Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

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, known mainly for their 1970s

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s, "

Billy Don't Be a Hero "Billy Don't Be a Hero" is a 1974 pop music, pop song that was first a UK hit for Paper Lace and then, some months later, a US hit for Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The song was written and composed by two British songwriters, Mitch Murray an ...

" and "

Who Do You Think You Are Who Do You Think You Are may refer to: Television series * ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' (British TV series), a genealogy documentary with many adaptations: ** ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' (American TV series) ** ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' ...

History

The band was formed in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 1965 by their leader, Robert Walter "Bo" Donaldson. They were first discovered while touring with

The Osmonds The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed as the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (as the Osmonds). The group ...

in the early 1970s and signed with Family Productions, releasing their first single in 1972, "Special Someone", but their big break came after moving to

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

and working with the

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Steve Barri Steve Barri (born Steven Barry Lipkin in Brooklyn, New York on February 23, 1942) is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Early in his career, Barri was a staff writer with Dunhill Records. He produced such huge hits as " Dizzy" ...

in 1973. Although their first single with ABC, "Deeper and Deeper", failed to make a big impression on the

charts 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 tabul ...

, beginning in 1974, the band began a string of hit songs. Their first two (and largest two) hits were

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 release ...

s of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

hit songs whose original versions had not been hits in the U.S.: "

" (a cover of a #1 UK

Paper Lace Paper Lace are a British pop/rock band, formed in Nottingham, who rose to success in 1974 and during that year had three UK Top 40 hit singles. In the United States they are considered a one-hit wonder, having a single US top 40 hit. There are ...

song that reached #1 for 2 weeks on the Hot 100 with the Heywoods version) and "

" (written by Clive Scott & Des Dyer of

Jigsaw Jigsaw may refer to: * Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves * Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces Arts and media Comics * Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...

, which originally became a hit for

Candlewick Green Candlewick Green were a five piece England, English pop music, pop musical ensemble, group, formed in the 1970s. It is best known for its song, Who Do You Think You Are (Candlewick Green song), "Who Do You Think You Are" (1974), also recorded by a ...

and reached #15 on the Hot 100 with the Heywoods version). They were followed by their last top-40 hit, "The Heartbreak Kid" (#39 Hot 100), and their ominously titled last Hot 100 hit, " Our Last Song Together" (#95 on the Hot 100, another UK hit, originally recorded by its songwriter

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

). "Billy Don't Be a Hero" sold over three and a half million copies, receiving a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the R.I.A.A. in June 1974. Despite the song's popularity, many people disliked it, and it was voted #8 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine's readers' poll of "10 Worst Songs of the 1970s." After their initial popularity, they began a migration across three other

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s as the hits dried up by the end of the decade. In 1975, the band was working on a second album of material for ABC including "Our Last Song Together", released as a single (and which made the pop chart), and "Take Me Make Me Yours", which to this day remains unreleased. Ultimately the group left the label and joined Capitol Records, where they recorded songs by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, the writing/producing team behind the UK act

The Sweet The Sweet (often shortened to just Sweet), are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mic ...

, and released the album "Farther On" in 1975. By 1978, they were known as "The Bo Donaldson Band" and eventually split after trying

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

with no success in the 1980s. They reformed again in 1996 as a nostalgia act and still make appearances, most notably in the Barry Williams hosted nostalgia show, ''Original Idols Live''. In 1996, Varese Vintage Records released ''Best of Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods'', a 15-song compilation of material originally released on Family Productions (1972) and ABC Records (1973–1975). The CD contains all their charted singles and, in fact, includes 9 of the 11 songs featured on the 1974 LP ''Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods'' (#97 on the Hot 200). The CD booklet includes liner notes written by

Gordon Pogoda Gordon Pogoda is an American composer, lyricist, and producer based in Los Angeles. In 2018, he signed a publishing deal with BMG Music. Previously, he had publishing deals with EMI Music, Universal Music and Warner Chappell Music. Biograph ...

and the CD features such highlights as "Who Do You Think You Are", "The House on Telegraph Hill", and "The Heartbreak Kid". Lead singer and trumpeter Mike Gibbons died on April 2, 2016, at age 71.

Members

*Robert Walter "Bo" Donaldson -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Mike Gibbons - lead

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 without ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*David Krock -

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 ...

and

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Rick Joswick - lead vocals and

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

*Gary Coveyou -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and backing vocalist *Baker Scott - guitar (1974) *Richard Brunetti -

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

Discography

Albums

*''Special Someone'' (Family, 1972) *''Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods (ABC, 1974) (# 97

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot 200) *''Farther On'' (Capitol, 1975) *''The Best of Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods'' (CD, Varese Sarabande, 1996)

Singles

*"Special Someone" (U.S.

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

#64, Cashbox #51, 1972) *"Deeper and Deeper" (U.S. Cashbox #107, 1974) *"

Billy, Don't Be a Hero "Billy Don't Be a Hero" is a 1974 pop song that was first a UK hit for Paper Lace and then, some months later, a US hit for Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The song was written and composed by two British songwriters, Mitch Murray and Peter C ...

" (U.S. #1, AC #20; Canada #1, 1974) *"

" (U.S. #15, AC #19; Canada #11, Australia #64 1974) *"The Heartbreak Kid" (U.S. Billboard #39, 1974) *"The House on Telegraph Hill" (U.S. Cashbox #89, 1975) *" Our Last Song Together" (U.S. Billboard #95, 1975) *"

A Fool Like You "A Fool Like You" is a 1973 song by Tim Moore from his eponymous debut album. Donald Fagen is featured on backing vocals. The song reached number 93 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the spring of that year. It was his first of four charting ...

" (1976)

References

External links

Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods Musical groups established in 1965 American pop music groups Musical groups from Cincinnati Musical groups from Ohio