". Written by

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has co ...

and arranged by

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...

, the song became the Mojo Men's first and only top 40 single. Metchick left the band in 1968, and the remaining trio shortened their name to The Mojo, and then just Mojo, before they released their lone studio album, ''Mojo Magic'', on

GRT Records GRT Records was the name of both a U.S. and a Canadian record label, both created by General Recorded Tape, a California-based company that existed from 1965 to 1979.Richard GreenGRT of Canada, Ltd. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-02-26. ...

.Uncredited
Profile of The Mojo

Bad Cat Records Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect *Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...

. Retrieved April 19, 2013. The group disbanded in 1969. "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" was included on the seminal 1972 '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'' garage rock compilation album.

Sundazed Records Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...

released three Mojo Men compilation albums between 1995 and 2003, and in 2008 Big Beat Records released the compilation ''Not Too Old to Start Cryin': The Lost 1966 Masters''. The band's single "She's My Baby" was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's "Hell of a Life", a song from his 2010 album '' My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy''. Curcio founded the Music America Studios in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, and produced

Kill 'Em All ''Kill 'Em All'' is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 25, 1983, through the independent label Megaforce Records. Metallica began by playing shows in local clubs in Los Angeles. They recorded severa ...

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's debut studio album (1983). He died on September 10, 2018, at age 74.

Discography

Studio album

Compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mojo Men, The Garage rock groups from California Folk rock groups from California Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups disestablished in 1969 Musical groups from San Francisco Psychedelic rock music groups from California Autumn Records artists Warner Records artists