Post by Rob Durkee on Jan 17, 2012 21:20:35 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Jimmy Castor, who was best known for the #2 hit "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" in 1972 as the leader of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, died Monday (January 16, 2012).
According to writer Ken Ritter of the Associated Press, Castor died at Las Vegas' Saint Rose Dominican Hospital of "apparent heart failure." Castor had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack in November and had subsequently undergone quadruple bypass surgery.
Sources differ greatly as to Castor's age was when he died. Early reports listed his age as 64. However, Joel Whitburn's Record Research and the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll both list Castor's date of birth as June 22, 1943. Wikipedia, meanwhile, lists Castor's birthdate as June 22, 1940. Finally, Ritter's article lists Castor's age as 71, which would fall in line with the Wikipedia report.
Backing up the Ritter and Wikipedia date of birth is a 1975 story told by Casey Kasem on "American Top 40" when "the Bertha Butt Boogie" was in the countdown. Casey told how Castor would often fill in for Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers fame. Castor looked so much like Lymon and sounded so much like Lymon that audiences thought it truly was Lymon even though it was really Castor. Some sources claim Castor sang lead for the Teenagers around 1957. If that's the case, he couldn't have done it at the age of 10 to be effective. Hence, Castor was probably born in 1940.
Castor provided the saxophone solo on "Rinky Dink," a #11 hit for Dave Baby Cortez in the summer of 1962. Four years later in 1966, Castor had a modest solo hit with the #35 peaking "Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You." He and his group, the Jimmy Castor Bunch, rose to the pop and R&B forefront with "Troglodyte (Cave Man)," a #2 hit on the Cash Box pop chart in the fall of 1972. The song was so popular that it was included in the flying saucer-like novelty record of late 1972, "Convention '72" by the Delegates. When someone's asked why he's not in the right place at the convention, the response was "Gotta find a woman, Gotta find a woman, Gotta find a woman."
You're invited to check out the so-called video of "Troglodyte" at...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRXQEA0yj0
Actually, it's not the video for the song since very few, if any, videos existed in the 1970's. What it is...is the video of the song done by the Cleveland late-night TV comedy team of Big Chuck and Little John. The duo followed in the footsteps of Ernie (Ghouldari) Anderson by incorporating jokes and skits while a 1950's-60's sci-fi movie was shown. Their late Friday night antics lasted from roughly 1979 to 2007, according to Wikipedia.
Jimmy Castor Jr., who at 45 years old is a filmmaker from Redondo Beach, California, estimates that his dad's musical work was sampled over 3000 times by other artists ranging from the rap group N.W.A. to the 2 Live Crew to Kanye West. Though the song was never a charted hit, the younger Castor claimed his dad's song, "It's Just Begun," inspired hundreds of R&B-like performers over the years. "No matter what country you're in, no matter what language you speak, everyone knows it," insisted the younger Castor.
The elder Castor had performed as recently as last August at the Long Beach (California) Funk Festival and had booked dates for a European tour this year.
Jimmy Castor, who was best known for the #2 hit "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" in 1972 as the leader of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, died Monday (January 16, 2012).
According to writer Ken Ritter of the Associated Press, Castor died at Las Vegas' Saint Rose Dominican Hospital of "apparent heart failure." Castor had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack in November and had subsequently undergone quadruple bypass surgery.
Sources differ greatly as to Castor's age was when he died. Early reports listed his age as 64. However, Joel Whitburn's Record Research and the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll both list Castor's date of birth as June 22, 1943. Wikipedia, meanwhile, lists Castor's birthdate as June 22, 1940. Finally, Ritter's article lists Castor's age as 71, which would fall in line with the Wikipedia report.
Backing up the Ritter and Wikipedia date of birth is a 1975 story told by Casey Kasem on "American Top 40" when "the Bertha Butt Boogie" was in the countdown. Casey told how Castor would often fill in for Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers fame. Castor looked so much like Lymon and sounded so much like Lymon that audiences thought it truly was Lymon even though it was really Castor. Some sources claim Castor sang lead for the Teenagers around 1957. If that's the case, he couldn't have done it at the age of 10 to be effective. Hence, Castor was probably born in 1940.
Castor provided the saxophone solo on "Rinky Dink," a #11 hit for Dave Baby Cortez in the summer of 1962. Four years later in 1966, Castor had a modest solo hit with the #35 peaking "Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You." He and his group, the Jimmy Castor Bunch, rose to the pop and R&B forefront with "Troglodyte (Cave Man)," a #2 hit on the Cash Box pop chart in the fall of 1972. The song was so popular that it was included in the flying saucer-like novelty record of late 1972, "Convention '72" by the Delegates. When someone's asked why he's not in the right place at the convention, the response was "Gotta find a woman, Gotta find a woman, Gotta find a woman."
You're invited to check out the so-called video of "Troglodyte" at...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRXQEA0yj0
Actually, it's not the video for the song since very few, if any, videos existed in the 1970's. What it is...is the video of the song done by the Cleveland late-night TV comedy team of Big Chuck and Little John. The duo followed in the footsteps of Ernie (Ghouldari) Anderson by incorporating jokes and skits while a 1950's-60's sci-fi movie was shown. Their late Friday night antics lasted from roughly 1979 to 2007, according to Wikipedia.
Jimmy Castor Jr., who at 45 years old is a filmmaker from Redondo Beach, California, estimates that his dad's musical work was sampled over 3000 times by other artists ranging from the rap group N.W.A. to the 2 Live Crew to Kanye West. Though the song was never a charted hit, the younger Castor claimed his dad's song, "It's Just Begun," inspired hundreds of R&B-like performers over the years. "No matter what country you're in, no matter what language you speak, everyone knows it," insisted the younger Castor.
The elder Castor had performed as recently as last August at the Long Beach (California) Funk Festival and had booked dates for a European tour this year.
