Eddie Cletro born October 28, 1918

Eddie Cletro (October 28, 1918 - February 2, 2012) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio personality best known for his work in Western and country music.

He was born Eddie Oliver Clethero in New Jersey in 1918. Later, advertising made much of Cletro's Irish heritage and the family name was originally O'Clethero. When he was nine years old, Eddie took a liking to music and began to playing the ukulele. By the time he was 14, he learned the guitar and was leading his first band. He started performing when he was just a young teenager, finding a fun way to make an extra buck. His family moved to California, where, inspired by the Beverly Hillbillies and other local followers of country and western music, he led his own string band as a teenager.

The early 1940s found him working with Stuart Hamblen and the Lucky Stars over radio station KFWB in Los Angeles, California which ran an hour and 15 minutes each day. In the evenings, Eddie would perform at the Tom Brenneman restaurant. Eddie noticed that the patrons didn't seem to react much to the bands popular renditions of the day. But whenever the band slipped in a western tune or two, their audiences would get a bit more enthusiastic. This gave Eddie the impetus to make a switch to being a western music performer - exclusively. As so often was the case back then, the stars or their managers thought that they would be liked more if they were truly from a western town instead of their bona fide roots. Eddie decided that being from Colgate, Oklahoma and changing his name to Eddie Cletro would sound better to the audiences. He also dropped the clarinets and trombones that were in his band and added fiddles and accordion to give him a western sound.

                                   

By 1946 Eddie was working six nights a week at the Palomino Nightclub in West Hollywood. Spade Cooley would come in and sit in to listen to the bands playing there at the time, then leave. Spade decided he had liked what he heard at hired Eddie to play for his band at the Santa Monica Ballroom each weekend. He was with Spade for about a year, then he and his band moved to begin working with Foreman Phillips in 1947 in Baldwin Park, California, and later at the Town Hall in Compton, California.

Around 1949 or so, Eddie prodded Foreman Phillips into trying television and also got KABC-TV interested, too. When they did get the show on the air, it was pretty informal and spontaneous for the most part - no scripts. The band showed up, did their songs and bits but the fans enjoyed it all the same. All told, he was with Foreman Phillips about four and a half years. The show was called "Foreman Phillips Presents" and starred Foreman Phillips and featured Eddie Cletro and his Western Variety Band. The show aired from Stage 2 at the ABC Television Center in Hollywood.

Eddie & His Round-Up Boys appeared in the movie "The Trail of the Rustlers" that starred Charles Starrett, known then as the Durango Kid and Smiley Burnette and released by Columbia Pictures in 1950. They made their first recordings for the Lariat label in the early 1950s. This formation included outstanding musicians such as steel guitarists Tommy Sargent and Ernie Ball and lead guitarist Cameron Hill. They later recorded for Imperial, Decca, Columbia, Viper and Sage N Sand. The group also accompanied musicians such as Rose Maddox and Eddie Dean on memorable recordings in the mid-fifties. Although he had no hit records, several of his recordings have long been highly sought after among collectors, particularly the great, rocking double-sider from 1952, First Class, Second Hand Woman  b/w Flying Saucer Boogie. In addition, they were considered stars of local television for a few years, first with Foreman Phillips on KABC and then with Doyle O'Dell on KTLA's popular show 'Western Varieties'. The show ran for 6 years. Eddie also worked with other prominent regional figures, including Cliffie Stone and Hank Penny.

During 1955, when his daughter, Diane, was about nine years old, Eddie recorded a holiday record with her, "Santa Claus, Jr." for Sage & Sand Records. Diane recalled that it was quite an experience for a little girl. They recorded the tune at Eddie Dean's home studio. They worked until nearly 2:00am to finish the final recording of the tune. After its release it led to lots of personal appearances, autograph signing sessions, as well as an appearance  on the Western Varieties television show. 

Eddie and his band, his Roundup Boys, were regulars at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills. Through the years he played many events, with big names of the day. By the end of the decade the Roundup Boys were slowly phased out. By 1960 Eddie was leading a strolling trio with two violinists, still performing at the Beverly Wiltshire Hotel, where he remained until 1965. Afterwards he moved into sales but continued to gig on a more casual basis. Eventually he eased into retirement. 

He married his high school sweetheart, Wynne, and they enjoyed 54 happy years before she died in 1992. At the age of 80 he married his good friend Susan, and they enjoyed 5 happy years of golf course living in Palm Desert before she passed away. He moved to Sonoma in 2004, and lived with his daughter and son in law for 8 happy years. For a time he was a member of the Vintage house singers. He continued to sing and play his beloved 54 Gibson into his 90's. 

Eddie passed away peacefully February 2, 2012 at Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. He was 93 years old. 

(Edited from Hillbilly Music, Find-a-Grave & Bear Family liner notes)

Ruby Wright born October 27, 1939

Ruby Wright (October 27, 1939 – September 27, 2009) was an American country music singer-songwriter. Wright was the daughter of country singers Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright. She sang with her parents as a young girl and at age 13, was signed by RCA Records as Ruby Wells because there was also a Ruby Wright who was a pop singer.

In the mid-1950s, she became part of an all-girl trio, 'Nita, Rita and Ruby. The Nita of the trio was Anita Carter of the well-known Carter Family. In the mid-50s, she was a member of a close-harmony female singing trio, Nita, Rita and Ruby (Nita was Anita Carter and Rita was Rita Robbins, the sister of Marty Robbins’ guitarist and yodeller, Don Winters). 

Working with Atkins, they leaned heavily towards a pop presentation but were backed by country studio musicians, and they had minor success with numbers such as ‘Rock Love’ and ‘Hi De Ank Tum’. They were basically only a recording act, since family touring made live appearances difficult for Nita and Ruby. Rita never conquered her stage fright; the trio broke up and she retired. Ruby also made some recordings (1954-1956) as Ruby Wells with her father and uncle as Johnnie and Jack and Ruby.

                                   

Ruby began to sing with her sister, Carol Sue Wright, as the Wright Sisters, recording one single in 1961 (again with Atkins) for Cadence Records, who saw them as a female version of the label’s popular Everly Brothers. In 1964, as Ruby Wright, she had a Top 15 solo US country and minor pop hit with ‘Dern Ya’, a female answer song to Roger Miller’s ‘Dang Me’. It later served as the title track for her 1966 solo studio album released by Kapp Records. 

The Wright Sisters

In the late 60s, she made the country chart with her Epic label recordings of ‘A New Place To Hang Your Hat’ and ‘(I Can Find) A Better Deal Than That’.

During the 1970s, she recorded for several small labels including Plantation and Scorpion and had some success with ‘Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday’. She continued to appear on the 'Kitty Wells/Johnny Wright Family Show' television series, which ran from 1969 through the early '70s. In the 1980s, along with her sister Carol Sue, took to running the family Museum and Tourist attraction in Nashville.

Ruby Wright was married twice in her life: First Marriage was to Larry Vernon Stephenson in 1956. Second Marriage was to Leo Franklin Taylor on December 29, 1966, and went by the married name Ruby Wright Taylor later in life.

Ruby was last seen publicly at her mother's 90th birthday party at Nashville's Texas Troubadour Theater a few weeks later she died of heart-related illness in her Madison, Tennessee apartment on September 27, 2009, at age 69. Her father, Johnnie, died two years later to the day.

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic) 

Detroit Junior born October 26, 1931

Emery Williams Jr. (October 26, 1931 – August 9, 2005), known as Detroit Junior, was an American blues pianist, vocalist and songwriter. He is known for songs such as "So Unhappy", "Call My Job", "If I Hadn't Been High", "Ella" and "Money Tree". His songs have been covered by Koko Taylor, Albert King and other blues artists.

Born in Haynes, Arkansas Emery Williams, Jr., spent his childhood in southern Illinois. He then moved to Flint where he worked three years in automobile plants. He was already an experienced entertainer and piano player when came to Chicago in 1956 and had been leading his own band, the Blues Chaps, since he was 19, playing clubs in Pontiac and Flint. For three years they had been the house band at The Circle Club in Detroit, backing touring stars like Roscoe Gordon, Eddie Boyd, John Lee Hooker and Amos Milburn. Milburn was Junior’s idol, and his humorous blues about the evils of alcohol inspired some of Junior’s best songwriting.

                                   

It was Eddie Boyd who first brought Junior to Chicago, hoping to line up a contract for him with Chess Records. The Chess deal didn’t work out at first, but Junior fell in with J.T Brown, the city’s leading blues sax man. They landed a gig at Club 99, then at the legendary Squeeze Club. Junior quickly won a following with his percussive piano and energetic stage show. He paired up with harp man Little Mack Simmons, and they settled into a steady gig as house band at Cadillac Baby’s South Side club. Cadillac ran his own label, Bea & Baby, and soon had the piano man in the studio to cut his first 45, “Money Tree.” That record marked the first appearance of “Detroit Junior;” before that time he had been known as Little Junior Williams, but Cadillac dubbed him with a new nickname on the record label, and when the record became a local hit, the nickname stuck.

Chess Records, sensing they had missed something, signed Junior, but subsequent singles didn’t sell, and he cut for Foxy, CL and Palos before waxing his next hit, the original “Call My Job,” on U.S.A., in 1965. The flipside, “The Way I Feel,” a spontaneous and sensitive piano solo, proved that Junior had talent for deep blues as well as novelty tunes. During the ‘60s, Junior gigged with Mack Simmons, Eddie Taylor, Sam Lay and Johnny Twist. From 1968 on, he toured and recorded with the late Howlin’ Wolf, playing everywhere from college auditoriums to Big Duke’s Flamingo club (a converted funeral parlour that never quite lost its original ambiance). When the Wolf died, Junior stuck with the band, The Wolf Gang, under the leadership of sax man Eddie Shaw, for a number of years.

Everyone on the Chicago blues scene knew Detroit Junior. He was the irrepressible little guy standing behind a battered piano, shouting out blues tunes in his scratchy, too-many-cigarettes-and-too-much-whiskey voice. And when the music got good to him, he might drop to his knees and crawl under the piano, playing his solo with only his hands visible. His piano, voice and antics were featured in a dozen bands, especially those of Howlin’ Wolf and Eddie Shaw, beginning in 1980 he established his own recording career. Junior cut four songs for Alligator Records' Living Chicago Blues series, including his opus "If I Hadn't Been High."  He began touring Europe quite often, staging on the main blues festivals and recordings several good albums. Turn Up the Heat appeared in 1995 on Blue Suit Records, followed by two more albums for the label, Take Out the Time (1997) and Live at the Toledo Museum of Art (2004). Another Detroit Junior album was also released in 2004, Blues on the Internet on Delmark Records.

As the blues scene expanded onto Chicago's North Side, Junior appeared at clubs like Kingston Mines and B.L.U.E.S. He remained an energetic live performer into his seventies, known for standing up from the bench to shout punchlines and engage the crowd, even as health problems mounted. Although he slowed down a little after he lost a leg to diabetes (which no one who saw him on stage ever knew), when he was up there pounding the piano and half-singing, half-talking his original songs, he pumped out the energy of a man half his age. And he kept writing those terrific, hilarious songs right up until his death from kidney failure on August 9, 2005, leaving a legacy as one of the city’s most colourful and enduring blues pianists, a bridge between the golden age of Chicago blues and the modern scene.

(Edited from Alligator Records, AllMusic & Earwig Records)  

Little Hatch born October 25, 1921

Little Hatch (October 25, 1921 – January 14, 2003) was an American electric blues singer, musician, and harmonica player.

Hatch was born Provine Hatch Jr., in Sledge, Mississippi, United States. He learned to play the harmonica from his father. Hearing blues and gospel music, Hatch knew he wanted to make music for a living. When he was 14 years old, his family moved to Helena, Arkansas, and the blues scene there caught his attention.

Hatch joined the Navy in 1943. After his tour of duty, he relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1946. He worked for a cartage company for two years and then founded his own cartage business and married. In the early 1950s, Hatch began jamming in blues clubs in Kansas City. He closed his business in 1954 and took a job with Hallmark Cards. In 1955, he formed and fronted his own band, playing on the weekends and a few nights a week. This group continued to perform for more than 20 years. By the late 1950s, Hatch's harmonica style became influenced by Chicago blues players such as Little Walter, Snooky Pryor and Junior Wells.

                       Here's "Rock Me Baby" from above album

                          

A performance by Hatch was recorded by German exchange students in 1971, and these recordings were released on the album The Little Hatchet Band, but its distribution was limited to Germany and Belgium. Hatch retired from Hallmark in 1986. His band, Little Hatch and the House Rockers, was hired as the house band of the Grand Emporium Saloon in Kansas City. A cassette tape of his blues performances at the Grand Emporium was released in 1988. Little Hatch and the House Rockers performed a Friday evening matinee from 6-8pm starting in 1987, with bass player Joe Wittfeld, drummer Dennis Spears, and guitarist Kirk Brown.

Various members of the band circulated with personnel changes including Memphis Mike McDaniel on guitar, Woody Davis on drums, Bill Dye on guitar, and Jaisson Taylor on drums. The album Well, All Right! was recorded on May 31, 1992, at the Grand Emporium venue in Kansas City, Missouri. The personnel on that recording was: Little Hatch, Bill Dye, guitar, Joe Wittfeld, bass, and Jaisson Taylor on drums. The subsequent release was in 1993, and the band played in Belgium at the Handazame Blues Festival in 1994. The Little Hatch and the House Rockers band played the Kansas City, Missouri Spirit Festival that same year. Hatch's band played at the first KC Spirit Festival, in 1986, with the lineup of Kirk Brown, guitar, Dennis Spears, drums, and Joe Wittfeld, bass. The band played virtually every KC Spirit Festival from 1986, until Hatch died.

The band also played the Kansas City Kansas Street Festival where, Little Hatch was awarded the title of a "King" during the festival. Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver established a "Little Hatch Day", during his tenure as Kansas City, Missouri's Mayor. Little Hatch's band also played the Garden City, Kansas Blues Festival, with "Memphis Mike" McDaniel, guitar, Howard Bradley, drums and Joe Wittfeld, bass. Except for a couple years between 1988 and 1990, Hatch's sole regular bass player was Joe Wittfeld. A few personnel who filled in for him, were Adam Page, Bryan Hicks, and Paul Hartfield (who was Hatch's bassman from 1988 to 1990, when the job was passed back to Wittfeld).

In 1993, the Modern Blues label released Well, All Right!, his first nationally distributed album. In 1997, Chad Kassem opened Blue Heaven Studios and founded the APO label. Kassem had befriended Hatch in the mid-1980s and asked him to be his first signed recording artist. The album Goin' Back was released in 2000, followed by Rock with Me Baby in 2003. From 1999 to 2001, Hatch occasionally toured other parts of the United States and twice toured Europe. He settled in Kansas City and performed locally, frequently playing at BB's Lawnside Bar-B-Q and other venues. 

In 2002, he was diagnosed with cancer.  Hatch died in El Dorado Springs, Missouri, in January 2003. Some of the pallbearers at Hatch's funeral were Joe Wittfeld, Bill Dye, and Jaisson Taylor.

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Sunshine Ruby born October 24, 1939

Sunshine Ruby (October 24, 1939* -January 26, 2022) was an American singer who in the early 1950s, became a child star in the Texas country music scene.

Sunshine Ruby was a native of Myrtle Springs, Texas, a town about 50 miles east of Dallas. Her real name was Ruby Bateman. A Cowboy Songs article on "The Younger Generation" in 1953 told readers she started school at the age of five and became a favourite performer at school plays and neighbourhood gatherings. She was invited by Bob and Joe Shelton when she was 11 years old to appear on their barn dance show at the Mayfair Club in Tyler, TX - The Texas Barn Dance. She was a hit with the audiences and stayed with the show for eleven weeks. Then she did a fifteen minute show with Joe Shelton on KTER in Terrell, TX. 

One weekend, she was in Dallas and by chance had the opportunity to perform at a Big D Jamboree show . Producer Al Turner didn't think much of the young girl's performance and let her sing one song. However, the audience was so enthusiastic that Sunshine Ruby couldn't leave the stage until after her third song. She was immediately brought on board as a regular member of the show. Her performances soon made her popular throughout Texas and  earned her the nickname "Sweetheart of the Big D Jamboree." Talent scouts from the major label RCA Victor saw Ruby at the Jamboree in 1953 and signed her to RCA.

                                  

When she was 13 years old, her first single, "Too Young To Tango" b/w " Hearts Weren't Meant To Be Broken ," was released later that same year and became a national hit. Her sessions for RCA took place in Nashville with studio musicians who, however, didn't take their work with the young 13-year-old seriously. Guitarist George Barnes, in particular, frequently veered into jazzy improvisational solos instead of using the standard country licks that would have suited Ruby's voice far better. This significantly degraded the quality of the songs, and her singles achieved only modest success. Even a few duets with teen idol Tommy Sands couldn't remedy the situation.

Along the way, Jim Boyd heard her sing at a personal appearance in Wills Point, TX and invited her to appear on his show during one of his personal appearances. She went over so well, that Jim took her with him to Dallas to appear on his radio show. Country Song Roundup published a list of the Top Ten Male and Female Country Artists of 1953 in its February 1954 issue and it included Sunshine Ruby. By this time she had  her own fan club. The president was Blanche Trinajstick of Pueblo, CO. 

Blanche would go on to later publish a monthly newsletter / magazine called "K Bar T Roundup." Blanche told readers in her Hoedown magazine Fan Club column that Ruby's fan club had pooled their resources and bought Ruby a "real purty western shirt, blue, with white embroidery and fringe trimming the yoke for her 14th birthday.

The three-day Red River Valley Exposition was held in October 1954. Total attendance was over 13,000 and on Wednesday over 7,000 showed up. But even more were expected on Thursday night when Charline Arthur was to be the headline act and would be backed up by other Big D Jamboree performers including Sunshine Ruby, Riley Crabtree, the Belew Twins, Joe Bill, Johnny Hicks and the Country Gentlemen Band. But the weather did not cooperate. News accounts indicate a chilly wind blew through the area that night but attendance at least matched the previous night. Over 1,200 people took in the Big D Jamboree concert short of the capacity crowd expected.

She was part of the entertainment package that came to the Mayfair Building in Tyler, TX in September 1955. Al Turner, then of KTBB in Tyler and former owner of the Big D Jamboree was the emcee for a show that included stars of the Louisiana Hayride and Big D Jamboree would be on hand. The star studded line-up included Jimmy and Johnny, Billy Walker, Janet Hicks, Hoot and Curley from the KWKH Hayride show. It also included Bob Shelton, Jo Bill, Cornbread, Sunshine Ruby, La Faun Paul and the Texas Sweethearts, Treon and Dwight from the Big D Jamboree. She also sang on the Eddie Arnold Show, Jerry Lewis Telethon, Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, NY, and many other places throughout her brief music career. As a teenager, her father was strictly protective and discouraged her from pursuing Hollywood or moving away to tour full-time.

Sunshine Ruby retired from the music business and married the love of her life Glenn Clower in 1956 and together they raised their 4 children and owned & operated Glenn's Automotive in Grand Saline, Texas where Glenn died in 2009 and where Sunshine Ruby sadly lost her fight with Alzheimer's on  January 26, 2022.

(Edited from Wikipedia & Ancestry)(*some sources wrongly give birthdate as the 19th October)

Archie Fisher born 23 October 1939

Archie Fisher MBE (23 October 1939 – 1 November 2025) was a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. Although he was a legendary figure in the Scottish folk music world he remained largely unknown to the greater pop music mainstream. Her hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio Scotland for almost three decades.

Archie Macdonald Fisher was born in Glasgow, into a large family of semi-professional musicians and learned to play the guitar at a young age. After Hyndland senior secondary school, Archie joined the merchant navy. On a New Jersey jukebox he heard the Glaswegian Lonnie Donegan’s skiffle version of Rock Island Line and bought a guitar on his return home. Hearing the 1957 album The Weavers at Carnegie Hall and seeing Pete Seeger and then Josh White in concert in his late teens steered the direction of Archie’s music, making him more politically aware, and conscious of the Scottish song tradition. He sang at the newly opened Glasgow Folksong Club alongside an informal group of singers known as the Broomhill Bums.

Ray & Archie 1960

Archie dropped out of agricultural college and, in 1960, moved to Edinburgh, where he joined the regular performers including Hamish Imlach, Bert Jansch and Billy Connolly at the celebrated folk club the Howff, which became a hive of activity during the Edinburgh fringe. With the encouragement of the future Labour MP Norman Buchan, Archie and Ray recorded an EP, Far Over the Forth, for Topic in 1961, and they sang both solo and together on the albums Edinburgh Folk Festival volumes 1 and 2, for Decca, recorded during the fringe. Following the lead of the BBC TV programme Tonight, which featured the folk singers Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor, Scottish Television introduced Here and Now, with songs from Archie and Ray, and they also appeared on the BBC’s Hoot’nanny Show (1963-64).

                     Here's "Whatever Happened To Me?" from above LP

                              

In the tradition of the Coppers and the Watersons, Archie and Ray joined with their parents and sister Cilla and her husband Artie Tresize to form the Fisher Family. Playing both traditional material and Archie's own compositions, the Fisher Family were fixtures on the British folk circuit through the mid-'60s and released the album The Fisher Family: Traditional & New Songs from Scotland in 1965. 

The family group split up in 1966 when Ray married and moved to London and Archie began his solo career. Fisher's first album, Archie Fisher, was released in 1968. Around that time, Fisher also began his decades-long association with the BBC; Fisher wrote original songs for BBC documentaries on subjects like rural island communities in the Hebrides, and also appeared on radio and television music programs with regularity.

At an early-stage Fisher recognised the power of Barbara Dickson's singing and in 1969 invited her to guest on his albums. His live act included 'All Around My Hat', later to become a hit for Steeleye Span. His song "Witch of the Westmorland" was recorded by Dickson in 1971 on her album From the Beggar's Mantle, by Fisher himself on The Man With a Rhyme in 1976, by Stan Rogers in 1979 and by Golden Bough in 1983. Eventually, Fisher began working regularly with the BBC as a producer of radio documentaries and features. In 1983, Fisher inherited the series Traveling Folk, which he produced and hosted, from the previous presenter Robin Hall until April 2010, when he handed over presenting duties to fiddler Bruce MacGregor.

He appeared as the lead guitarist on Tom Paxton's 1986 album, The Very Best of Tom Paxton, and performed with Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy on television, recordings and concert tours. He also produced the Irish duo's first four albums. Fisher's recorded output, for someone with such a long and prolific career, was surprisingly sparse, consisting of a handful of solo albums and a live duo album with Canadian fiddler Garnet Rogers. His style of singing was very gentle, and he generally avoided all electronic instruments, an exception is the recording of 'The last time I saw Esau Shaw' from the album 'Orfeo'. "Dark-Eyed Molly" has been recorded by Fairport Convention (who also recorded "The Wounded Whale"), Eva Cassidy, Stan Rogers and Sheena Wellington. "Lindsay" has been recorded by John Renbourn and has been a highlight at his live shows for years, while "Mountain Rain" has been recorded by Wizz Jones (along with Renbourn on guitar).

Fisher was much more active both as a live performer at festivals and concerts around the world (he directed the much-respected Edinburgh Folk Festival from 1988 to 1992) and as a producer for other artists, including several albums by the duo of Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy and the phenomenal group Silly Wizard. After Barbara Dickson achieved fame as an easy listening singer, it was many years before she sang folk songs again. When she did, Fisher was invited back to join her.

For many years, Archie lived in the Scottish Borders, where he kept horses and was a keen rider; he also pursued his deep interest in horse riding in Canada. Many of his songs reflected his love of the landscape and riding and their imagery, including Ride Through the Rainbow, The Black Horse and Ontario Dust. Recognized for his contributions to Scottish folk music, Archie was inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame. He was also appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours, for services to Traditional Scottish Music. Archie’s 2008 album, Windward Away, his first for 20 years, included long-lost recordings from the 70s. His final album, The Best Times After All (2019), was with his long-time collaborator the Canadian Garnet Rogers.

Archie Fisher died on November 1, 2025 at the age of 86.

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)

Bruce Belland born October 22nd, 1936

Bruce Belland (born October 22nd, 1936) is best known for being the lead singer and co-founder of the Four Preps who accumulated record sales in excess of 100 million, including 29 hit singles, 15 gold albums, and 13 Grammies.

Bruce Gerald Belland was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 22nd, 1936, the second son of Rev. Stanley G. Belland, a Fundamentalist minister and his wife Hertha, a Gospel radio singer. He sang his first solo in church at age four. It was greeted with enthusiastic “Amens” from the congregation and his proud parent’s praise. And with that, his dream was born. He wanted to be a singer. His dream drew closer when his father became minister of the West Hollywood Community Church just off the Sunset Strip and immediately adjacent to up-scale Beverly Hills. During his adolescent years, he developed his vocal skills singing at the countless funerals conducted by his father. As a starstruck 15-year-old, he delivered newspapers “across the tracks” in Beverly Hills and had one-on-one encounters with Oscar-winning stars and the A-list of old Hollywood’s entertainment community. He attended Emerson Junior High in West L.A. with a student body drawn from affluent Bel Air and Brentwood.

While he developed and refined his harmonic instincts inspired by another group he idolized – The Four Freshmen—his father had him composing personalized songs for church events. In 1952, Bruce enrolled at Hollywood High. It was here in 1954 that Bruce convinced Glen Larson, a friend since grammar school, to co-found a vocal group for that year’s student talent show. Bruce, Glen and two pals from the school choir, stole the show with the Crew Cuts’ “Sh-Boom.” Convinced they were on to something special, Bruce and Glen enlisted two classmates—Bruce’s friend 6’4” bass and high school football star Ed Cobb, and high tenor and former boy soprano in the famed Mitchell Boys Choir, Marv Ingram—to permanently fill the other two slots. And The Four Preps were born.

Bruce Belland sang lead tenor, Glen Larson, baritone, Marvin Inabnett (later changed to Ingram), high tenor, and Ed Cobb, bass. Their friend, Lincoln Mayorga, was an unofficial fifth Prep. The four original members were signed to a recording contract by Capitol Records, after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a talent show at the Hollywood High school in 1956. They had a minor chart hit that year with "Dreamy Eyes". Between 1956 and 1964, the Preps reached the Billboard pop charts with 13 different songs. In 1957 they appeared with Lindsay Crosby, Bing Crosby's son, in the television special The Edsel Show. Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," which was written by Belland and Larson in 1957 and reached number two early the following year. The record sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc. Around this time, Ricky Nelson appeared with them at a Hamilton High School lunch hour assembly singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky".

                                   

Belland and Larson also wrote "Big Man", which reached number three in 1958. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, thus becoming the group's biggest hit there. The pair also composed new lyrics for the older tune "Down by the Station", which peaked at number 13 in 1960. Cobb wrote a handful of songs for the group, though not any of their chart hits; Cobb later became a noted writer and/or producer of hit material for other artists, especially The Standells' "Dirty Water", Brenda Holloway's "Every Little Bit Hurts" and Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love," later recorded by Soft Cell. Many Four Preps records were arranged by their high school friend and collaborative pianist Lincoln Mayorga who became known as the fifth Prep.

Don Clarke replaced Ingram in 1958 with the Album “The Things we did last summer,” and continued with them for over a year. In 1959, the group appeared as themselves in the film Gidget. Don was in a car accident on July 22, 1959 and was not able to continue with the Four Preps. Ingram finished college at UCLA, and rejoined the group in 1960. The group was known for its family-friendly comedic humour in live performances. In 1960, they recorded a parody single, "More Money for You and Me," which included single parody verses of several popular songs by The Fleetwoods, The Hollywood Argyles, The Platters, The Four Freshmen, The Kingston Trio and Dion and the Belmonts. In 1962, they released "The Big Draft", another novelty record in which they mockingly suggested that several American music groups be drafted into the military, parodying their songs to make the point.

The group last appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1964, when "A Letter to The Beatles" charted for a total of three weeks beginning March 21, peaking at number 85 before being pulled from sale. The arrival of The Beatles, along with the rest of the British Invasion, coincided with the decline of popularity of the Four Preps and most other folk revival groups. In 1966, David Somerville, formerly of The Diamonds, joined the group, replacing Cobb. In 1969, the group disbanded, as their type of music had become less popular. Belland and Somerville occasionally performed as a duo after the breakup.

Belland continued writing songs for other singers, as well as writing television show scripts, eventually becoming a network executive. He was also a producer on several game shows in the 1970s for Ralph Edwards Productions. Cobb became a record producer and sound engineer. Somerville went into television acting and providing voice-overs. Larson became a television producer/writer/director, creating Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider and variety television series.Clarke became a music teacher. In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of the Lettermen) eventually formed a new "Four Preps" group and went on to perform. Jim Yester, formerly of The Association, replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the "New Four Preps".

In March 1999, Ingram died of a heart attack and Cobb died of leukemia in Honolulu, Hawaii later the same year. Yester, Belland and Somerville then recorded and toured for a short time as “Triple Gold – The Three Tenors of Pop” and then moved on to pursue individual opportunities. In 2004 PBS asked Bruce to put together a one shot version of the Four Preps for “Magic Moments”, a PBS Special saluting the hit makers of the 1950s. Bruce, Glen Larson, Jim Yester and David Somerville performed on that show as The Four Preps and the program has become one of public television's biggest fund raisers. That appearance resulted in a groundswell of demand for a Preps’ tour and in 2007 the group were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Bruce, the last original member still performing, formed a new version of the group and averaged 35 concerts a year until 2020 when the global health crisis put a halt to their touring. Sadly Somerville died on July 14, 2015.

Beyond his music career, Bruce has worked as a screenwriter, television executive, and author, releasing his memoir Icons, Idols and Idiots of Hollywood in 2023. He also continues to publish regular updates and newsletters for fans. Bruce, his wife Simone Alexander, a prominent fashion designer now on the faculty of Fashion Institute of Design in Los Angeles live in Woodland Hills, California.

(Edited from Wikipedia & Bruce Beland.com web site)