Post by Rob Durkee on Jan 22, 2013 20:42:57 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
PROVO, Utah -- Bobby Engemann, an original member of the vocal group the Lettermen, died Sunday (January 20, 2013) from complications of pneumonia suffered after heart bypass surgery. He was 78. The initial news of Engemann's passing was relayed to this writer by oldies expert Bill Small via the Vintagevinylnews.com web site.
The Lettermen combined their unique vocal harmonies along with bringing back old standards to chalk up 20 hits on the Cash Box pop chart from 1961 to 1971. The group also had at least 32 charted albums.
Engemann, Tony Butala and Jim Pike formed the Lettermen about 1958. The Lettermen's first two singles for Warner Brothers Records in 1960 bombed, but then they hooked up with Capitol Records. Capitol's A&R man, Nic Venet was so impressed with the group's vocal sound that he signed them to a 25-year contract.
At first, it appeared the Lettermen would experience more heartbreak with their first Capitol release. It was a then-30-year-old song ("That's My Desire") that Dion and the Belmonts had done about year earlier as the B side of "Where Or When." The single's flip side would instead be the breakthrough hit. By the late summer of 1961, the Lettermen would score their first of seven top 40 hits with another old standard that, according to Wikipedia, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the 1936 movie, "Swing Time." It sounded like this…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsTguCePLk
"The Way You Look Tonight" reached #8 for the Lettermen but it wasn't their biggest hit. That honor went to a live medley of hits done earlier by Little Anthony and the Imperials and Frankie Valli. "Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" peaked at #7 in early 1968 and sounded like this…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IR-Tbc73Ik
In between, the Lettermen gave us vocals to one of the biggest instrumentals of all time with this #17 hit in 1965….
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnNHKJam5s
"Theme From 'A Summer Place" by Percy Faith spent eight weeks at #1 to become the biggest single of 1960. To this day, "Summer Place" is the most successful hit song with "Summer" in its title. Although the late Dick Roman was the first to have a vocal charted hit with "The Theme From 'A Summer Place'," his version only reached #75 on the Cash Box chart in the late summer of 1962.
With the exception of the #35 hit, "Sherry Don't Go," all of the Lettermen's Top 40 hits were remakes. Their other top 40 hits, with the original performers in parenthesis, were "Come Back Silly Girl" (Steve Lawrence), "When I Fall In Love" (Doris Day) and "Hurt So Bad" (Little Anthony And the Imperials).
Engemann was the first original Lettermen member to leave the group. He was replaced by Jim Pike's brother, Gary. Engemann spent many years working with the alumni insurance program at his alma mater, Brigham Young University.
Not all of the Lettermen's hits were ballads as evidenced by this 1965 memory, the remake of Jimmie Rodgers' "Secretly" …
www.youtube.com/watch?v=av7LndF8QGs
Finally, check out the vocals on the B side of that single, the remake of Shelley Fabares' "The Things We Did Last Summer."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyu2t_yvNGI
ENJOY!
PROVO, Utah -- Bobby Engemann, an original member of the vocal group the Lettermen, died Sunday (January 20, 2013) from complications of pneumonia suffered after heart bypass surgery. He was 78. The initial news of Engemann's passing was relayed to this writer by oldies expert Bill Small via the Vintagevinylnews.com web site.
The Lettermen combined their unique vocal harmonies along with bringing back old standards to chalk up 20 hits on the Cash Box pop chart from 1961 to 1971. The group also had at least 32 charted albums.
Engemann, Tony Butala and Jim Pike formed the Lettermen about 1958. The Lettermen's first two singles for Warner Brothers Records in 1960 bombed, but then they hooked up with Capitol Records. Capitol's A&R man, Nic Venet was so impressed with the group's vocal sound that he signed them to a 25-year contract.
At first, it appeared the Lettermen would experience more heartbreak with their first Capitol release. It was a then-30-year-old song ("That's My Desire") that Dion and the Belmonts had done about year earlier as the B side of "Where Or When." The single's flip side would instead be the breakthrough hit. By the late summer of 1961, the Lettermen would score their first of seven top 40 hits with another old standard that, according to Wikipedia, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the 1936 movie, "Swing Time." It sounded like this…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsTguCePLk
"The Way You Look Tonight" reached #8 for the Lettermen but it wasn't their biggest hit. That honor went to a live medley of hits done earlier by Little Anthony and the Imperials and Frankie Valli. "Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" peaked at #7 in early 1968 and sounded like this…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IR-Tbc73Ik
In between, the Lettermen gave us vocals to one of the biggest instrumentals of all time with this #17 hit in 1965….
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnNHKJam5s
"Theme From 'A Summer Place" by Percy Faith spent eight weeks at #1 to become the biggest single of 1960. To this day, "Summer Place" is the most successful hit song with "Summer" in its title. Although the late Dick Roman was the first to have a vocal charted hit with "The Theme From 'A Summer Place'," his version only reached #75 on the Cash Box chart in the late summer of 1962.
With the exception of the #35 hit, "Sherry Don't Go," all of the Lettermen's Top 40 hits were remakes. Their other top 40 hits, with the original performers in parenthesis, were "Come Back Silly Girl" (Steve Lawrence), "When I Fall In Love" (Doris Day) and "Hurt So Bad" (Little Anthony And the Imperials).
Engemann was the first original Lettermen member to leave the group. He was replaced by Jim Pike's brother, Gary. Engemann spent many years working with the alumni insurance program at his alma mater, Brigham Young University.
Not all of the Lettermen's hits were ballads as evidenced by this 1965 memory, the remake of Jimmie Rodgers' "Secretly" …
www.youtube.com/watch?v=av7LndF8QGs
Finally, check out the vocals on the B side of that single, the remake of Shelley Fabares' "The Things We Did Last Summer."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyu2t_yvNGI
ENJOY!