Dear Friends,
The first list of links will show those songs, on which, I played keyboards and went to the top of the Pop Charts …. I will mention the year with each one.
“Jenny Take a Ride” (Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels) 1965
This recording was my first experience playing keyboards with “The Wheels”. They were originally a guitar band, only. Bob Crewe wanted to recreate this group into a classic rock group so he asked me to add a keyboard, organ and honky tonk piano, changing this group’s sound, entirely. Little Richard’s sounds made a unique connection, along with the fabulous rhythm section which was the original nucleus of the band. This “Jenny Jenny” recording created a combination, unlike any other rock record, at that time. “Different and GOOD” are two of the “keys” to achieving a hit record status, both, in those days and today!
“Devil In The Blue Dress” (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) 1966
Believe it or not, James Brown, himself, poked his head into the engineer’s booth at Bell Sound when we were listening back to to the final mix. He asked to hear it …. “Tory”, the engineer played it … Brown was so excited he asked to hear it a second time. I couldn’t believe that Mr. Soul, himself was right there not five feet away from ME!!! He invited us all to Studio “A” where Brown had finished the rhythm section and horns….but without any vocals … what we heard was “I FEEL GOOD”!!! WHOA >>> Later, of course, the final record was released and to this day, I don’t really know which of these two recordings were more popular. Both were classic hits, on all three, R & B, Rock and Pop Charts-wise. BTW it was I who recommended “Good Golly Miss Molly” as a addition to the original song, Devil, alone!
“Sock it to me Baby” (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) 1966
I was a keyboard player on the original recording. It was recorded at Bell Sound Studio A with Tory the engineer and Bob Crewe at the helm. This song was written by a friend and ex partner, Larry Brown AKA L. Russell Brown. Larry wrote this song with Bob Crewe in a total of 20 minutes FLAT! This goes to show that you don’t need to spend a lot of time when you work with a Genius like Bob Crewe and a monster group like Mitch Ryder and the Wheels!
“See You in September” (Sung by the Happenings) 196
I played keyboards on this song! It hit top ten shortly after it was released! Produced by the Tokens, Bob Miranda, the lead singer, was in great voice. I played on a total of three hits, “See You in September”, “I’ve Got Rhythm” and “Go Away Little Girl”. I didn’t read music and when the Tokens found out, I was fired by Phil Margo! A piano player himself, Phil and the Happenings never had another big hit, after I was gone! BTW one of the producers, “Jay Siegel” was the outstanding falsetto voice who sang lead on, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight!”
These are some of my favorite songs which we wrote. The artist’s name and year are listed below.
“Alexander’s Soul Time Band” (Adam Wade, Artist) 1977
This was just one of the songs which, I feel, is one of the best songs which I co-wrote with Gene Allan. The song tells of a poor shoeshine boy who danced his way into stardom but, in the end, he finds he’s saved by the Lord! My late partner believed that when we pass on, we get back everything we didn’t have in real life!
“It’s the Same Old Love” (Billy Hill, Billy Proctor, “The Courtship”) 1977
Billy Hill, although many put him in a “sound-alike category”, is a super-talented recording artist. He proved that when Tom Bell took notice and created a “Stylistics” type of arrangement for this song. This piece of magic was one of my favorite recordings in my long career as a songwriter and singer.
“Love Aint Love”, (Til’ You Give it to Somebody) ..Billy Hill, Billy Proctor, “The Courtship” 1977
This song was recorded at Sigma Sound with the famous, “M.F.S.B” musicians. “Glades” owned by Henry Stone was the same label where “KC and the Sunshine band” had such great success. Billy, once again, excels with his “multi-tracking” talents and “Bags” from Plainfield, N. J. doing background vocals.
“I’m Runnin’ Away” (Gary Temkin ABC Paramount) 1960
This was my very first recording session as an artist. I was 17 years old, and scared out of my wits. With Connie Francis in the engineer’s booth, producing this recording and 17 professional musicians out there in the studio. I think the final take, was the 2nd or 3rd one! Imagine having to do it again, if I had blown it! Many of the musicians were doing four or five sessions a day and reading the charts COLD without seeing them before. I never wanted to learn to read, but I was happy that way, anyway. I will never forget this experience … EVER!
“Treat Me Like A Lady” (Leslie Gore) 1967
This was another learning experience for me. Taught by the GENIUS, Bob Crewe, one of the greatest lyricists, with whom I ever wrote. Check out the number of triple rhymes which are created throughout this song. Only Kahn and Van Heusen were the only other famous songwriters who created a large number of triple rhymes, throughout their careers. “Rubber Tree PLANT CAN’T Move a Rubber Tree PLANT!”
“Love Goes on Forever” (Leslie Gore) 1967
Leslie Gore was the most prepared artist I ever worked with. She never sang a bad note. The reason for her success was the hard work she put into her rehearsals, PRIOR to her recordings. She was a hard worker with so much talent, she went on to write a successful Broadway show with her brother. Leslie Gore was from New Jersey as was I along with many other artists and musicians. I salute the late Leslie Gore who even drew the attention of one of the finest record producers of all time, Quincy Jones! Most folks don’t know that it was Quincy Jones who picked her first big monster hit, “It’s My Party” which was penned by the late Wally Gold (Also from New Jersey!)
“I’m Goin’ Out the Same Way I Came In” (Leslie Gore) 196
This song was originally written for the Four Seasons. I thought that writing this song along with the Seasons’ producer, Bob Crewe, I had a shot. Well, he produced this recording and it was one of the songs in her “California Nights” album. I will never be upset when a name artist performs my song in an album. This song was covered by at least four or five other artists whose records were released throughout the world. Thanks Leslie GOD BLESS!
“Takin’ All I Can Get” (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) 1965
Written with Bob Crewe, Mitch Ryder was a “vocal wailer”. He had the perfect voice for those songs picked by Bob Crewe, his producer. I was asked to play keyboards on all of his Detroit Wheels recordings. Bob really tried to put “Little Richard” into these Ryder recordings and with myself and, later, Mike Bloomfield, Bob achieved his goal. This band of the Wheels with Jimmy McCarty was the finest set of rhythm kids I ever played with. They kept perfect timing! Most of the time, with “live” performing bands, we had to replace the rhythm section. I will never forget Crewe’s selection of songs and his concepts for Mitch and this band. Even James Brown, himself came into the booth and offered Mitch and his band congratulations!
“Breakout” (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) 1965
Bob had asked me what instruments I play. I mentioned, “anything with a keyboard, guitar and once I played trumpet in the high school marching band”. He said, “Why not play trumpet on the song you just wrote with Bernstein?” The song was titled, “Breakout”!. I replied, “I haven’t played trumpet in YEARS, Bob”. He said, “Don’t worry, we can make it work!” I thought to myself, “This is going to be a real disaster … I can’t play trumpet anymore .. it has been more than ten years ago that I played trumpet”. Well, I got to the studio and did my very best and it was really weak and unexciting. Bob called a professional trumpet player, Mike Shayne. He asked him to come into the studio and Mike overdubbed his trumpet over mine and NOBODY WAS ANY THE WISER!! To this day, I thank Mike for making my trumpet sound quite good! “Thanks Mike and Thanks Bob!” I can now say “it was I … (with Mike) who played trumpet on a top forty record!”
This sums it up. I hope we can use these recordings to show the “inside story” on many of these recordings. I was very fortunate to have worked with these artists, producers, bands and arrangers, but Bob Crewe was a true genius and the above proves my point.