| People! | |
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People! 1968 Back Row: (l to r) Robb Levin, Denny Fridkin, Al Ribisi, Geoff Levin; Front Row: Gene Mason and Larry Norman |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | San Jose, California |
| Years active | 1965–1971, 1974, 2006–2007 |
| Associated acts | Larry Norman Rocking Horse |
| Past members | |
| Geoff Levin Robb Levin Al Ribisi John Riolo David Anderson Pete Grant Larry Norman Gene Mason Denny Fridkin Tom Tucker Scott Eason John Tristao Steve Boatwright Garry Burris Gary Pomeroy Rob Thomas |
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People! was a one-hit wonder rock band that was formed in San Jose, California in 1965. They started out playing "Top 40" music like most artists but ended up releasing three albums of mostly original material. Their greatest chart success came with their summer hit single "I Love You", a song written by Chris White and recorded by The Zombies that never charted in the United States. The People! version of "I Love You", on the other hand, rose to number one in Japan (twice), Israel, Australia, Italy, South Africa, and the Philippines, and peaked at #14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in June 1968. They were also the first rock band to present a dramatic rock opera onstage with the creation of "The Epic".
Contents |
Foundation Members:
Later additions:
1974 version:
In 1965 Jeffrey Harris "Geoff" Levin (born 14 September 1945),[21] a student at San Jose State College, and a former member of bluegrass bands the Pine Valley Boys,[22] which had included David Nelson, and the Black Mountain Boys, which had included Jerry Garcia, later of the Grateful Dead;[23] his younger brother, Robert Keith "Robb" Levin (born 25 April 1949);[24] Albert Anthony "Al" Ribisi (born 5 July 1949),[25] the son of a San Jose surgeon, a senior at Bellarmine College Preparatory school, and a member of the Aardvarks, a local surf music band;[26] John Matthew Riolo (born 28 December 1949),[27] a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory school, and also a member of the Aardvarks;[26] and David Ladd "Dave" Anderson,[28] stage manager and announcer for The Off Stage, a folk music club,[29] and who also managed a folk club near La Honda, California,[26] formed the San Jose band People!. Their name, which was intended as an ironic contrast to bands with animal names, such as The Beatles, The Animals, The Turtles, and The Byrds, was suggested by Anderson, who also originated the artwork for their name logo.
Geoff Levin, who gave guitar lessons to local DJ Mike Hunter, asked Hunter if he would like to manage the group.
In 1966 People!'s manager Mikel Hunter Herrington (known professionally as both Mike Hunter and Captain Mikey) recommended Anderson be replaced as Anderson had incompatible music sensibilities and aspirations. Anderson left to form another band, Tree of Life. In 1966 Larry Norman (born 8 April 1947) opened a concert for People! at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove near Monterey, California that followed a speech by Buckminster Fuller, "The Father of Geodesics". According to a foundation member of People!, John Riolo:
It turned out that he was the hardest act the group ever had to follow. He was such a great entertainer and he looked wonderful, was animated, made the audience laugh, told clever stories, clowned around etc., and most of all sang very well. Larry and his beautiful singing could melt your tender heart one moment and burn down the barn the next. His comedy, acting pranks, and obvious show biz wizardry were irresistable to all present.[26]
Several days after seeing Norman's performance, Geoff Levin contacted Norman and invited him to join the band. According to John Riolo: "Geoff made Larry an offer to join the group several days after this chance meeting. Larry Norman wanted Gene Mason in the group also since they had grown up together dreaming of becoming singers like The Righteous Brothers and had also honed their skills in a popular local folk group.[26] Mason and Norman had considerable experience behind them with their own folk group The Back Country Seven. After hearing Mason sing with Norman, Geoff Levin approved Mason's inclusion. Norman became the band's principal songwriter, sharing lead vocals with Gene Mason (born 26 July 1947).[30] According to Riolo: "They were hired as dual lead singers which would allow PEOPLE! to cover almost any of the top hits. Gene and Larry could dance, sing, switch off vocal duties, and put on an amazing show."[26]
Riolo soon left because as a senior high school student he could not commit to full-time involvement,[31] and was replaced on drums by San Jose State College student Dennis Allen "Denny" Fridkin (born 16 December 1946 in Los Angeles),[32] who had been recruited by Norman.[10] In addition to his drumming, Fridkin sang, and also joined Norman and Geoff Levin as a songwriter. They encouraged the other band members to write and collaborate. Five of the six members were writing songs by the time of the first album, which contained a variety of styles, including straight ahead rock, hard rock, country rock, psychedelic rock, and classical rock.
After considerable rehearsal, Hunter used his radio prominence to freely promote all the band's engagements. After gigs at dances at churches, schools, teen clubs, roller rinks, recreation clubs, battle of the bands, private parties, and even a place called "The Wahtzit Club", People! attracted larger crowds, and the group began making appearances at major rock concerts and festivals on the West Coast. People! appeared with such artists as The Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Doors, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and San Jose bands Syndicate of Sound, and Count Five.[33] After Carl Engleman, head of A&R at Capitol Records, heard them play at the Whatsit Club, a youth club, People! was signed to Capitol Records in 1966.[34] As Norman was legally underage, he required parental permission and court approval to sign.[35] Norman recalled in 1974:
I was still in my teens so my parents had to go to court and assure the judge that they were in accord with the agreement about to be signed. Of course, they were fearful of the while(sic) enterprise. They were pretty sure that the road to rock led to ruin, but when they saw that I would have no other life, they decided to give me their legal permission, withhold their personal blessing, and hope that when this treacherous course had been run I would return to the fold in one piece.[36]
Each night People! performed the rock opera "L'Epoque de Dieu" ("The Epic"), a thirteen minute piece co-written by Norman and Fridkin in 1966, which used allegory to tell the story of the Incarnation and spiritual warfare. Possibly inspired by an essay by English writer G.K. Chesterton,[37] Norman explained the idea behind the rock opera:
"My musical concept of the song we were going to write is that it would span the musical styles from Gregorian group singing ... to post-modern jazz. ... The story would be an allegory. ... Alain [duc Langlois] is the Son of his Father the king. He comes down down out of his position and eminence. His future bride, Toria Kincade, (Toria meaning Victoria or Victory, Kin meaning related to others; Mankind, Cade meaning Lamb, Langlois is The Lion) He loves "mankind" but this world is plagued by the 'dragon', the evil one, Satan. To save the one he loves, his bride to be, and establish his kingdom he must do battle with the dragon. Though he is wounded during this battle, he destroys Satan. ('Alain killed the dragon.' Boom. The End. The end of the song. The end of the album. The first rock opera ever written."[38]
According to Norman, People! toured "27 cities with The Who, performing our rock opera "The Epic" every night with Pete Townshend standing in the wings watching, (which led to Pete writing "Tommy" and releasing it eighteen months later, he divulged to the band in a later encounter)."[39] According to Norman,
"Townshend was very interested in the song, especially the dramatics of the song. The Battle scene was acted out. ... Townshend said he wanted to write a rock opera and the next year The Who released "Tommy". A few months after its release Pete and Denny were travelling and Pete said 'Well, I did it. I wrote a rock opera,' and he told Denny he had been directly inspired by another band. In later years he would say he got the idea elsewhere, inspired by another band. Twenty years later he was saying it was three English bands. It's show biz, baby. You can't admit you nicked the idea off an obscure, one hit wonder".[38]
While some have disputed Norman's claims (especially since Townshend had already written and recorded his first "rock opera," "A Quick One [While He's Away]," by this point), there is some corroboration of the veracity of Norman's claim. Rock historian Walter Rasmussen claims Pete Townshend has acknowledged as the inspiration for The Who's Tommy, providing him with both the basic idea of "rock opera" and also an essential plot line (involving a misunderstood messianic leader)."[40] Further, according to David Di Sabatino: "There's shards of that that are might be true. One of the guys in People, bassist Robbie Levin - who didn't like Larry - says he operated a lodge, and Townsend came to stay once, and he asked him point blank, and Townsend corroborated that it was true."[41]
People!'s first three singles and first two albums were produced by their manager, Mikel Hunter "Captain Mikey" Harrington,[42] and recorded at the Sierra Sound Laboratories owned by Bob De Sousa in Berkley, California.[43] In 1967 Capitol released People!'s first single "Organ Grinder/Riding High", with both songs co-written by Norman and Mason.[44] "Organ Grinder" is "a song about a child molester in the Panhandle Park of Haight Ashbury".[45] While many considered "Riding High" to be about drugs, according to Norman it was a Christian song "about survival and redemption",[46] "about riding high above this world's cares through the power of the Holy Spirit".[47] However, this single failed to chart,[35] due to a lack of promotion by Capitol.[48] During 1967 People! appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.[49] Other songs written by Norman and Fridkin in 1967, but refused release by Capitol, were "Floor Talk", "The Ice Cream Man", and "The End of the Road" for an almost completed but unreleased People! album.[50] In 1968 Norman wrote "I am the Six O'Clock News", but Capitol refused to release it as a single, as Alan W. Livingston,[51] then "the head of Capitol was pro-Vietnam, like most middle-class Americans".[52]
While they were working on their debut album, Cathy Stashuk (born 19 November 1950 in San Francisco),[53] the president of their fan club, recommended that they record a cover version of the British band The Zombies' 1965 song "I Love You", written by Chris White. People! added "I Love You" to their live show to popular acclaim. On 2 February 1968 Capitol released their second single,[54] produced also by Mikel Hunter,[55] a cover version of The Zombies' non-chart song "I Love You", written by Chris White, backed by "Somebody Tell Me My Name", a song co-written by Geoff Levin and Fridkin, for the rock musical Vox Populi.[56] After extensive promotion by the band and its manager,[48] and industry advertising by Capitol,[57] including the creation of a promotional film that appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand on 27 April 1968,[58] "I Love You" quickly became a hit single, selling more than one million copies, and reaching a peak of #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 June 1968,[59] and reaching #13 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart on 29 June 1968,[60] and became a #1 single in several markets, including Italy, Israel, and Japan.[61][62] After the release of their single "I Love You", People! toured extensively, appearing three times on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, including an appearance on 15 June 1968,[63] and also on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.[64] According to the liner notes of the 2006 Best of People! Volume 1 album, People!'s version of "I Love You" could have topped the US national charts if not for industry rivalries:
"It was #1 in Japan. It was big everywhere. Israel, South Africa, England, Scandinavia, Argentina and America where it actually hit #1 in every "market" all over the country, but not in the same week. Bill Gavin and Bill Drake had two competitive companies who did exactly the same thing. For an expensive membership each would advise radio stations on what was bubbling up and was going to be a popular release to put into rotation on the radio playlist. But People! was produced by Mikel Hunter, an upstart who broke all the rules of AM Boss Jock Radio and could predict much more accurately what was going to be a hit. So any radio programmer could take a look at Hunter's playlist, several weeks ahead of the nation, and pick the hits for free. Gavin and Drake decided to bury Hunter and one way was to advise programmers NOT to play "I Love You." "It's not going to be a hit." was their steady message for the four months during which "I Love You" fought its way to the top of every chart. A sad story. But a funny one, because People! was able to do a concert in every city while their single was the hottest thing on the local charts. Most bands can only do concerts for a week as their song hits #1 and then is pushed off the charts by a Beatles song, or even a Monkees song. So People! followed the path that the song laid down and had the biggest and longest thrill ride any band can have. It was a freakish phenomenon and one that never happened again. The suppression and black-ball attempts of Gavin and Drake spun the band into the majors and the band toured with The Who and would have kept on going. But Larry [Norman] left the band on the day when Capitol followed up the little hit that could with a revamped version of the album for its premier release. Had the song been left on its own, unopposed, it would have sat atop the national charts at #1 for several weeks according to the overall tally in the end. Had Larry stayed in the group, who knows what might have happened".[45]
Despite the success of "I Love You", People!'s heavy touring schedule, a promotional film of the group performing the song which aired on American Bandstand,[65] and despite favorable reviews,[66] the subsequent album, which was named after their hit single, was released by Capitol on 13 July 1968,[67] but only reached #138 on the Billboard album charts on 10 August 1968.[68] In August 1968 Capitol released People!'s third single "Apple Cider (credited to People! and from the rock 1968 musical Alison), backed with "Ashes of Me" (written by Al Ribisi and from the 1966 rock musical Vox Populi), which was produced also by Captain Mikey,[69] but it failed to chart.
A series of disputes, both between the band members and between the band and their record label, resulted in Norman leaving People!.[70] By the time the 'I Love You' album was released and the band undertook its first major tour of the USA in the summer of 1968 Larry Norman had left People!. Subsequently People! appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.[36] The reasons for Norman's departure are still disputed more than forty years later. All of the band members (except lead singers Norman and Mason) embraced Scientology.[62] Norman claimed other members of the band zealously issued the ultimatum: "We all have to get into Scientology or you can't be in the band."[61][62] Norman and Mason both refused. People! drummer, Denny Fridkin, acknowledged conflicting claims in a 2007 interview:
"I'm sure you've got many interpretations and you have gotten or will get from the horse's mouth. As I perceived it at the time the whole band had gotten interested in Scientology, sort of culty thing. . . I was into that Ron L Hubbard (sic) stuff for a short time, a couple of years. Albert the keyboard player was the first one to get exposed to it and he came to rehearsal one day and was just all excited about it. But Larry was just not at all interested in it of course."[71]
Some band members indicate that Norman was asked to leave the band because he was seen as a "Suppressive Person".[72] Norman agreed to be audited by the Church of Scientology on one occasion.[73] Norman claimed that he was harassed by other members of Scientology, until the band's manager, KLIV radio personality and program director Captain Mikey (Mikel Hunter Herrington),[74] intervened. In a letter to his father, Norman wrote: "Captain Mikey and I talked yesterday (he phoned to say that the Scientology center in San Francisco has decided I'm not suppressive at all. That's a relief; no more midnight phone calls.)"[75] Some members of the band agree that while it was known that Larry had some sort of religious background, he did not make his faith known to the rest of the members.[76] Geoff Levin specifically cites that he was totally unaware that Larry was a Christian and at no time did his faith enter in to any of their discussions.[76] However, in response to a question about whether Norman's Christian faith caused tensions in People!, drummer Denny Fridkin answered in a 2007 interview:
"Not outwardly at first. But we were playing in Monterey, California with a makeshift stage and during the dragon killing, during the epic where he would use a microphone stand and mimic killing a dragon... The stage had separated from Larry and he fell and damaged his finger. In fact a piece of bone flew off his finger and blood was spurting out all over the place. He finished the song with his finger a bleeding mess. Shortly after that is when he announced that he was leaving the band. My understanding is God told him that he was to be doing something else. Larry said, 'I don't know what that is but I'm following the Lord.'"[71]
A second incident involved the release of People!'s first album. Larry Norman claimed that he expected to name the album after their cover of the Wayne Raney song "We Need A Lot More Jesus (and a Lot Less Rock and Roll)" and to feature Christian imagery on the album cover.[77] Larry also claimed that Capitol Records decided to name the album after the single "I Love You" instead, with a photograph of the band on the cover.[78] According to Norman, since he was facing censorship by his record label and a forced religious conversion by his bandmates, he quit the band on the day People!'s first album was released (July 13, 1968).[79] In 2007 Norman wrote:
"I quit the band that day. I let them think it was their idea to kick me out. But I was very upset that the album title had been changed and that Jesus had been irreverently been giving [sic] a pair of hippie sunglasses. And I didn't want to record songs and have my best work left off of the album....I didn't want my message to be censored."[80]
According to British writer Steve Turner, "Larry, always uncompromising, saw this as a victory for big business over artistic vision and for secular pop over spiritual rock. From then on, he ploughed an often lonely furrow as a solo artist who tried to combine the thrill of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones with the spiritual insight of writers such as CS Lewis and GK Chesterton."[81] Some other members of People! state that at no time was there ever any talk of the album being called anything other than "I Love You." Geoff Levin, who apologised to Norman in 1996 for his treatment of Norman in the final months of Norman's relationship with the band,[82] is quoted in the documentary Fallen Angel as stating that Norman's "take on things" was delusional. Norman biographer Allen Flemming attempts to reconcile the conflicting claims:
[A] band meeting was held in which Larry announced that he wanted to quit the band because of the influences of Scientology. The band's founders called him delusional and preempted Larry's resignation by firing him on the spot. The band then immersed themselves completely in Scientology and continued on without Larry, with diminishing success. Mikel Hunter, the band's manager, then quit as well, telling the band they had "just fired the talent."[72]
Norman's last concert with this incarnation of People! for almost forty years was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco on the night that the I Love You album was released (July 13, 1968).[83] After Norman's departure, the band's second album Both Sides of People (1969), which included unused songs from the I Love You sessions, featured Norman's vocals and three of his compositions out of the eight tracks, the songs "I've Got You On My Mind", "She's A Dancer", and "Hasty Heart",[84] which was written in 1967, and which Norman claimed was "probably the first country-rock song ever released".[85]
Norman and Mason reunited in 1974 for a benefit concert for Israel at UCLA, later released in 1980 as the live album Larry Norman and People!—The Israel Tapes—1974 A.D. Norman, Fridkin and Mason came together in August 2006 for a People! reunion concert in the G. Herbert Smith Auditorium on the Willamette University campus in Salem, Oregon.[35] This concert was later released on a CD titled "People! The Reunion Concert 2006", and on two DVDs, "Larry Norman Live At The Smith, The Solo Set" and "Live At The Smith, The Band Set". Soon after, Fridkin decided to move in with Norman to look after him due to Norman's declining health and Norman's son's impending marriage.[35] All of the original members of People! came together for a final mini concert on 19 October 2007, where they were later inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame.[61][62]
Despite Norman's departure, the band's second album Both Sides of People (1969), which included unused songs from the I Love You sessions, featured three Larry Norman compositions out of the eight tracks, the songs "I've Got You On My Mind," "Hasty Heart," and "She's A Dancer", and Norman's vocals.[84] People! made their second live performance on American Bandstand on 8 February 1969, performing "I Love You" and "Think", a cover of the James Brown hit single.[86]
Before the release of their third album, There are People and There are People (1970) (Paramount PAS-5013), Mason left the band, and was replaced by John Anthony Tristao (born 25 August 1949),[87] lead singer of Coffee, a San Jose band that had opened for People!,[88] who had been recruited by Geoff Levin. Tristao fronted People! for the first time at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, opening for Creedence Clearwater Revival.[88] Tristao would record eight singles and one album with People but they would never achieve another Top Ten hit.[88] After the departure of Geoff Levin, Bruce Thomas Eason (born 9 January 1949),[89] sang with the band, including several television appearances. After three months, Eason left before their third album. Eason recalls, "I appeared as lead singer for the band on American Bandstand and Sam Riddle's "9th Street West". I used the stage name Scott Eason on the shows. I also participated in some unreleased studio recording that we did at Rainbow Studios in Hollywood as well." [90]
Their third album featured brass instruments, which changed their sound considerably. The band regrouped one more time without Robb Levin, but, achieving no further success, disbanded permanently in 1971.
Norman and Mason reunited on Thursday, 9 May 1974 for a benefit concert in the Grand Ballroom at UCLA for the Israeli Fund,[91] later released as the live album Larry Norman and People!—The Israel Tapes—1974 A.D. Norman recruited local San Jose musicians Gary Wayne Burris (born 6 November 1952),[92] Gary Steven Pomeroy (born 23 May 1951),[93] and Robb Thomas (died about 1997) for this incarnation of People![94]
Norman, Fridkin and Mason came together in August 2006 for a People! reunion concert in the G. Herbert Smith Auditorium on the Willamette University campus in Salem, Oregon.[35] This concert was later released on a CD titled "People! The Reunion Concert 2006", and on two DVDs, "Larry Norman Live At The Smith, The Solo Set" and "Live At The Smith, The Band Set". Soon after, Fridkin decided to move in with Norman to look after him due to Norman's declining health and Norman's son's impending marriage.[35]
On October 19, 2007, People! was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame and its most successful lineup (including Larry Norman, Gene Mason, Denny Fridkin, Albert Ribisi, Robb Levin, John Riolo, and Geoff Levin) performed together for the first time since 1968.[61][62][95][96] John Tristao,[12] who joined People! after the departure of Norman and Mason, was also present, and had been inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in October 2006.
Title (A Side/B Side) (Label Number) Year
This album is a high quality Japan and South Korea release from the original Capitol Records CD re-release of 1994 of their inaugural album "I Love You." Liner notes are written by Larry Norman and explain the origin and significance of each song.
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