Ron Elliott (musician)
Encyclopedia
Ron Elliott on October 21, 1943) is an American musician, composer
and producer
, best known as songwriter and lead guitar
ist of rock band The Beau Brummels
. Elliott wrote or co-wrote the band's 1965 U.S. top 20 hits "Laugh, Laugh
" and "Just a Little
." In addition to reuniting with the Beau Brummels on occasion over the years, Elliott released a solo album in 1970, and has played on and produced albums by a number of other artists.
, which had near-catastrophic consequences when he was twelve years old.
Growing up, Elliott wrote music influenced by composers George Gershwin
and Jerome Kern
, as well as country music
artist Lefty Frizzell
,
In 1964, childhood friend Sal Valentino
called to inform Elliott that he had a gig but had no band to back him up. Elliott agreed to help him put a band together, which included himself on lead guitar, Ron Meagher
on bass
, Declan Mulligan
on rhythm guitar
and John Petersen
on drums. The group, known as the Beau Brummels, began playing in and around San Francisco, and was signed to Autumn Records
by local deejay
Tom Donahue.
The band had two immediate hits in early 1965 with "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little" both reaching the U.S. top 20.
Elliott appeared with the band in the 1965 science-fiction
/comedy movie Village of the Giants
, which was featured in a 1994 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
.
Elliott also appeared with the band as The Beau Brummelstones on The Flintstones
television animated sitcom
in the season six episode "Shinrock A Go-Go," which originally aired on December 3, 1965.
Touring became complicated on a couple of occasions when Elliott suffered seizures from his diabetic condition that left him unable to perform. In 1966, Warner Bros. Records
acquired Autumn and promptly put out an all-covers album, Beau Brummels '66
, which distressed Elliott as the band's main songwriter. He moved to Los Angeles to attempt to regain control over the musical direction, while the rest of the band remained in San Francisco. For a brief time, Don Irving
became Elliott's stand-in on guitar when the group performed. Elliott, with Valentino co-writing, created two critically acclaimed albums, 1967's Triangle
and 1968's Bradley's Barn
. By this time the Beau Brummels were reduced to a duo consisting of Elliott and Valentino, and they soon split.
Elliott arranged The Everly Brothers
' 1968 album Roots
, on which he also played. The Everly Brothers recorded two of his songs, "Turn Around", which had appeared on Bradley's Barn, and "Ventura Boulevard." Elliott played guitar on Van Dyke Parks
' debut album, 1968's Song Cycle
, and released a solo album of his own, The Candlestickmaker
, in 1970. He reunited with the Beau Brummels on occasion, most notably in the mid-1970s when the group released a 1975 self-titled album
. Elliott went on to work with artists such as Randy Newman
, Van Morrison
, Little Feat
and Dolly Parton
.
Solo Albums
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, best known as songwriter and lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist of rock band The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
. Elliott wrote or co-wrote the band's 1965 U.S. top 20 hits "Laugh, Laugh
Laugh, Laugh
"Laugh, Laugh" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels, written by guitarist Ron Elliott and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart the following February...
" and "Just a Little
Just a Little (The Beau Brummels song)
"Just a Little" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's highest-charting U.S. single, peaking at number eight...
." In addition to reuniting with the Beau Brummels on occasion over the years, Elliott released a solo album in 1970, and has played on and produced albums by a number of other artists.
History
During childhood, Elliott developed juvenile diabetesDiabetes mellitus type 1
Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose...
, which had near-catastrophic consequences when he was twelve years old.
Growing up, Elliott wrote music influenced by composers George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, as well as country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
,
In 1964, childhood friend Sal Valentino
Sal Valentino
Sal Valentino is an American rock musician, singer and songwriter, best known as lead singer of The Beau Brummels, subsequently becoming a songwriter as well. The band released a pair of top 20 U.S...
called to inform Elliott that he had a gig but had no band to back him up. Elliott agreed to help him put a band together, which included himself on lead guitar, Ron Meagher
Ron Meagher
Ron Meagher is best known as bassist of American rock band The Beau Brummels. When guitarist-songwriter Ron Elliott was putting the band together in 1964, he asked a friend, Kay Dane, if she knew any good bass players....
on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Declan Mulligan
Declan Mulligan
Declan Mulligan is an Irish rock musician, singer and songwriter, best known as a guitarist of American rock band The Beau Brummels...
on rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and John Petersen
John Petersen (musician)
John Petersen was an American drummer, most notably for rock bands The Beau Brummels and Harpers Bizarre. In 1964 he joined the Beau Brummels, whose first two singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little", reached the U.S. top 20...
on drums. The group, known as the Beau Brummels, began playing in and around San Francisco, and was signed to Autumn Records
Autumn Records
Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Its most prominent contract was considered The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"....
by local deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
Tom Donahue.
The band had two immediate hits in early 1965 with "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little" both reaching the U.S. top 20.
Elliott appeared with the band in the 1965 science-fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
/comedy movie Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods...
, which was featured in a 1994 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Elliott also appeared with the band as The Beau Brummelstones on The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
television animated sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
in the season six episode "Shinrock A Go-Go," which originally aired on December 3, 1965.
Touring became complicated on a couple of occasions when Elliott suffered seizures from his diabetic condition that left him unable to perform. In 1966, Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
acquired Autumn and promptly put out an all-covers album, Beau Brummels '66
Beau Brummels '66
Beau Brummels '66 is the third studio album by American rock group The Beau Brummels, and their first on Warner Bros. Records. The album consists of twelve cover songs and no originals...
, which distressed Elliott as the band's main songwriter. He moved to Los Angeles to attempt to regain control over the musical direction, while the rest of the band remained in San Francisco. For a brief time, Don Irving
Don Irving
Don Irving is an American musician, best known as a guitarist for rock band The Beau Brummels...
became Elliott's stand-in on guitar when the group performed. Elliott, with Valentino co-writing, created two critically acclaimed albums, 1967's Triangle
Triangle (The Beau Brummels album)
Triangle is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Beau Brummels. Produced by Lenny Waronker and released in July 1967, it was the band's first album to include songs that vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist Ron Elliott composed together...
and 1968's Bradley's Barn
Bradley's Barn
-Personnel:* David Briggs – keyboards* Kenny Buttrey – drums* Ron Elliott – guitar, vocals* Norbert Putnam – bass* Jerry Reed – guitar* Sal Valentino – vocals-External links:* [ Bradley's Barn] at Allmusic...
. By this time the Beau Brummels were reduced to a duo consisting of Elliott and Valentino, and they soon split.
Elliott arranged The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
' 1968 album Roots
Roots (Everly Brothers album)
Roots is a 1968 album by close harmony rock and roll duo The Everly Brothers. Originally on the Warner Bros. label, the album was re-released on CD in 1995 by Warner Bros. and in 2005 by Collectors' Choice Music...
, on which he also played. The Everly Brothers recorded two of his songs, "Turn Around", which had appeared on Bradley's Barn, and "Ventura Boulevard." Elliott played guitar on Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
' debut album, 1968's Song Cycle
Song Cycle (album)
Song Cycle is a 1967 album by Van Dyke Parks that encompasses a number of genres, including psychedelic, folk, baroque, and experimental rock and pop. The release was Parks' debut album, and was produced by future Dreamworks Records co-founder Lenny Waronker.The album's material explores...
, and released a solo album of his own, The Candlestickmaker
The Candlestickmaker
The Candlestickmaker is the lone solo album by American musician Ron Elliott, released in 1970 on Warner Bros. It was recorded following the dissolution of The Beau Brummels, with whom Elliott had been the chief songwriter and guitarist...
, in 1970. He reunited with the Beau Brummels on occasion, most notably in the mid-1970s when the group released a 1975 self-titled album
The Beau Brummels (album)
The Beau Brummels is the sixth studio album by the American rock band of the same name. Released in April 1975, the album features the work of all five original bandmembers for the first time since the band's debut album, 1965's Introducing the Beau Brummels. The album peaked at number 180 on the U.S...
. Elliott went on to work with artists such as Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
.
Discography
With The Beau Brummels- Introducing the Beau BrummelsIntroducing the Beau BrummelsIntroducing the Beau Brummels is the debut album by American pop rock band The Beau Brummels. It was produced by Sly Stone, lead singer of Sly & the Family Stone. Unlike most debut albums of the era, ten of the twelve songs on this album are originals. The album peaked at number 24 on the U.S...
(1965) - The Beau Brummels, Vol. 2 (1965)
- Beau Brummels '66Beau Brummels '66Beau Brummels '66 is the third studio album by American rock group The Beau Brummels, and their first on Warner Bros. Records. The album consists of twelve cover songs and no originals...
(1966) - TriangleTriangle (The Beau Brummels album)Triangle is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Beau Brummels. Produced by Lenny Waronker and released in July 1967, it was the band's first album to include songs that vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist Ron Elliott composed together...
(1967) - Bradley's BarnBradley's Barn-Personnel:* David Briggs – keyboards* Kenny Buttrey – drums* Ron Elliott – guitar, vocals* Norbert Putnam – bass* Jerry Reed – guitar* Sal Valentino – vocals-External links:* [ Bradley's Barn] at Allmusic...
(1968) - The Beau BrummelsThe Beau Brummels (album)The Beau Brummels is the sixth studio album by the American rock band of the same name. Released in April 1975, the album features the work of all five original bandmembers for the first time since the band's debut album, 1965's Introducing the Beau Brummels. The album peaked at number 180 on the U.S...
(1975)
Solo Albums
- The CandlestickmakerThe CandlestickmakerThe Candlestickmaker is the lone solo album by American musician Ron Elliott, released in 1970 on Warner Bros. It was recorded following the dissolution of The Beau Brummels, with whom Elliott had been the chief songwriter and guitarist...
(1970)