UPDATE (11/08/09): The long-awaited rebroadcast of the Five Emprees special, "Talking With The Stars," aired on October 25th. As promised, this show is now available for download: simply go to "Featured Songs," click the relevant file (FIVE EMPREES_PARTS I, II, III or IV, and it's yours to enjoy!
Founding bassist Ron Pelkey was the guest on this four-part interview with Scott Bartel on 740-AM WDGY (St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN), and worldwide (www.wdgyradio.com). "The show presents a Five Emprees music history lesson explained by Ron himself, from the band's inception, to the band's current resurgence playing live once again!" Scott advised. As I've repeatedly stated, if you have even a passing interest in '60s garage band history, be sure not to miss this one!
For those of you who haven't dug too deeply into the site yet, the Five Empreees remain best-known for "Little Miss Sad," an infectious pop-soul blend that peaked at #74 for six weeks during the summer and fall of '65 on "Billboard"'s Top 100 chart.
The Addrisi Brothers-penned song propelled the Benton Harbor, MI band -- Catania, Pelkey, vocalist Don Cook, drummer Michael DeRose, keyboardist Bill Scheuneman -- into rock 'n' roll immortality, earning airplay in Albany, NY; Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; and even several Canadian cities. The song remains an oldies radio staple to this day.
THE FIVE EMPREES RISE AGAIN (AND ARE READY FOR DOWNLOAD!)
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Randy Poole
Focusing furthur on your Billboard Hot 100 chart info re the 5 Emprees' "Little Miss Sad," check out the website oldiesloon.com, which offers archival local chart listings for many major metropolitan area in the Top 40 heyday of pop & rock radio, including Chicago's WLS & WCFL. In September of 1965, the only two artists/groups standing between the 5 Emprees and a vaunted #1 position on the WLS "Silver Dollar Survey" were The Beatles ("Help"
& Sonny and Cher ("I Got You, Babe"...pretty stiff competition for a Benton Harbor band. The oldiesloon.com website is a very valuable source for esoteric/obssessive/compulsive music freaks like me.
& Sonny and Cher ("I Got You, Babe"...pretty stiff competition for a Benton Harbor band. The oldiesloon.com website is a very valuable source for esoteric/obssessive/compulsive music freaks like me.