Post by erik on Jan 23, 2021 18:45:42 GMT -5
The Atlanta-based pop/rock group The Classics IV had a number of hits at the end of the 1960's that became radio classics well into the 21st century. The one in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight was one of their biggest.
STORMY (The Classics IV; Imperial; 1968)—Even in the era of radical music change, be it psychdelia, hard rock, blues-rock, folk rock, and even left-of-center C&W rock, there was still a lot of room for R&B-influenced pop music. One such group to succeed at that latter kind of music that got AM Top 40 airplay was the Classics IV, which was formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1965, with Dennis Yost as their lead vocalist. The group was discovered playing in Daytona Beach by talent agent Alan Diggs, who went on to manage them alongside Paul Cochran and Bobby Buie. They moved to Atlanta in 1967; and before the end of that year, the band broke into the Billboard Hot 100 with “Spooky”, a song that became a Halloween classic, even though it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 in February 1968. Yost’s pop/R&B-influenced vocals were what drove not only that hit, but its follow up later in 1968, “Stormy”. An R&B/pop ballad boasted by a saxophone solo and yearning lyrics for the protagonist’s loved one to “bring back that sunny day”, it too became not only a big hit on AM radio (and later FM oldies radio), but, upon its release in October 1968, it also became the group’s second Top Five hit, peaking at #5 on December 7, 1968. Although their success would taper off after 1972, they still managed to continue on the pop/R&B track with “Traces” (#2, late March 1969); “Everyday With You Girl” (#19, June 1969); and “Midnight” (#52, December 1969). Buie would go on to form the Atlanta Rhythm Section in 1970; that band would cover “Spooky” and take it into the Top 20 in the late summer of 1979. “Stormy”, meanwhile, became a Top 40 hit once more, for Santana in late 1977; and jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo’s instrumental version of it, recorded in 1969, was sampled by John Legend for his modest 2006 hit “Save Room”. The group was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Sadly, however, Yost suffered what would turn out to be fatal respiratory failure, from which he passed away at the age of 65 on December 7, 2008, the 40th anniversary of “Stormy”’s top chart placement.
STORMY (The Classics IV; Imperial; 1968)—Even in the era of radical music change, be it psychdelia, hard rock, blues-rock, folk rock, and even left-of-center C&W rock, there was still a lot of room for R&B-influenced pop music. One such group to succeed at that latter kind of music that got AM Top 40 airplay was the Classics IV, which was formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1965, with Dennis Yost as their lead vocalist. The group was discovered playing in Daytona Beach by talent agent Alan Diggs, who went on to manage them alongside Paul Cochran and Bobby Buie. They moved to Atlanta in 1967; and before the end of that year, the band broke into the Billboard Hot 100 with “Spooky”, a song that became a Halloween classic, even though it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 in February 1968. Yost’s pop/R&B-influenced vocals were what drove not only that hit, but its follow up later in 1968, “Stormy”. An R&B/pop ballad boasted by a saxophone solo and yearning lyrics for the protagonist’s loved one to “bring back that sunny day”, it too became not only a big hit on AM radio (and later FM oldies radio), but, upon its release in October 1968, it also became the group’s second Top Five hit, peaking at #5 on December 7, 1968. Although their success would taper off after 1972, they still managed to continue on the pop/R&B track with “Traces” (#2, late March 1969); “Everyday With You Girl” (#19, June 1969); and “Midnight” (#52, December 1969). Buie would go on to form the Atlanta Rhythm Section in 1970; that band would cover “Spooky” and take it into the Top 20 in the late summer of 1979. “Stormy”, meanwhile, became a Top 40 hit once more, for Santana in late 1977; and jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo’s instrumental version of it, recorded in 1969, was sampled by John Legend for his modest 2006 hit “Save Room”. The group was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Sadly, however, Yost suffered what would turn out to be fatal respiratory failure, from which he passed away at the age of 65 on December 7, 2008, the 40th anniversary of “Stormy”’s top chart placement.