Set an alarm on your phone, put sticky notes on the fridge and the bathroom mirror, tell your neighbor to remind you, just do whatever necessary to make sure you don’t miss Rewind with Jimmy Jay on Hot Oldies Diner radio this week!
Burgers and fries? Sorry, we ain’t got that. But we do have five decades of the best hit music-fresh from our musical kitchen in Tacoma to you, served with a side order of “grit city attitude.”
They were a band with an amazing start. They were promoted as “the next Beatles.” They also suffered unspeakable frustration and tragedy. This week on Rewind with Jimmy Jay, Joey Molland, who is the sole surviving member of the 1970’s band Badfinger will share some of the history of a band that may have had the loftiest expectations, and the most tragic ending during that decade.
Merrilee Rush gained national fame in the U.S. in 1968 with her breakout hit song, Angel of the Morning, which earned her a Grammy nomination for female vocalist of the year. Before that, Merrilee was already well-known on the Pacific Northwest’s thriving teen dance circuit playing packed venues like the Spanish Castle, and Parker’s, both in the Seattle area. She and her bands cut records, found radio play, and were popular on the dance circuit. They were regional celebrities. Then, after Angel of the Morning became a hit in 1968, Merrilee was no longer Seattle’s private treasure. The years of major record deals and television appearances had begun.
“This could be the most outrageous interview you’ve ever heard.”
Recorded prior to Tork’s passing last year, Jimmy didn’t hesitate to ask the hard questions, and Peter didn’t hesitate to give the kind of direct, hard-hitting, and extremely funny answers like only he could.
As the Monkees were becoming a pop phenomenon (they were one of the biggest-selling bands of the 1960s) another rock legend was getting his start in England. Davie Jones fronted a beat combo called the King Bees. As he pursued a solo career, industry folks advised he change his name, so as to avoid confusion with the far more popular British singer Davy Jones. Inspired by American pioneer Jim Bowie and his eponymous knife, Davie Jones changed his name to David Bowie.
