The Four Preps
Encyclopedia
The Four Preps are an American
popular music
male quartet. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the group amassed eight gold singles and three gold albums. Its million-selling signature tunes included "26 Miles
," "Big Man," "Lazy Summer Night," and "Down by the Station."
The Four Preps' numerous television and motion picture appearances included four years on Ozzie and Harriet backing heartthrob Ricky Nelson and with Sandra Dee in the Gidget movie. Their most recent television appearance was with the award-winning PBS special, Magic Moments.
The current incarnation of The Four Preps features the original lead singer, Bruce Belland, Bob Duncan (formerly with the Diamonds and The Crew Cuts), Joe Dickey (of The Crew Cuts), and Skip Taylor. Their shows are currently an amalgamation of singing - everything from doo-wop to Tin Pan Alley
standards - and comedy.
and were signed to a recording contract
by Capitol Records
, after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a talent show
at that school in 1956. They had a minor chart
hit
that year with "Dreamy Eyes" and between 1956 and 1964 reached the Billboard pop charts
with 13 different songs. The following year they appeared with Lindsay Crosby
on the television program
, The Edsel Show
.
Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," which was written by Belland and Larson in 1957 and reached #2 early the following year. The record
sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc
. Belland and Larson also wrote "Big Man" (which reached #3) and "Down by the Station", which peaked at number 13 in 1960 according to Billboard
. In 1959, the group appeared as themselves in the movie
, Gidget
. Their records were arranged by their high school friend and piano accompanist Lincoln Mayorga
.
For a short period, Don Clarke replaced Ingram while the latter finished college at UCLA, but he rejoined the group in 1960.
In 1960 they also recorded a parody
single
, "More Money for You and Me," which included single parody verses of several popular songs by The Fleetwoods
, The Hollywood Argyles
, The Platters
, The Four Freshmen
, The Kingston Trio
and Dion and the Belmonts
. The title parody, sung to the tune of "Tom Dooley
," went like this:
Hang down the Kingston Trio,
Hang 'em from a tall oak
tree;
Eliminate the Kingston Trio;
More money
for you and me.
The group last appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1964, when "A Letter to the Beatles" charted for a total of three weeks beginning March 21, peaking at #85. In 1966, David Somerville
, formerly of The Diamonds
, joined the group, replacing Ingram. In 1969, the group disbanded, as their type of music had become less popular. Belland and Somerville occasionally performed as a duo after the breakup.
Productions. Cobb became a record producer
and sound engineer
. He wrote the song "Tainted Love
" for Gloria Jones
, which became a worldwide hit for Soft Cell
in 1982. Somerville went into TV
acting and doing voice overs. Larson became a television producer
, creating Battlestar Galactica
and Knight Rider. Ingram became a commodities broker. Clarke became a music teacher at Glendora High School. Don Clarke was a music director at Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra, CA 1965-1967.
In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of The Lettermen
) eventually formed a new 'Four Preps' group, and went on to perform. Jim Yester, formerly of The Association
, replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the 'New Four Preps.'
In 1999 Cobb died of leukemia
in Honolulu, Hawaii
; and Ingram died of a heart attack.
Yester, Belland, and Somerville continued performing as a trio, using their last names, doing songs that were associated with The Four Preps, The Diamonds, and The Association.
Belland's daughters, Tracey Bryn Belland and Melissa Brooke Belland, followed in their father's footsteps as singers, forming a group named Voice of the Beehive
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
male quartet. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the group amassed eight gold singles and three gold albums. Its million-selling signature tunes included "26 Miles
26 Miles (Santa Catalina)
"26 Miles " is a popular song by the 1950s and 1960s pop band The Four Preps. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Billboard R&B chart in 1958...
," "Big Man," "Lazy Summer Night," and "Down by the Station."
The Four Preps' numerous television and motion picture appearances included four years on Ozzie and Harriet backing heartthrob Ricky Nelson and with Sandra Dee in the Gidget movie. Their most recent television appearance was with the award-winning PBS special, Magic Moments.
The current incarnation of The Four Preps features the original lead singer, Bruce Belland, Bob Duncan (formerly with the Diamonds and The Crew Cuts), Joe Dickey (of The Crew Cuts), and Skip Taylor. Their shows are currently an amalgamation of singing - everything from doo-wop to Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
standards - and comedy.
Original line-up
- Bruce Belland, lead vocals (born 22 October 1936, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
) - Ed CobbEd CobbEd Cobb was a musician, songwriter and record producer, most notably during the 1950s and 1960s.-Career:...
, bass (born Edward C. Cobb 1938, died 19 September 1999) - Marv Ingram, high tenor (born Marvin Inabnett 29 July 1938, died 7 March 1999)
- Glen LarsonGlen A. LarsonGlen Albert Larson is an American television producer and writer best known as the creator of Battlestar Galactica, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider.-Career:...
, baritone (born Glen Albert Larson 3 January 1937, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
)
History
The four were students at Hollywood High SchoolHollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.-History:...
and were signed to a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
by Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
at that school in 1956. They had a minor chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
that year with "Dreamy Eyes" and between 1956 and 1964 reached the Billboard pop charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
with 13 different songs. The following year they appeared with Lindsay Crosby
Lindsay Crosby
Lindsay Harry Crosby was an American actor and singer.-Early life:Lindsay Crosby, son of Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee, was born in California and named for his father's closest friend and Thoroughbred horse racing partner, Lindsay Howard. He was educated with his three brothers at Bellarmine College...
on the television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, The Edsel Show
The Edsel Show
The Edsel Show is an hour-long television special broadcast live on CBS in the United States on October 13, 1957, intended to promote Ford Motor Company's new Edsel cars...
.
Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," which was written by Belland and Larson in 1957 and reached #2 early the following year. The record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. Belland and Larson also wrote "Big Man" (which reached #3) and "Down by the Station", which peaked at number 13 in 1960 according to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. In 1959, the group appeared as themselves in the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Gidget
Gidget (film)
Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume...
. Their records were arranged by their high school friend and piano accompanist Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga is an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who has worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music.-Pop music in the 1950s and 60s:...
.
For a short period, Don Clarke replaced Ingram while the latter finished college at UCLA, but he rejoined the group in 1960.
In 1960 they also recorded a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "More Money for You and Me," which included single parody verses of several popular songs by The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, United States; formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for eleven hit songs, beginning with "Come Softly to Me"...
, The Hollywood Argyles
The Hollywood Argyles
The Hollywood Argyles were an American musical ensemble, assembled for studio recordings by the producer and songwriter Kim Fowley and his friend and fellow musician Gary Paxton...
, The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
, The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...
, The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
and Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts was a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. The group formed when Dion DiMucci, lead singer , joined The Belmonts - Carlo Mastrangelo, baritone , Freddie Milano, second tenor , and Angelo D'Aleo, first tenor , in late 1957.-History:After an unsuccessful first single,...
. The title parody, sung to the tune of "Tom Dooley
Tom Dooley
Tom Dooley or Thomas Dooley may refer to:* Tom Dula, American legend hanged in North Carolina after the Civil War**Tom Dooley , American folksong based upon the above incident...
," went like this:
Hang down the Kingston Trio,
Hang 'em from a tall oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
tree;
Eliminate the Kingston Trio;
More money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
for you and me.
The group last appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1964, when "A Letter to the Beatles" charted for a total of three weeks beginning March 21, peaking at #85. In 1966, David Somerville
Dave Somerville
Dave Somerville, a.k.a. “Diamond” Dave Somerville , in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Best known as co-founder and original lead singer of The Diamonds, one of the most popular vocal groups of the 1950s.-Biography:...
, formerly of The Diamonds
The Diamonds
The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with sixteen Billboard hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville , Ted Kowalski , Phil Levitt , and Bill Reed .-1950s:...
, joined the group, replacing Ingram. In 1969, the group disbanded, as their type of music had become less popular. Belland and Somerville occasionally performed as a duo after the breakup.
Later careers
Belland continued writing songs for other singers, as well as writing television show scripts, eventually becoming a network executive. Belland was a producer on several game shows in the 70s for Ralph EdwardsRalph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
Productions. Cobb became a record 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...
and sound engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
. He wrote the song "Tainted Love
Tainted Love
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of The Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1965. It attained worldwide fame after being covered by Soft Cell in 1981, reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart, and has since been covered by numerous groups and...
" for Gloria Jones
Gloria Jones
Gloria Richetta Jones is an American singer and songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She recorded the 1964 northern soul song, "Tainted Love", later a hit for the British synth-pop duo, Soft Cell. She was the girlfriend of glam rock artist Marc Bolan of the band T...
, which became a worldwide hit for Soft Cell
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...
in 1982. Somerville went into TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
acting and doing voice overs. Larson became a television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, creating Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
and Knight Rider. Ingram became a commodities broker. Clarke became a music teacher at Glendora High School. Don Clarke was a music director at Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra, CA 1965-1967.
In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of The Lettermen
The Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop music vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959...
) eventually formed a new 'Four Preps' group, and went on to perform. Jim Yester, formerly of The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
, replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the 'New Four Preps.'
In 1999 Cobb died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
; and Ingram died of a heart attack.
Yester, Belland, and Somerville continued performing as a trio, using their last names, doing songs that were associated with The Four Preps, The Diamonds, and The Association.
Belland's daughters, Tracey Bryn Belland and Melissa Brooke Belland, followed in their father's footsteps as singers, forming a group named Voice of the Beehive
Voice of the Beehive
Voice of the Beehive is an Anglo-American alternative pop rock band formed in London in 1986 by Californian sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland, daughters of The Four Preps singer, Bruce Belland.- Career :...
.
External links
- Biography on The Iceberg site
- Beatles novelties. Accessed January 7, 2009.
- Another biography
- Printable Biography of the New Four Preps (pdf format)