Liz Damon's Orient Express was an American

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

band from Hawaii, featuring lead singer Liz Damon, two female

backup singers 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 used ...

and a rotating backup band. The name apparently derived from the original backup band being entirely Asian. (Damon herself was of mixed European, Hawaiian, and

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

descent.) Their only song to make the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

was " 1900 Yesterday", which made it to No. 33 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and No. 15 on the Canadian

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 t ...

in early 1971. Most impressively, it peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey.

Members

Damon's backup singers on the 1970 album ''At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village'' were her sister Edda Damon and Sydette Sakauye. In the early 1970s, Sakauye left and was replaced by Meri McPherson. While the Damon sisters and McPherson were constants, their backup band underwent numerous personnel changes. The band was the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

at the Garden Bar at the

Hilton Hawaiian Village The Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort is a resort hotel on Waikiki, Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. The resort first opened in 1955, and since has grown to become the largest in the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton chain of hotel ...

for 18 months and recorded its first album, ''At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village'' in 1970. Originally released on Makaha Records, it was then picked up by

White Whale Records White Whale Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1965 by Ted Feigin and Lee Lasseff in Los Angeles, California, and probably best known as the record label of the Turtles and a handful of one-hit wonder bands. White Whale, ...

, who released it as an eponymous album and also released "1900 Yesterday" as a single. White Whale Records was under financial distress at the time (embroiled in a years-long dispute with their marquee band,

The Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

, and unable to develop any further acts other than a few

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

s) and folded shortly after "1900 Yesterday" became a hit. Liz Damon's Orient Express released

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

's "Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets" for the

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

label in late 1971, and it became their second and last US chart single. The song was originally recorded by Allison Durbin in 1969, and was subsequently recorded by

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

in 1970. English alternative rocker

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

covered the song in 2019. The group released three more albums during the 1970s, consisting mostly of covers. In 1979, the group released a comedy album. During the late 1970s, the band moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada where they performed until their breakup in the mid-1980s. Only ''Liz Damon's Orient Express'' is available in print today, having been reissued on CD in 2003 by

Rev-Ola Records Rev-Ola Records is a British independent record label formed in 1990 that specializes in reissues, as well as select new releases. The label is headed by Joe Foster, a former child actor and musician/producer. He, along with Alan McGee and ...

, with liner notes by Steve Stanley. "1900 Yesterday" appears on some compilations of 1970s mellow music.

Discography

Albums

* ''Liz Damon's Orient Express'' (1970) (also ''At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village'') * ''Try a Little Tenderness'' (1970) (aka ''Liz Damon's Orient Express II'', Anthem Records) * ''Me Japanese Boy (I Love You)'', Delilah Records (1973) * ''Heaven in My Heart'' (1978) (also released as '' Cartan Tours Presents Liz Damon's Orient Express'' as an advertising record for Cartan's packaged Hawaiian tours.) * ''Warning: This Album Could be Hazardous to Your Ego!'' (1979)

Singles

* " 1900 Yesterday" (1970) from ''Liz Damon's Orient Express'' * "But For Love" (1971) from ''Liz Damon's Orient Express'' * "Loneliness Remembers" (1971) from ''Liz Damon's Orient Express II'' * "All in All" (1971) from ''Liz Damon's Orient Express II''

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Hawaii American soft rock music groups Ballad music groups White Whale Records artists