Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback! I'm Bill Price, and throughout the '50's and '60's, there were numerous Rock and Roll bands, vocal groups, and solo artists. Many went on to have successful music careers, but unfortunately for others, lasting popularity did not always materialize. Some groups managed to achieve brief recognition, sometimes with just one hit, only to vanish from the music scene. A few managed to achieve some success, but only regionally, never quite gaining significant national attention. Those artists have come to be known as One Hit Wonders. During the 1950's and 1960's several bands attained that label. In this edition of One Hit Wonders, I will focus on the careers of solo artist Troy Shondell and The Cascades!
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Rock On!
Through out the '50's and '60's, there were numerous Rock and Roll bands, vocal groups and solo artists. Many went on to have successful music careers, but unfortunately for others, lasting popularity did not always materialize. Some groups managed to achieve brief recognition, sometimes with just one hit, only to vanish from the music scene. A few managed to achieve some success, but only regionally, never quite gaining significant national attention. Those artists have come to be known as One Hit Wonders. During the 1950's and 1960's several bands attained that label.
In this edition of One Hit Wonders, I will focus on the careers of solo artist Troy
Shondell and The Cascades!
Gary Wayne Schelton known as Troy Shondell was born on May 14, 1939. He was
raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and attended Valpariso and Indiana Universities.
At the age of 14, he wrote his first song “A Prayer and a Juke Box”, which was recorded
by Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1959. He also learned to play five music
instruments.
In 1958 Mercury Records released his first single “My Hero”, which was recorded under
the name Gary Shelton. The following year “Kissin at the Drive-In” was released.
In 1959 Mark Records released “The Trance” and “Goodbye Little Darlin”, which sold
favorably in the Midwest, but failed to make it into the Hot 100’s top 40.
By 1960, he began using a new stage name, Troy Shondell, due to the popularity of actor
Troy Donahue at that time.
In 1961 he attained transatlantic recognition selling a million copies with the single “This Time”, a song written by Chips Moman. In March 1958 Thomas Wayne recorded the original version of “This Time”. It was initially released on the Fernwood record label, and on the Mercury label on March 31. Shondell’s version was released in June 1961 first on the Gaye label then on the Goldcrest label in Los Angeles. It sold ten thousand copies in the first week. Six weeks later Shondell signed with Liberty Records. By the third week of September, “This Time” made it into the Billboard charts, and climbed to the top ten. Five weeks later, it peaked at number six, where it remained on the charts for thirteen weeks. By the end of 1961 it reached number 22 in the UK singles chart. In Canada and Norway, it climbed to number four. Interestingly the song’s opening and ending features Spanish guitar. In 1962, Eddie and the Showmen copied the guitar strums for the surfing instrumental “Mr. Rebel “.
Additional singles by Troy included “Tears From an Angel,” written by Jackie
DeShannon, “Island in the Sky” written by Troy and “Na-Ne-No” which was produced
by Phil Spector. His last single release in 1969 was “Let’s Go All the Way.”
Unfortunately, Troy was unable to duplicate the success of “This Time”.
Shondell also wrote “Still Loving You” which was recorded by country music star Bob
Luman. In 1973 the song turned into a Top 10 country hit, resulting in Troy receiving a
BMI Award. He then moved to Nashville, concentrating on country music.
He signed with Acuff-Rose Music as a songwriter and later formed a song publishing
company.
On an interesting note, in 1963 Tommy Jackson had a high school band that went by the
name of Tom and the Tornados. He changed the name to Tom and the Shondells. Troy
happened to be one of his music idols. Tom and the Tornados eventually became Tommy
James and the Shondells, who had several hits in the 1960s.
A Chicago band, originally called themselves The Shon-dells, also in tribute to Troy.
However, before their first release, the record label discovered that Tommy James
already was using Shondells, so they changed their name to The Ides of March. The band would later have a hit with “Vehicle” in 1970.
By 1968 Troy was a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville. He also was the first
recording artist for TRX Records, recording a few discs up until 1969, then he ventured
into music publishing.
In 2001 Troy continued to perform with other artists including Jimmy Clanton and Ray
Peterson. In October 2nd, 2007, Troy paid a musical tribute in Collins, Mississippi to the
late fellow performer Dale Houston, who along with Grace Broussard had a hit in 1963 as the duo Dale and Grace with “I’m Leaving It Up to You”.
Troy Shondell died in January 2016 due to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson disease.
The Cascades started out in 1960 as a group called The Silver Strands. The band
members were in the US Navy, based in San Diego, California. John Gummoe, who was
initially their manager, eventually became a member of the band, which consisted of
Lenny Greene, Dave Wilson Art Esatlick and Dave Stevens.
After leaving the Navy they changed the band’s name to The Thundernotes. Their only
recording on Delfi Records in Hollywood was “Thunder Rhythm”, a surf style
instrumental. The Beach Boys were instrumental in influencing the band to adopt vocal
harmonies. Lenny Greene soon left the band and was replaced with Eddie Snyder, later
David Szabo also joined the group. They signed with Valiant Records, made demo
recordings and changed the band’s name to The Cascades. The name was derived from a dishwasher detergent called Cascade.
By the summer of 1962, their first release “There’s A Reason” was a minor regional hit.
Later at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, they recorded a song that John Gummoe wrote while he was in the Navy, on watch duty during a thunderstorm. That song was “Rhythm of the Rain”. Backing musicians on the recording employed the Wrecking Crew, featuring Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on bass, and Glen Campbell on guitar.
“Rhythm of the Rain” was released in November, and climbed to number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1963. It became a major hit in more than eighty countries,
peaking at number five in the UK and selling over one million copies and earning a gold
disc.
The Cascades later recorded an album and several singles, however they failed to repeat the success of “Rhythm of the Rain”. They continued to perform in local San Diego clubs and toured occasionally. In 1967, Gummoe left the band to pursue a solo career and by 1975 the group disbanded. Then in 1995 and 2004 they reformed, touring in the US and the Philippines where they enjoyed local popularity. The band remained active up until 2012.
In June 1964, The Cascades were the opening group for The Rolling Stones’ first US
concert held at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California. I was one of
the five thousand fans that attended the performance. When the Stones played “Route
66”, the place went wild since San Bernardino is mentioned in the song’s the lyrics.
This has been a look back at the careers of solo artist Troy Shondell and The Cascades
on One Hit Wonders.