Nick St. Nicholas

Nick St. Nicholas

Nick St. Nicholas, June 2007.
Background information
Birth name Klaus Karl Kassbaum
Born (1943-09-28) September 28, 1943
Plön, Germany
Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s) Musician and Band Leader
Instruments bass, vocals
Years active 1964–present
Associated acts The Mynah Birds
The Sparrows
T.I.M.E.
Steppenwolf
Blue Cheer
Starwolf
Lone Wolf
The Wolf
World Classic Rockers
Website www.wcr.com/about-wcr/

Nick St. Nicholas (born Klaus Karl Kassbaum September 28, 1943) is a bassist, band leader, singer and songwriter [1] best known for his partnership in Steppenwolf.[2] Born in Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany his family fled, during 1952 due to the failed Operation Valkyrie, to Toronto via Switzerland and became Canadian citizens. His sister Maren joined the The Royal Conservatory of Music, Canadian Ballet Company & Conservatory of Music, as a pianist. He also has a younger brother, Gary who went into the Merchant navy.

Early career

Nick St. Nicholas spent a brief period as bassist with the Epics, then Shirley Matthews and the Big Town Boys before joining a set of musicians who eventually coalesced as the Mynah Birds, featuring singers Rick James, Neil Young and Jimmy Livingston.[3][4][5] In 1965, he replaced Bruce Palmer as bassist with Jack London and the Sparrows, and played on most of the tracks on their only LP, which was released in 1965. St. Nicholas hired East Prussian born front man, John Kay when Jack London left The Sparrows and became The Sparrow, and moved south to New York for a modest record deal with Columbia Records, then St. Nicholas drove The Sparrow non-stop to California. In 1967, The Sparrow folded and St. Nicholas joined a Los Angeles-based group called The Hardtimes, who soon renamed themselves T.I.M.E., which stands for Trust in Men Everywhere. Capital Records signed them to a $500,000 recording contract, but, their manager, Ron Levin turned out to be a famous con man [6] and absconded with the advance and all of the band's earnings.

Early Steppenwolf was recorded during a live performance of 'The Sparrow' in 1967 then in 1968, producer arranger, Gabriel Mekler, changed 'The Sparrow' to Steppenwolf based on a book he was reading at the time by Hermann Hess.

Steppenwolf

After two albums, St. Nicholas's Sparrow band mates, (vocalist/guitarist John Kay, drummer Jerry Edmonton and organist Goldy McJohn) came to see him perform with T.I.M.E. at the Whiskey and asked him to leave T.I.M.E. to rejoin them as Steppenwolf, when bassist Rushton Moreve had a falling out with Kay.

In 1967, John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Michael Monarch and Goldie McJohn formed a musical band called "Steppenwolf." In 1968, Nicholas Kassbaum, who is professionally known as "Nick St. Nicholas," joined Steppenwolf as a bass player. That year, the band members entered into a partnership agreement whereby the members became co-equal partners and owners in Steppenwolf, and agreed to share equally the band's expenses and income. Also in 1968, the band members signed a recording agreement with Dunhill Records both as partners and as Steppenwolf band members.

From late 1968 until late April 1970, Steppenwolf, with Kassbaum as its bass player, toured the world in concerts and recorded Steppenwolf 's well-received music. Kassbaum appeared prominently on Steppenwolf record album covers and authored Steppenwolf compositions. In 1971, John Kay, who had asserted control over Steppenwolf, excluded Kassbaum from the band.

St. Nicholas has several Gold and Platinum records to his credit playing and contributing on four Steppenwolf albums: At Your Birthday Party, Early Steppenwolf, Monster, and Steppenwolf Live. He wrote "It's Never Too Late" and performed on many television shows as a member of Steppenwolf, including appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers, American Bandstand, Playboy After Dark, Beat Club, Della, Upbeat, and The Steve Allen Show. St. Nicholas was squeezed out of Steppenwolf in a power play by Kay and a manager in 1971. Management came to see St. Nicholas to inform him that Steppenwolf was at a rehearsal and that St. Nicholas was not at the rehearsal instead they now had a new bassist, George Biondo. Over twenty years of still unresolved litigation followed.[7][8][9]

During St. Nicholas's ouster from Steppenwolf, he replaced Dickie Peterson in Blue Cheer alongside Ruben De Fuentes on guitar and Terry Rae on drums. The band both toured and recorded during this time, but the songs weren't released until Live & Unreleased '68/'74 was released in 1996.

After Kay and Edmonton's version of Steppenwolf disbanded in 1976, St. Nicholas reformed the group with McJohn and guitarist Kent Henry, who had recorded the guitar tracks on the For Ladies Only album in 1971. There were several versions of this band touring at the same time for which St. Nicholas was not responsible. During this turn, St. Nicholas's Steppenwolf included drummers such as Steve Riley and Frankie Banali.

St. Nicholas stopped touring with Steppenwolf due to intimidation, threats and legal machinations by Kay in 1980 supported by suspicions that Kay hired an accident crew to end Gabriel Meckler's life in 1977.[10] During a televised VHI Behind The Music interview, John Kay threatened to have "Louie the Large pay St. Nicholas a visit".

Post-Steppenwolf

After St. Nicholas's second tour with Steppenwolf ended, he formed a band called "Starwolf" in 1980 with keyboardist Steve Stewart. Stewart left in the late 1980s to be replaced by Randy Carr about the same time guitarist Dave Olsen joined the band. At this point, "Starwolf" became "Lone Wolf". In 1988, Kurt Griffey was added as a second guitarist and Chris Sweeney joined as the band's drummer. After "Lone Wolf" became "The Wolf", Sweeney was replaced by Ronnie Carson and Olsen was fired, leading to the band's dissolution in 1989. In the early 1990s, St. Nicholas formed a new "Lone Wolf" with Griffey, singer Richard Ward, and drummer Daryl Johnson, which played bike rallies and clubs.[11] In 1997, the band split as St. Nicholas launched the supergroup World Classic Rockers, bringing Griffey with him into the new venture along with former Steppenwolf bandmate Michael Monarch. St. Nicholas has two sons, Jesse and Devin.

World Classic Rockers

World Classic Rockers (website) is a supergroup formed by Nick St. Nicholas in 1997. Members include former members of Steppenwolf, Santana, Toto, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, Kansas, Eagles and others.

Trivia

St. Nicholas is the infamous "Ooh Ohh Man" mentioned in "I'm in Love With the Ooh-Ooh Man", by The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously). on their Frank Zappa-produced album Permanent Damage. St. Nicholas put David Bowie license plates on his sports car to promote the fledgling artist and attracted a huge following on the Ventura Highway as Bowie rose to stardom and the public believed that to be him. Randy Meisner has performed more concerts with WCR than with the Eagles.

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Singles

Release date A-side B-side US Chart Peak UK Chart Peak
1968 "Make It Alright "Take Me Along"
"What Would Life Be Without It" "Tripping into Sunshine"
1969 "Rock Me" (Kay) "Jupiter Child" (Monarch/Kay/Edmonton) 10
"It's Never Too Late" (St. Nicholas/Kay) "Happy Birthday" (Mekler) 51
"Move Over" (Kay/Mekler) "Power Play" (Kay) 31
"Monster" (Kay/Edmonton/St. Nicholas/Byrom) "Berry Rides Again" (Kay) 39
1970 "Hey Lawdy Mama" (Kay/Byrom/Edmonton) "Twisted" (Kay) 35
Preceded by
Rushton Moreve		 Steppenwolf Bass Guitarist
1969–1970 		Succeeded by
George Biondo
Preceded by
George Biondo		 Steppenwolf Bass Guitarist
1976–1980 		Succeeded by
Chad Peery

External links

References

  1. ↑ Nick St. Nicholas Compositions at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Ex Steppenwolf Bassist Can Bill Himself As Such 9th Circuit Court, MTV/MTV News, January 2, 2001
  3. ↑ http://www.thrasherswheat.org/friends/rick-james.htm Rick James and Neil Young July 8, 2004
  4. ↑ http://www.mtvhive.com/2012/04/25/mynah-birds-rick-james-its-my-time/". mtvhive.com. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  5. ↑ Shakey: Biography of Neil Young
  6. ↑ conman, Ron Levin murdered, Los Angeles Times Billionaire Boys Club
  7. ↑ Nicholas Kassbaum, Aka Nick St. Nicholas, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Steppenwolf Productions, Inc.; Steppenwolf, Inc.; Joachim Fritz Kreudeldat, Aka John Kay, Defendants-appellees, 236 F.3d 487 (9th Cir. 2000), 9th Circuit
  8. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/288391-Nick-St-Nicholas?page=1 Nick St. Nicholas Compositions
  9. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/288391-Nick-St-Nicholas?page=2 Nick St. Nicholas Compositions
  10. ↑ Nicholas Kassbaum, Aka Nick St. Nicholas, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Steppenwolf Productions, Inc.; Steppenwolf, Inc.; Joachim Fritz Kreudeldat, Aka John Kay, Defendants-appellees, 236 F.3d 487 (9th Cir. 2000), 9th Circuit
  11. ↑ The Rocker, The Preacher's Daughter and The Pink Cadillac, LA Times/Articles, October 15, 1992
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