Wednesday 15 December 2021

Ritchie Adams born 15 December 1938


Richard Adam Ziegler (December 15, 1938 – March 6, 2017), known professionally as Ritchie Adams, was an American singer and songwriter. 

Born in New York City, by 1959 he joined The Fireflies, and sang lead vocals on their hit record "You Were Mine", as well as on their follow-ups including "I Can't Say Goodbye". After the Fireflies, Adams cut solo singles on Beltone, Congress, Imperial, and other labels. He also wrote many of them, something he didn't do with the Fireflies, but never charted with any significant impact. He made up for it, however, with his songwriting. Adams has written nearly 375 songs and scored two mammoth hits, "Tossin' and Turnin'," a hit in the US in 1961 for Bobby Lewis; and "Happy Summer Days", recorded by Ronnie Dove in 1966. 


                             

In the late 1960s he co-wrote songs with Mark Barkan, including several on The Archies' debut album, and  also sang lead on "Love Is Living in You," the only Archies single that doesn't feature Ron Dante. He and Barkan are also credited with writing "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)", a hit for the Banana Splits in 1969 and later in the UK by The Dickies. Adams was a music director on the Banana Splits TV show, and also contributed to songs including "Goin' Back" from the band Toomorrow's soundtrack to the 1970 film of the same name, starring Olivia Newton-John. Later some of his tracks were used in episodes of The Simpsons. 

In 1976, Adams joined such veterans as Bobby Rydell as part of the P.I.P. label roster, releasing the wonderful self penned Mamacita single for the label that year. Also in the 1970s, he co-wrote songs with Alan Bernstein for Engelbert Humperdinck, including "After the Lovin'" (1976) and "This Moment in Time" (1978), as well as Al Martino's "The Next Hundred Years" (1977). 

After leaving the music business Ritchie went to work for a local Board of Education on Long Island as a computer purchaser. Adams died in 2017, aged 78, after a long illness. 

(Scarce information mainly edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

3 comments:

  1. For “Everlasting - The Ritchie Adams Songbook 1961-1968 (2016 Rare Rockin’ Records)” go here:

    https://mega.nz/file/pgkWgZKQ#gSNXjAt1rMZHqwu4oVzqgVwdrOvZGYy_aFAp4rz7cVY

    1. THE KING - RITCHIE ADAMS
    2. JUST FOR TONIGHT - THE CHIFFONS
    3. TOSSIN’ AND TURNIN’ - BOBBY LEWIS
    4. I WANNA BE YOUR GIRL - DALE BROOKS
    5. LET ME TRY - BARRY GORDON
    6. AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE - CHAD MUNRO
    7. SECRET WORLD (OF TEARS) - THE VISIONS
    8. YOU AND NOTHING MORE - RITA DA COSTA
    9. HIS GIRL - VINNIE MONTE
    10. TAKE MY NAME AND NUMBER - RICK RANDELL
    11. WAKE UP - THE ELEGANTES
    12. BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT - VI VELASCO
    13. ARE YOU CHANGING - RITCHIE ADAMS
    14. DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON ME - BOBBI MARTIN
    15. WHY ME - ANITA BRYANT
    16. CAMERA - JIMMY BEAUMONT
    17. IT’S MORE THAN I DESERVE - JOEY GEE
    18. SING ME A LOVE SONG - THE GLORIES
    19. FIGHT FOR YOUR GIRL – KING WILLIAMS
    20. GIVE ME BACK YOUR LOVE - THE MARCELS
    21. BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU - RITCHIE ADAMS
    22. SIX QUESTIONS - THE TURBANS
    23. MAKE IT ME - ZENA FOSTER
    24. EVERLASTING - THE FOUR-EVERS
    25. I DON’T WANNA GO ON - VI VELASCO
    26. HELLO LOVE - SPECIAL DELIVERY
    27. AM I EVER GONNA LEARN - RITA DA COSTA
    28. I’VE NEVER REALLY BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE - CHAD MUNRO
    29. LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS DO - DALE BROOKS
    30. GIVE HER BACK - BILLY CASHER
    31. MAGIC OF A DREAM - THE ROBINS
    32. SOMETHING INSIDE OF ME DIED - RITCHIE ADAMS

    Here’s a generous 32 tracks, 6 tracks sung by Ritchie himself, showing he not only wrote them, but was a fine vocalist In his own right, a wonderful insight into one of the great unheralded songwriters of the 60s. A big thank you to D&J @ Old Melodies Dream’s Mirror Blog for loan of above CD plus active link.

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