Post by Rob Durkee on Feb 27, 2010 16:49:13 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Lee Freeman, the rhythm guitarist for the band the Strawberry Alarm Clock, died of cancer at his San Francisco Bay area home on February 14, 2010. He was 60. Freeman's brother, Doug, reported the death according to Keith Thursby of the Los Angeles Times.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock rose to fame with "Incense And Peppermints," which rose to #1 on the Cash Box pop chart at Thanksgiving time in 1967. The group's followup release, "Tomorrow," reached #14 but it was its only other pop top 40 hit. The Strawberry Alarm Clock did have three other minor pop chart hits in 1968 with "Sit With Guru" (#56), "Barefoot In Baltimore" (#54) and "Sea Shell" (#98). The group's final pop chart hit was 1969's "Good Morning Starshine" (#85) from the rock musical "Hair."
"Incense And Peppermints' became a chart-topper even though the group hated the song, someone not in group sang lead vocals and it was initially the B side of the song "The Birdman Of Alkatrash." According to writer Fred Bronson, John Carter and Tim Gilbert co-wrote "Incense And Peppermints." Carter, who was an English major at the University of Colorado at the time, called the lyrics "meaningless nouns."
According to Wikipedia, the Strawberry Alarm Clock's members hated the song so much that they simply sang background vocals. Greg Munford, a friend of some of the band members, did the lead vocals and was only 16 years old at the time.
"Incense And Peppermints" was the fourth single release for the group known first as Thee Sixpence. The releases "My Flash On You", "In The Building" and "Heart Full of Rain" were all commercial flops for the All-American label. "Incense And Peppermints" started to get airplay on Los Angeles radio stations. Uni Records bought the song and released it as the A side. The rest is rock music history.
The rest of the Strawberry Alarm Clock lineup consisted of Ed King (lead guitar), Mark Weitz (keyboards), Gary Lovetro (bass) and George Bunnell (bass). Frank Slay, who co-produced the song along with Bill Holmes, denied Weitz and King co-songwriting credit on "Incense And Peppermints" even though it's believed they should have with their instrumentation ideas. King would go on to become a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock also provided the soundtrack music for the Dick Clark movie project, "Psych-Out."
Freeman was born November 8, 1949. He would perform with the group during reunion performances.
Lee Freeman, the rhythm guitarist for the band the Strawberry Alarm Clock, died of cancer at his San Francisco Bay area home on February 14, 2010. He was 60. Freeman's brother, Doug, reported the death according to Keith Thursby of the Los Angeles Times.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock rose to fame with "Incense And Peppermints," which rose to #1 on the Cash Box pop chart at Thanksgiving time in 1967. The group's followup release, "Tomorrow," reached #14 but it was its only other pop top 40 hit. The Strawberry Alarm Clock did have three other minor pop chart hits in 1968 with "Sit With Guru" (#56), "Barefoot In Baltimore" (#54) and "Sea Shell" (#98). The group's final pop chart hit was 1969's "Good Morning Starshine" (#85) from the rock musical "Hair."
"Incense And Peppermints' became a chart-topper even though the group hated the song, someone not in group sang lead vocals and it was initially the B side of the song "The Birdman Of Alkatrash." According to writer Fred Bronson, John Carter and Tim Gilbert co-wrote "Incense And Peppermints." Carter, who was an English major at the University of Colorado at the time, called the lyrics "meaningless nouns."
According to Wikipedia, the Strawberry Alarm Clock's members hated the song so much that they simply sang background vocals. Greg Munford, a friend of some of the band members, did the lead vocals and was only 16 years old at the time.
"Incense And Peppermints" was the fourth single release for the group known first as Thee Sixpence. The releases "My Flash On You", "In The Building" and "Heart Full of Rain" were all commercial flops for the All-American label. "Incense And Peppermints" started to get airplay on Los Angeles radio stations. Uni Records bought the song and released it as the A side. The rest is rock music history.
The rest of the Strawberry Alarm Clock lineup consisted of Ed King (lead guitar), Mark Weitz (keyboards), Gary Lovetro (bass) and George Bunnell (bass). Frank Slay, who co-produced the song along with Bill Holmes, denied Weitz and King co-songwriting credit on "Incense And Peppermints" even though it's believed they should have with their instrumentation ideas. King would go on to become a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock also provided the soundtrack music for the Dick Clark movie project, "Psych-Out."
Freeman was born November 8, 1949. He would perform with the group during reunion performances.