|
Bill DEAL and the RHONDELS
Virginia Beach
Beach
Bill Deal began his musical
career as a backup musician on studio recordings, including
Jimmy Soul's 1963 hit "If You Wanna Be Happy," a Calypso-style
tune written and produced by Norfolk’s Frank Guida. By 1965
Deal’s own band, The Rhondels, had made a name for itself
throughout Hampton Roads Virginia and northeastern North
Carolina. Deal played keyboard and sang lead. Other band
members in the early days included Mike Kerwin and J. T.
Anderson on guitar, Don Quisenburry on bass, and Ammon Tharp
on drums. So many outstanding horn players joined up that at
one time the “septet” had as many as 12 members and the brass
players – among them, Jeff Pollard, Ronny Rosenbaum, Ken
Dawson, Gary Hardy, Kenny Copeland, Raleigh Ligart, George
Bell and Ron Hallman – took turns playing gigs.
Maurice Williams' "May I" was a
stock number for The Rhondels, so much so that the group
became bored with it. A request for the piece one April night
in 1968 at Virginia Beach’s Peppermint Lounge inspired Deal
and Hardy to break the monotony of the piece by reworking it
to a polka-like beat. They recorded the new rendition the
following day at Warren Miller’s D’Arcy recording studio, with
Ammon Tharp singing lead vocal. The song was picked up by
Philadelphia producer Jerry Ross and reissued nationally on
the Heritage label.
“May I” made it to the Top 40,
followed by a string of other hits including renditions of the
Tams’ "I've Been Hurt" and "What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I
Am)."
The Rhondels’ musical style has been called
Beach, Blue-Eyed Soul and Middle of the Road. Whatever the
genre, the best description of their music is “eminently
danceable,” as longtime fans and new ones from the Carolinas
to the Chesapeake Bay can attest. Try to keep your feet from
moving when The Rhondels take the stage.
|
