Warren Entner

Warren Entner
Born July 7, 1944 (1944-07-07) (age 67)
Origin Boston, Massachusetts United States
Genres Rock
Occupations Singer, songwriter, music manager
Instruments Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active 1967 - present
Labels Dunhill - ABC - MCA
Associated acts The Grass Roots
Website http://warrenentner.com

Warren Entner (born July 7, 1944 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American singer, songwriter, organist and guitarist for the rock and roll band, The Grass Roots. He then became a manager for several successful heavy metal rock groups.

Contents

Overview

Entner is best known for his vocal contributions on some of The Grass Roots' best known hits, most notably the memorable "1-2-3-4" count-in to the chorus of Let's Live for Today and the Middle 8 of the song Midnight Confessions.

Entner and his group The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday June 11, 1967 in the "summer of love" as their top ten hit "Let's Live For Today" was hitting the airwaves. This music festival is important because it occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival but did not have a movie to document it for the ages (see List of electronic music festivals). On Sunday October 27, 1968 they played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December of that year as their top ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was hitting the airwaves.[1]

Entner and his group The Grass Roots played at Newport Pop Festival 1969 at Devonshire Downs which was a racetrack at the time but now is part of the North Campus for California State University at Northridge. They played on Sunday June 22 which was the final day of the festival as their top twenty hit "Wait A Million Years" was hitting the airwaves. In Canada, they played at the Vancouver Pop Festival at the Paradise Valley Resort in British Columbia in August 1969 (see List of electronic music festivals).[1]

Entner had the opportunity to network with many famous groups and musicians playing these large festivals. This helped him fine tune his skills as a group manager. It was with The Grass Roots that Entner practiced his first efforts as band manager that he would fine tune to become a professional manager for other groups after 1974. Entner identified several songs written by other composers that proved successful when The Grass Roots covered them. He was instrumental in identifying "Let's Live For Today", "Midnight Confessions" and "Lovin' Things" (written by Artie Schroeck) to name a few.[1]

In 1970, he married the winner of the Miss World title (1961), Rosemarie Frankland. In 1976, she gave birth to their only child together, a daughter, Jessica. They couple divorced in 1981.

Compositions and musical release performance

Entner composed twenty one songs for The Grass Roots. Two of these appeared as single "A" sides. They are "Feelings" and "Come On And Say It". His other nineteen compositions appeared on single "B" sides and albums. He wrote frequently with Rob Grill and they were considered a songwriting team. Entner played with the group on their first nine albums – seven of which charted. He took part in the first twenty five singles released, twenty of which charted.[2]

Group management

After departing from The Grass Roots in the mid 70s, Entner continued to stay in the music business. In the late 70's, 80's and 90's he managed a number of successful hard rock artists including Angel, Quiet Riot, Faith No More,[3] and Rage Against the Machine.

Discography

Singles

Release date Title Flip side Record Label Chart Positions
US Billboard US Cashbox UK
1967 Let's Live for Today Depressed Feeling Dunhill 8 5
Things I Should Have Said Tip Of My Tongue Dunhill 23 36
Wake Up, Wake Up No Exit Dunhill 68 61
1968 Melody For You Hey Friend Dunhill 123
Feelings Here's Where You Belong Dunhill
Midnight Confessions++ Who Will You Be Tomorrow Dunhill 5 5
1969 Bella Linda+++ Hot Bright Lights Dunhill 28 20
Melody For You All Good Things Come To An End Dunhill
Lovin' Things You And Love Are The Same Dunhill 49 35
River Is Wide, The (You Gotta) Live For Love Dunhill 31 16
I'd Wait A Million Years Fly Me To Havana Dunhill 15 12
Heaven Knows Don't Remind Me Dunhill 24 13
1970 Walking Through The Country Truck Drivin' Man Dunhill 44 30
Baby Hold On Get It Together Dunhill 35 25
Come On And Say It Something's Comin' Over Me Dunhill 61 39
Temptation Eyes Keepin' Me Down Dunhill 15 16
1971 Sooner Or Later I Can Turn Off The Rain Dunhill 9 12
Two Divided By Love Let It Go Dunhill 16 8
1972 Glory Bound Only One Dunhill 34 22
Runway, The Move Along Dunhill 39 29
Anyway The Wind Blows Monday Love Dunhill 107
1973 Love Is What You Make It Someone To Love Dunhill 55
Where There's Smoke There's Fire Look But Don't Touch Dunhill
We Can't Dance To Your Music Look But Don't Touch Dunhill
Stealin' Love (In The Night) We Almost Made It Together Dunhill

++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification

+++ - Composed by Italian superstar Lucio Battisti)

Albums

Release date Title Record Label Chart Positions
US Billboard US Cashbox UK
1967 Let's Live for Today Dunhill 75
1968 Feelings Dunhill
Golden Grass ++ Dunhill 25
1969 Lovin' Things Dunhill 73
Leavin' It All Behind Dunhill 36
1970 More Golden Grass Dunhill 152
1971 Their 16 Greatest Hits ++ Dunhill 58
1972 Move Along Dunhill 86
1973 Alotta' Mileage Dunhill

++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Grass Roots Bio". http://the-grassroots.com/html/biography.html. Retrieved 2011-03-28. 
  2. ^ "Warren Entner Songs". http://warrenentner.com/html/songs.html. Retrieved 2011-03-28. 
  3. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (February 3, 1991). "Warner Records Stays Faithful to Mike Patton's Bungle Los Angeles Times PATRICK GOLDSTEIN Feb 3, 1991". http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/61033768.html?dids=61033768:61033768&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+03%2C+1991&author=PATRICK+GOLDSTEIN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Warner+Records+Stays+Faithful+to+Mike+Patton%27s+Bungle&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 

External links