RPM45

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 were a blast to talk with. Check them out..I think you’ll enjoy it!

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...

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.

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 experiences, including her beginnings, how she got together with her fellow Supremes. and how she kept the group going after Florence Ballard's death and Diana Ross's departure. Even though Mary had been in the entertainment industry for six decades, she remained enthusiastic and not even thinking about retirement. Her love of performing burned brightly. And she was committed to a cause.…To have her good friend former Supreme Florence Ballard – who died more than 4 decades earlier - commemorated on a U.S. stamp. (For more info, check out this web page: https://about.usps.com/who/csac/#process ) I found Mary Wilson a beautiful person in every way, talented, smart and inspiring. And now, in her honor, I want to share that experience with you.

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 the The Eddie Cantor Story. Dick has got a lot of great stories to tell. And we’ve got some of them right here, including... Chick-A-Boom..

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 probably have never heard Frijid Pink’s version. in this episode of RPM45, Rick tells this story, and more... theirBTW, we had a Zoom problem about halfway through our talk and switched to the phone, which is why rick's audio changes halfway through.

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 before returning to Firefall in the last decade.

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...

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 this episode of RPM45, Andy talks about all that, including their five U.S. hits, their days as a "glam rock" band, the real meaning of "Little Willy," and what's happened since, including their new album – “Isolation Boulevard”

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, The Electric Prunes, Foghat, New Colony Six, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, The Standells, The Whispers, and Wild Cherry. Our clips cover such topics as: One more thing. In the episode, i refer to some YouTube videos. Here's where you'll find them: Lawrence Welk's "One Toke Over the Line": https://youtu.be/t8tdmaEhMHE B.J. Thomas gets wet on The Ed Sullivan Show: https://youtu.be/-GYVu1JHJ9A (rain starts at around 2:00) New Colony Six on Kiddie A-Go-Go: https://youtu.be/hGW4cFMAcS0

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...

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 it on this week’s episode of RPM45.

Here's an off-topic outtake from our talk with Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams. We talk about things other than music, mainly (but not all) about cars. If you're into that, and especially if you're a Baby Boomer, and especially if you're from Chicago, I think you'll relate!

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 with the group -- Carl Giammarese. We cover a bunch of topics including...

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 the start of Bryan's success in music. After he left the band, Bryan became a producer and engineer at King Snake Records, a specialty blues label. He later joined Molly Hatchet and - for the past two decades - has been a member of Foghat. And in this episode of RPM45, Bryan tells about all of it...and more!

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 talk:

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...

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...

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...

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. (There's also an amazing moment around 10:20 where Gary sings for us!) We talk with Gary about...