The Rivieras

A South Flex, IN, rock and roll & roll music group, the Rivieras’ one big hit was among the last great gasps of real American rock and roll & roll prior to the Uk Invasion overran the graphs. Original associates Otto Nuss (body organ), Doug Gean (bass), Marty “Bo” Fortson (vocals and electric guitar), Joe Pennell (electric guitar), and Paul Dennert (drums) had been local teenager ballroom heroes. They documented a supercharged edition from the Joe Jones R&B semi-hit “California Sunlight” having a effective drum intro as well as the now-famous personal guitar and body organ riff. The tune became popular amid the very first flush of Beatlemania, just nudged from the number one i’m all over this the national graphs by “I wish to Keep Your Hands.” Although many equally great 45s and two albums implemented, the bandmembers’ fairly young ages, in conjunction with many personnel changes due to the draft as well as the changing musical environment, triggered the group to split up by 1966. Nuss, Gean, and Fortson reunited the Rivieras within the middle-’80s, documenting and doing regional displays, sounding as great as ever. Though their amount of time in the limelight was short, their one big strike is constantly on the define for potential years everything that’s pulsatingly great about American teen-band rock and roll & roll.