Sha Na Na Facts

Look at the Hippies!

Q. When did Sha Na Na get started?
A. Sha Na Na began as an a capella group called the Kingsmen on the campus of Columbia University in New York back in 1969.

Most groups practice at least six hours a week, but as Overland points out, “That’s just the beginning.” Another member of the Kingsmen, Brian Hansbury ’03, explains, “Road trips take a huge chunk out of weekends. The thought of getting
any sort of work done is a lamentable pipe dream or a blessing,
depending on what kind of student you are.”

The Kingsmen were among many student groups that performed on Low Steps, despite the rain, during the evening campus celebration at the October inauguration of President Lee C. Bollinger.
PHOTO: EILEEN BARROSO
The group originally performed a variety of songs, but the music of the '50s proved to be so popular that the members decided to stick to the oldies and Sha Na Na was born.

Q. How many original members of Sha Na Na are still with the group?
A. You'll see a lot of familiar faces in Sha Na Na's current lineup, including Jocko Marcellino, Screamin' Scott Simon, and Donny York. They've been joined by several talented musicians including Reggie Battise, Buzz Campbell, Jim Waldbillig and Paulie Kimbarow.

Q. Sha Na Na Alumni - Where Are They Now??

A. As far as we know:

Lennie Baker retired at the beginning of "2000" and resides in his home state of Massachusetts on the Island of Martha's Vineyard with Tess, his Jack Russell Terrier.

Scott “Santini” Powell is now an orthopedic surgeon in the L.A. area.

Denny Greene studied law after leaving the group and has worked as a college professor around the country.

Johnny Contardo was working as a journalist in the L.A. area.

Rob Leonard is currently Professor of Linguistics and Swahili
(undoubtedly the only Swahili professor to have played at Woodstock!)
at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York.

Original bass singer Alan Cooper (singing At The Hop in the Woodstock film) went on to be a professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Jon “Bowzer” Bauman lives with his family in the L.A. area and still tours as a solo act singing and hosting shows.

“Dirty Dan” Mc Bride is staying busy in Hollywood as an actor, voice-over artist, singer and guitarist. He maintains an active website. Also beware of Danny of Sha Na Na imposters. Danny McBride was the ONLY Danny ever to be part of Sha Na Na.

Original lead guitarist, Chris Donald a.k.a. “Vinnie Taylor” and bassist David “Chico” Ryan have passed away (1974 and 1998 respectively). Their great talent and energy have been missed. Sadly there is Vinnie imposter out there tainting the memory of our friend. There was only ONE Vinnie Taylor and he rocked!

Three of the early Sha Na Na guitarists attained some notoriety. Henry Gross wrote, sang and had a hit: Shannon, Elliot “Ronzoni” Randell played lead on Steely Dan’s Are You Reeling In The Years and Elliot “Gino” Cahn went on to manage the rock group Green Day.

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Remembering Q

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Quincy Jones is thoroughly entwined in the musical background of my young adulthood. A genius of unique quality. I have been posting blogs and music throughout the years and decided to embark on the arduous but satisfying task of gathering some of it to remember the excellent legacy that he left.

Maze Feel That You're Feelin
Maze Somebody Elses Arms
Maze Southern Girl
Cant Get Over You
Maze Golden Time Of Day

The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me").

As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even

harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created.

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon).

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available.

Enjoy. "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)

"I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)

"Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)

"If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)

Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a

well-known penning Double Exposure's

"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay."

While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins.