Right Said Fred – brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass – had a #1 hit in the U.S. and a number of countries around the world with “I’m Too Sexy.” But while they are a “one hit wonder” in the U.S., they had multiple hits elsewhere, And they’re making great music to this day. They’re serious musicians, but they don’t take themselves too seriously, and…

Simon Kirke is a British drummer best known as an founding member of Free - most famous for "All Right Now" - and Bad Company - which had a string of '70s hits including "Can't Get Enough," "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" and "Feel Like Makin' Love." In the episode, we talk with Simon about... His teenage gig playing drums in a disco. How his parents gave h…

Bertie Higgins is a multi-talented guy…a singer, songwriter, film producer and performer, most famous for his 1981 Top Ten hit – Key Largo. In this episode of RPM45, we talk with him, and even have a cameo appearance from the woman who inspired his big hit.By Bertie Higgins

I woke up to the sad news this morning that Mary Wilson – one of the founding members of The Supremes – died yesterday. I interviewed Mary Wilson for this podcast in late July. In fact, she was one of the first guests on the RPM45 podcast. It was an honor. Mary looked great on our Zoom call, was extremely gracious to me and open to sharing her life…

Richard Monda - known to music fans as Daddy Dewdrop - had a Top 10 hit in 1971 with Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It), But there's a lot more to his story than just one hit. He's been in entertainment almost of his whole life, including roles in major movies when he was a teen in the early '50s. His biggest role was as a young Eddie Cantor in t…

Rick Stevers is the drummer and leader of Frijid Pink, which scored a Top 10 hit with its hard rocking version of “House of the Rising Sun” in the Winter of 1970. What’s especially interesting about this hit is how close it came to not happening. If the group didn’t have a little extra studio time and if Rick had been dating a different girl, we pr…

Mark Andes is a legendary rock musician…a bassist with an incredible resume. He was a member of Canned Heat and Spirit in the late ‘60s, while still a teen. Later, he became one of the founding members of Firefall, playing on their first four albums, then spent a decade with Heart, a decade with Dan Fogelberg, and played with numerous other artists…

Philip Wright is lead singer and drummer of Paper Lace – famous for its 1974 #1 hit “The Night Chicago Died.” But right before then, Paper Lace had another #1 hit– “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” -- in the U.K. and Australia. (It was covered by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods here.) In this episode, we talk with Phil about... How he and Paper Lace got starte…

Andy Scott was (and is) the lead guitarist of Sweet. He, along with Sweet bassist Steve Priest, drummer Mick Tucker and lead singer Brian Connolly, went through a musical evolution during the ‘70s. They started out as a bubblegum group with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, but evolved into a legitimate rock band playing their own music. In…

After 33 episodes of RPM45, beginning in June, I thought it would be a cool year-end thing to share my favorite moments from those talks. You'll hear highlights from Judy Collins, Gino Vannelli, Gary Puckett, B.J. Thomas, Dave Mason and members of Air Supply, The Association, Blues Magoos, Brewer & Shipley, The Buckinghams, Cutting Crew, The Cyrkle…

Firefall was founded in 1974 by Rick Roberts, Larry Burnett, Mark Andes, David Muse and this episode's guest -- lead guitarist Jock Bartley. By the end of they decade, they had three gold albums and three Top 10 singles: "You Are the Woman," "Just Remember I Love You" and "Strange Way." In this episode we talk with Jock about... How he got started …

Jim Stafford is the singer-songwriter famous for unique ‘70s hits including "Spiders & Snakes", "Swamp Witch," "My Girl Bill", and "Wildwood Weed.” His great sense of humor and charm led his to success on a bunch of TV variety and talk shows and even his own summer series and regular role on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. We talk about all of i…

In the late ‘60s, there were a lot of great groups coming out of Chicago, but the most successful were The Buckinghams – with five major Top 40 hits in the space of little more than a year -- kicked off by "Kind of a Drag"...atop the charts for two weeks in early '67. In this episode, we talk with the guitarist and singer who continues to perform w…

Bryan Bassett is the guitarist who may be best known for his work in Wild Cherry...he created the famous riff that kicks off the band's platinum smash 1976 hit -- "Play That Funky Music." He tells the story of that song, as well as the record's multi-racial appeal that made it Number One on both the pop and R&B charts. But Wild Cherry marked only t…

Roger Earl is a founding member and drummer of Foghat – an English rock band most famous for songs like Slow Ride, Drivin' Wheel and I Just Wanna Make Love to You. The band has achieved eight gold albums, one platinum and one double platinum album, and they’re still going strong. Roger is a life-loving, fun-loving guy and we covered LOTS in our tal…

Wayne Nelson is the bassist and vocalist of Little River Band, and has been for the past 4 decades… LRB gave us many great ‘80s hits including “Reminiscing,” “Lonesome Loser,” “Lady,” “Cool Change” and “The Night Owls” It’s gone through numerous changes since then, but carries on. I talk with Wayne about... His beginnings in music in Chicago. Movin…

James Lowe is the lead singer and guitarist of The Electric Prunes, a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles famous for its 1966 hit: “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night).” The group’s music was sometimes weird, but I found James to be an easygoing, down-to-earth guy with a great sense of humor. We talk about... How he got started in music How The…

Jim Messina has done it all when it comes to making records. He’s been a recording engineer, record producer a singer, songwriter, and guitarist,. He was a member of Buffalo Springfield, pioneering country rock band Poco, and the hit-making duo Loggins and Messina. And, on this week’s RPM45, we talk about... His early days in music, including his h…

Gary Puckett & The Union Gap had an amazing run of hit records from 1968-70: "Woman, Woman,: "Young Girl," "Lady Willpower" "Over You," "Don't Give In to Him" and "This Girl is a Woman Now." In this episode of RPM45, we talk with Gary about beginnings in music, his group's success, the tough times that followed and how he came through it all. (Ther…

In the late ’60s, psychedelic music emerged on the scene. And one of its most successful groups was Blues Magoos – most famous for their Top 5 1966 hit “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet.” In this episode of RPM45, we talk with its organist and vocalist Ralph Scala.By Raplh Scala, Blues Magoos

In this week's RPM45: Dave Mason -- singer, songwriter guitarist -- who’s done a ton in music …from his work with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Traffic, to his own successful solo career (including his hit "We Just Disagree"), to his work with some of the biggest names in the business. In this episode, we talk about... His new version of one…

Larry Tamblyn is the keyboard player and sometimes lead singer of The Standells – famous for their 1966 hit “Dirty Water. He’s got a lot of great stories and he shares them all in a biography he just completed. But he shares quite a few with us in this episode of RPM45. Even though they're not from Boston (surprised? I was), The Standells have beco…

Unlike most guests on RPM45, Russell Hitchcock didn't dream of becoming a music star while growing up in his native Australia. He got into music only because his girlfriend pushed him to audition for Jesus Christ Superstar, where where he met his future band mate Graham Russell. Five years later, Air Supply began a string of seven consecutive Top F…

Trevor Steel is a songwriter, guitarist and lead singer of The Escape Club -- best known for their 1988 No. 1 US hit "Wild, Wild West" and for their top-ten 1991 hit ballad "I'll be There." In this episode of RPM45, Trevor tell us about... The musical hero that motivated him to enter the music business. How an EMI records exec said "we don't hear a…

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils have been entertaining for 50 years with their unique mix of country, rock, bluegrass and pop. In this episode, we talk with Michael “Supe” Granda - who has been a key member for all every one of those years. He talks about... Growing up musically in St. Louis How moving to Springfield, Missouri for college "opened his…

In this episode of RPM45, I get to indulge my inner "Chicago guy” talking with Ronnie Rice of New Colony Six…one of a number of great Chicago bands of the late ’60s. Ronnie was the writer and lead singer of the group’s two biggest hits – “I Will Always Think About You” and “Things I’d Like to Say.” He's a funny guy and I had a great time talking wi…

B.J. Thomas has had an amazing career, with a decades-long string of hits, including eight #1 and 26 Top 10 hits in pop, country and gospel. He's a five-time time Grammy winner, a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, and he won an Oscar as well for "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But aside from his s…

The Whispers -- twin brothers Scotty and Walter Scott, and Leavell Degree – are an L.A,-based R&B group that had a string of Top 40 hits in the early ‘80s – like “And the Beat Goes On,” “It’s a Love Thing” and “Rock Steady.” But the group and its R&B success began more than a decade earlier. In this episode of RPM45, we talk to the Scott twins abou…

Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley are folk singers who became famous for their 1971 Top 10 hit "One Toke Over the Line." But as Michael points out in our talk, their biggest hit isn't like most of their work, which is more socially conscious and ballad oriented. So "One Toke" isn't the only story here, but it is the biggest one. Michael tells the how …

Everyone knows the Supremes – three young women from Detroit who became one of the most successful groups of all time - with 12 number one hits and 21 top 10 hits. And Mary Wilson is the one Supreme who stuck through it all…through the tragic death of her friend Florence Ballard, the departure of Diana Ross for a solo career, and the "new Supremes"…

The Cyrkle had two big hits in 1966: "Red Rubber Ball" and "Turn Down Day." They're also known for being an opening act the Beatles' final U.S. tour that same year. But only a few years before, the band was known as the Rhondells - the #1 party band on the campus of Lafayette University - a small private school in Easton, PA.In this episode of RPM4…

It’s been almost 60 years since Judy Collins released her first album. But Judy Collins is still going strong…still writing and performing, both on record and in concert. We talk about her life, her musical journey, and (of course, since this is RPM45), her Top 10 Hit "Both Sides Now," and what it's meant for her career. My favorite part of the int…

Dennis Coffey is a legendary guitarist from Detroit - a highly coveted session musician for numerous artists and labels, including Motown. As a member of Motown's house band - the "Funk Brothers" - he played on some of its biggest hits by The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and many others.. And in 1971, he had his own Top 10 …

Andy Kim had big hits in the late ‘60s, including the Top Ten “Baby, I Love You,” then made a huge comeback in 1974 with his #1 hit “Rock Me Gently” Andy tells great stories about his gutsy start in the music biz, his songwriting successes (including a #1 hit for a cartoon band), and how Detroit played a pivotal role in two of his records' successe…

Gino Vannelli's unique mix of pop, rock, jazz and R&B took him to major success in the '70s and '80s. He had two platinum album, five gold albums, two top 5 singles in the U.S. and many more in his home country Canada. plus four Grammy nominations and seven Juno awards (Canada's version of the Grammy). But this episode is about more than Gino Vanne…

Nick Van Eede is co-founder and lead singer of Cutting Crew, which had two Top 10 hits in the '80s, including "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"-- #1 in the U.S. and 16 other countries. Nick has great stories about his colorful history in music,including how he got discovered, the meaning of Cutting Crew's #1 hit, and when the group knew it was time to c…

We are very grateful to have Russ Giguere of one of the late '60s greatest groups -- The Association. We talk about how the group started, its hits, how he overcame stage fright and much much moreBy Russ Giguere, The Association