The Lemon Pipers
| The Lemon Pipers | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Oxford, Ohio, United States |
| Genres | Psychedelic pop, bubblegum pop |
| Years active | 1966–1969 |
| Labels | Buddah |
| Associated acts | Starstruck, Ram Jam |
| Past members |
|
The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s psychedelic pop band from Oxford, Ohio, known chiefly for their song "Green Tambourine", which reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. The song has been credited as being the first bubblegum pop chart-topper.
The Lemon Pipers comprised drummer William E. Albaugh (1948–1999), guitarist Bill Bartlett (born 1946, South Harrow, Middlesex, England), vocalist Dale "Ivan" Browne (born 1947), keyboardist Robert G. "Reg" Nave (born 1945), and bassist Steve Walmsley (born 1948, Cleveland, Ohio ) who replaced the original bass guitarist Bob "Dude" Dudek.
The band was formed in 1966 by student musicians from Oxford, Ohio, who had played the college bars with their previous groups that included The Wombats (Nave), Ivan and the Sabres (Browne) and Tony and the Bandits (Bartlett, Albaugh and Dudek). The band played a mixture of blues, hard rock and folk rock, with a few covers from Byrds and The Who. They gigged regularly in an Oxford bar called The Boar's Head, and Cincinnati underground rock venues, The Mug Club and later The Ludlow Garage, and released a single on the Carol Records label, "Quiet Please". The original band existed as a quartet, and then gained notoriety by reaching the finals in the Ohio Battle of the Bands at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in 1967, losing out to the James Gang.
The band then recruited Miami University student Browne as frontman, and also engaged Ohio music-industry impresario Mark Barger, who steered the Lemon Pipers to Buddah Records, then run by Neil Bogart. The Lemon Pipers, relying in part on advice from Barger, agreed to enter into a recording contract and music publishing deal with Buddah. The group began playing larger auditorium and concert hall venues around the US, including an appearance at Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco on the same bill with Traffic, Moby Grape and Spirit on March 21, 1968. Buddah's plans for the group focused on bubblegum pop rather than rock, and the Lemon Pipers joined a stable already containing Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company. Paul Leka was assigned to be their record producer.
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