The Castells
The Castells were a white pop singing group from Santa Rosa, California . They were successful in the early 1960s.
Members
- Tom Hicks (1958-1965)
- Chuck Girard (1958-1965)
- Warren Hays (1958-1959)
- Jeff Bush (1959 – era)
- Bob Ussery (1959-1963)
- Joe Kelly (1959-1965)
- Greg Van Krugel (1963-1966)
history
The Castells started as a trio with Tom Hicks, Chuck Girard and Warren Hays in 1958 when they were still attending high school in Santa Rosa . In 1959 Bob Ussery and the pianist Jeff Bush completed the group. After a radio disc jockey had become aware of the Castells, he sent demo tapes of the group to various record companies, from which Era Records from Hollywood was ready to sign a contract. Previously, Warren Hays had been replaced by Joe Kelly, and when Era insisted on providing the group with an in-house pianist, Jeff Bush was eliminated.
Era Records released the first single with the Castells in January 1961 . Their second record made it into the Hot 100 of the US music magazine Billbord . The title Scared rose to 20th place. The title of the third single, Make Believe Wedding , also reached the Hot 100, but it only reached 98th place. The year 1962 was similar. The song So This Is Love , which was successful in the spring and landed in 21st place, was followed by the In late summer a partial success with Oh! What It Seemed to Be . The cover version of the Frank Sinatra success from 1946 came in 91st. The success with the single title So This Is Love also led to the release of the only Castells long-playing record, which was also released in 1962 under the same title.
In 1963, after ten single and one long-play record production, the contract with the Era record company expired. At the same time Bob Ussery resigned from the Castells, he was replaced by Greg Van Krugel, a schoolmate of Chuck Girard. This was followed by three single releases by Warner Bros. in 1964 and two more singles by Decca in 1965/66 . None of them found any response from the audience, as was the last single by Castells, which was released by United Artists in 1968 after a two-year break . Then the group split up, Chuck Girard released several long-playing records as a solo singer in the 1970s.
US charts on Billboard
| Started | title | Hot 100 |
|---|---|---|
| 5/1961 | Sacred | 20th |
| 10/1961 | Make Believe Wedding | 98 |
| 4/1962 | So this is love | 21st |
| 8/1962 | Oh! What It Seemed | 91. |
US discography
Vinlyl singles
| From page | Catalog no. | published |
|---|---|---|
| Era | ||
| Little Sad Eyes / Romeo | 3038 | 1/1961 |
| Sacred / I Get Dreamy | 3048 | 5/1961 |
| Make Believe Wedding / My Miracle | 3057 | 9/1961 |
| The Vision of You / Stiki De Boom Boom | 3064 | 11/1961 |
| So This Is Love / On the Street of Tears | 3073 | 3/1962 |
| Oh! What It Seemed To Be / Stand There, Mountain | 3083 | 7/1962 |
| Echoes in the Night / Only One | 3089 | 9/1962 |
| Clown Prince / Eternal Love, Eternal Spring | 3098 | 12/1962 |
| Little Sad Eyes / Initials | 3102 | 1/1963 |
| Some Enchanted Evening / What Do Little Girls Dream of | 3107 | 7/1963 |
| Warner bros. | ||
| I do / teardrops | 5421 | 3/1964 |
| Could This Be Magic / Shinny Up Your Own Side | 5445 | 6/1964 |
| Tell Her If I Could / Love Finds a Way | 5486 | 11/1964 |
| Decca | ||
| An Angel Cried / Just Walk Away | 31834 | 8/1965 |
| Life Goes On / I Thought You'd Like That | 31967 | 6/1966 |
| United Artists | ||
| Two Lovers / Jerusalem | 50324 | 1968 |
LP
| So This Is Love, Era 109, 1962 |
| Tracks: So This is Love / I Get Dreamy / Some Enchanted Evening / The Vision of You / Stiki De Boom Boom / Make Believe Wedding / Oh! What It Seemed to Be / Sacred / Stand There Mountain / Little Sad Eyes / Clown Prince / Dancing in the Dark |
literature
- Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000, ISBN 978-0823076901
- Martin Popoff : Standard Catalog of American Records 1948–1991 . Krause Publications, Iola 2010, ISBN 978-1-4402-1131-7 , p. 218.