The Rascals

The Rascals (initially known as The Young Rascals) was an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey, United States, in 1965.[1] Between 1966 and 1968 the New Jersey act reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with nine singles, including the #1s "Good Lovin'" (1966), "Groovin'" (1967), and "People Got to Be Free" (1968), as well as big radio hits such as the much-covered "How Can I Be Sure?" (#4 1967) and "A Beautiful Morning" (#3 1968), plus another critical favorite "A Girl Like You" (#10 1967). The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.[2]

For other uses, see Rascal.
The Rascals
The band in 1966. Standing in back: Dino Danelli. Sitting in front (L-R): Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish
Background information
Also known asThe Young Rascals
OriginGarfield, New Jersey, United States
Genres
Years active
  • 1965–1972
  • 1988
  • 2012–2013
Labels
Associated acts
Websitetherascalsarchives.com
Past membersFelix Cavaliere
Eddie Brigati
Gene Cornish
Dino Danelli
David Brigati
Robert Popwell
Danny Weis

The Rascals were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2010 and also reunited in 2012 for a series of shows in New York and New Jersey. The reunion continued in 2013 with shows on Broadway.

History

Eddie Brigati (vocals), Felix Cavaliere (keyboard, vocals),[3] Gene Cornish (guitar) and Dino Danelli (drums) started the band in Brigati and Danelli's hometown of Garfield, New Jersey.[1] Brigati, Cavaliere, and Cornish had previously been members of Joey Dee and the Starliters.[4] Eddie's brother, David Brigati, an original Starliter, helped arrange the vocal harmonies and sang backgrounds on many of the group's recordings (informally earning the designation as the "fifth Rascal"). When Atlantic Records signed them, they discovered that another group, Borrah Minnevitch's and Johnny Puleo's 'Harmonica Rascals', objected to their release of records under the name 'The Rascals'. To avoid conflict, managers Sid Bernstein and founder Billy (Amato) Smith decided to rename the group 'The Young Rascals'.

The Young Rascals' first television performance was on the program Hullabaloo on February 24, 1966, where they performed their debut single "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore". The track reached #23 in Canada and touched the lower reaches of the US charts. This modest success was followed by the US/Canada #1 single "Good Lovin'" (1966, originally recorded by Lemme B. Good & The Olympics in 1965 with different lyrics).[1]

The band's songwriting team of Eddie Brigati and Cavaliere then began providing most of their songs, and the hits kept coming for two years. Their immediate follow-ups to "Good Lovin'", including "You Better Run" (1966; covered in 1980 by Pat Benatar) and "Come On Up" were only modest hits.[1] "I've Been Lonely Too Long" (1967) did better, and "Groovin'"[5] (#1 US/Canada, 1967) returned them to the top of the charts.[1] They reeled off a succession of top 20 US hits, including "A Girl Like You" (1967), "How Can I Be Sure" (1967), "It's Wonderful" (1968), and "A Beautiful Morning" (1968).[1] The band was exceptionally popular in Canada where "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure?" and "A Beautiful Morning" all reached #1. But they struggled in the UK, where they only twice reached the top 75, with "Groovin'" (#8) and "A Girl Like You" (#35). The band would bill themselves as the Young Rascals for the last time with the single release of "It's Wonderful"; they were known from then as simply 'The Rascals'.[1]

Bruce Eder, writing for AllMusic, rates the band's 1967 album Groovin' as their best, noting the record's soulful core and innovative use of jazz and Latin instrumental arrangements. 1968's Once Upon A Dream was the first Rascals album designed from conception as an album, rather than as a vehicle to package their singles (eight of Groovin''s eleven songs had been released as single A or B sides, most in advance of the album). Once Upon a Dream, which peaked at #9 on the album charts, contained the single "It's Wonderful". The album's song "My Hawaii" became a top of the charts hit in Hawaii.

Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits, released in mid-1968, topped the U.S. album chart and became the group's best-selling album. The same year, "People Got to Be Free", a horn-punctuated plea for racial tolerance (the band was known for refusing to tour on segregated bills)[6] just months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and of Robert F. Kennedy, became their third and final U.S. #1 single,[1] and their sixth and final Canadian #1. It was also their final U.S. Top Ten hit, although they remained a Canadian top 10 act for the next few years.

"A Ray of Hope", "Heaven", "See", and "Carry Me Back" were all modest U.S. hits for the band during late 1968 and 1969; all entered the top 40, but none higher than #24. In Canada, however, the Rascals were still major stars; all these songs went top ten, completing a run of 11 straight Canadian top ten hits for The Rascals from 1967 to 1969. December 1969's "Hold On" broke the run of top 40 US singles for the Rascals, stalling at #51, as well as the run of Canadian top tens, peaking at #22.

Brigati left the group in 1970, followed by Cornish in 1971.[1] Their last Rascals album was Search and Nearness (#198 U.S.), which featured Brigati's lead vocals on the Cornish-penned "You Don't Know", a cover of The Box Tops' hit "The Letter", and drummer Danelli's composition "Fortunes". The only single release from the album to chart was the spiritually themed "Glory, Glory" (#58 U.S., #40 Canada), with backing vocals by The Sweet Inspirations. Search and Nearness would be the Rascals' last album for Atlantic Records, with Cavaliere and Danelli taking the band to Columbia Records in mid-1971.

Cavaliere shifted towards more jazz- and gospel-influenced writing for the Rascals' next two albums, the double disc Peaceful World (U.S. #122) and The Island Of Real (U.S. #180), using Robert Popwell and Buzzy Feiten on bass and guitar respectively, and new singers Annie Sutton and Molly Holt.[1] These albums did not sell as well as their earlier work, with none of their associated singles reaching higher than #95 on the U.S. chart. Towards the end of 1970 Danny Weis joined as a replacement for Feiten on guitar. Feiten then again replaced Weis before the group disbanded.

Post break-up

Cavaliere released several solo albums during the 1970s.[1] Brigati, with his brother David, released Lost in the Wilderness in 1976. Cornish and Danelli worked together in Bulldog, who released two albums — one for MCA Records in 1973 with the minor hit single "No", the second for Buddah in '74 — and Fotomaker, who issued three albums on Atlantic in 1978-79.[1] In 1982, Danelli joined Steve Van Zandt in Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul for the group's first two albums.

After appearing at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Celebration on May 14, 1988, the Rascals reunited (with Cavaliere, Cornish, and Danelli) for a brief reunion tour in 1988.[1] The reunion group featured an expanded lineup that included Mel Owens (in Brigati's place) on vocals and percussion, Steve Mackey on bass, Ed Mattey on guitar, Dena Iverson & Cindy McCabe on backup vocals, and a horn section from Nashville to beef up the sound. The reunion did not last beyond the end of the year.

After that, Cavaliere returned to his solo career and in the 1990s there were two factions touring: The New Rascals (featuring Cornish and Danelli) and Cavaliere, who sometimes called his grouping Felix Cavaliere's Rascals. The New Rascals lasted only a short time but toured again in 2006 with two new members, Bill Pascali (formerly of Vanilla Fudge) on vocals and keyboards and Charlie Souza on bass and vocals. The New Rascals released a concert DVD, shot at club Centro in New Jersey on Route 35.

In early 2009, Eddie Brigati put together a project of young musicians who played all the classics. Eddie performed with the group along with his brother David. Called The Boys From The Music House, the band consisted of Anthony Duke Claus, a cousin of Eddie's, on lead vocals and tambourine, Joseph Pomarico on lead guitar, harmonica and background vocals, Adam Sullivan on piano, organ, and background vocals, and Matt Gazzano on drums.

On April 24, 2010, all four members of The Rascals reunited for the Kristen Ann Carr benefit, which was held at New York's Tribeca Grill; Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Van Zandt joined the band for a closing "Good Lovin'".

Once Upon a Dream reunion
The Rascals performing "Groovin'" during one of their 2013 Once Upon a Dream shows. The large video screen helped accentuate song themes and also showed interviews with members and re-enactments of the group's history. Left to right, Gene Cornish, Felix Cavaliere, Dino Danelli, Eddie Brigati, and various supporting players and singers.

The group's original lineup reunited in 2012 for their first public performances in over 40 years with The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream, a combination concert/theatrical event that was produced and directed by Steven Van Zandt and Maureen Van Zandt with lighting/projection by Marc Brickman. In addition to the concert experience, the history of The Rascals, and the history of the 1960s through their music, is a combination of interviews with the four Rascals, filmed scenes of actors enacting key moments in the band's history, news footage, and archival footage of the band. The show originally ran for six performances in December 2012 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York.

Fifteen performances of the show were subsequently delivered from April 15 to May 5, 2013 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in New York City.[7][8] Near the end of the show's Broadway run, it was announced that Once Upon a Dream would be taken on the road, with performances scheduled in various cities on the East coast of North America for a six-month tour during May–November 2013.[9]

Following its national tour, the show was expected to return to Broadway for a second three-week limited-run from December 2013 through January 2014, at the Marquis Theatre, but was canceled.[10]

Legacy

The Rascals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 6, 1997. Steve Van Zandt gave the induction speech and presented the award. All four original members appeared together to perform "Good Lovin'", "Groovin'", "How Can I Be Sure?", and "People Got To Be Free".[11]

In 2005 The Rascals were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

In August 2007 the Rascals' catalog of Atlantic Records albums was re-released by Atlantic Records affiliate Rhino Records.

On June 18, 2009, Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame the ceremony was located at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City where a brief reunion took place with the founder of The Rascals... Billy (Amato) Smith.

Membership

Discography
Main article: The Rascals discography

References
  1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 1285/6. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website". Rockhall.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  3. "Best of the week: Tom Petty, Cantus does the Beatles, Flint Hills Children's Festival, more" Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  4. "Felix Cavaliere's 2009 interview on The Strange Dave Show Part 2". Youtube.com. 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  5. Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 52 - The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 8] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  6. Egan, Sean, ed. (2007). Defining Moments in Music, Cassell, ISBN 1-84403-606-5, p. 360.
  7. The Rascals Reunite for Broadway Dates Associated Press February 22, 2013
  8. Gioia, Michael & Jones, Kenneth. "Broadway Engagement of The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream, Directed by Steven Van Zandt, Opens April 16" Archived 2013-04-19 at the Wayback Machine Playbill.com, April 16, 2013
  9. Playbill.com, "The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream to Embark on North American Tour; Dates and Cities Announced" Archived 2013-06-06 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. Hetrick, Adam & Gioia, Michael. "Broadway Return of The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream Canceled" Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Playbill.com, December 2, 2013
  11. "Felix Cavaliere's 2009 interview on The Strange Dave Show Part 1". Youtube.com. 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
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