The Champs
The Champs, 1958 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Champs were an American rock band that formed in California in the mid-1950s .
Career
In 1957, the group of changing studio musicians around guitarist Dave Burgess got their first record deal. In 1958 she had her debut single , the instrumental title Tequila , a worldwide million seller , which took first place in the charts in America for five weeks and was the first hit in popular music to receive a Grammy (for the best rhythm and blues record of Year ).
This song was written by Danny Flores (under the pseudonym Chuck Rio), the saxophonist of the band, who also shouts the distinctive exclamation “Tequila!” In the piece. The second track El Rancho Rock only came in at number 30 and Flores decided to continue as a soloist. For him came Jimmy Seals, who brought Dash Crofts with him as a drummer.
The big hits for the Champs after 1958 did not materialize and the group broke up in 1966, but Seals & Crofts stayed together and from 1970 onwards they formed a highly successful soft rock duo with songs like Summer Breeze (1972), Diamond Girl (1973) and Get Closer (1976) had top ten hits in the US.
Danny Flores played tequila for more than four decades. The song kept appearing in commercials. Flores died on September 18, 2006 of complications from pneumonia.
Members
- Dave Burgess, lead guitar
- Dale Norris, guitar
- Buddy Bride, rhythm guitar
- Danny Flores , tenor saxophone (until 1958)
- Jimmy Seals, saxophone
- Ben Norman, electric bass (until 1958)
- Cliff Hils, bass
- Bobby Morris, bass
- Gene Alden, drums (until 1958)
- Dash Crofts, drums
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ Bronson. Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 34
Web links
- The Champs on history-of-rock.com (English)
- The Champs at Allmusic (English)