The Four Preps part 2

Often I am asked what was my favorite job in broadcasting. Over the years I've done a lot of them. From Disk Jockey, News Person, Investigative Reporter, Advertising Sales, Sales Manager, Program/Music Director, Studio Engineer, TV Weather and Sports Anchor, Field Reporter, Videographer, Studio Camera Operator, Video and Audio Switcher, and Radio Station General Mangler, er Manager. My favorite? That's easy; it is being a Disk Jockey. I have been very fortunate to work along side some really great people in the business and my style I think reflects a little bit of each of them. Probably my two favorite music formats to work are Oldies and Country. I actually spent more time working those than all the others, although I feel pretty comfortable doing a easy listening music format as well. Both Oldies and Country Music gave me the chance to let my slightly off center way of looking at things show through as well as having a very loyal listener audience.

Last time I started to talk about my first interview with Bruce Belland of The Four Preps, the original interview ran over an hour on the air as we had a lot of ground to cover. This time I would like to talk more about the Group and their music. The Preps first music session in the latter part of 1956 yielded a great slow song called Dreamy Eyes. The song, although it was in my opinion a very good song, was only a minor chart hit. The follow up single 26 Miles written by Prep's Belland, (he started writing it in Jr. High School) and Larson, it hit the top of the charts. Interestingly enough Bruce Belland had never been to Santa Catalina before he wrote the song. All he knew that his favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs did some spring training there, so “it had to be a magical place.” Another bit of trivia, “26 Miles” was not the “A” side of the record, but as often happened some disk jockey turned over the record, and the rest was history.

Bruce was one of those artists I liked instantly, our initial telephone call to set up the interview lasted quite a while and we both took turns cracking each other up. It was no different on the air, as both of us related stories that maybe would not have normally been aired. I remember Bruce getting a kick out of my telling him about warming for the community Christmas Choir to The New Four Preps, (Bruce Belland, Dave Somerville, Ed Cobb, and Jim Yester) and trying to get my breathing to where I could hold a note as long as they did. Bruce credits their great harmony and tight sound to producer Lincoln Mayorga, sometimes called “The Fifth Four Prep.”

The Preps next hit was in 1960 a song called “Down By The Station.” To my way of thinking it was some of their finest harmony. That song was the first single record that the “new” Fender Bass was used on and it supplied the chug chug sound rhythm on the record. You can really hear it in the remastered cut on their greatest hits CD.

The Preps songs were not without a certain amount of controversy. A song called “Letter to The Beatles” about a guy whose girlfriend is infatuated by the “Fab Four” was pulled by Capitol Records after The Beatles threatened to sue. That song is on the Greatest Hits CD. The Preps did many parodies of music groups of the day including those in a song called “More Money for You and Me.” that song came out just after the election of President John Kennedy and was inspired in part by the Peace Corps. The Preps musically are dead on with their impressions of the Fleetwood's, Hollywood Argyles, Platters, Kingston Trio and others as they share what they want these artists to do so there will be “More Money For You And Me.” The Preps would listen to the songs and each one would try their voice at imitating the lead singer. With such a great range of talent, you would swear you are hearing the actual groups. Another bit of controversy came with their imitation of Dion and The Belmont's and the parody of “Teenager in Love”. In the song they changed the lyric line to “why must I be a teenager in jail.” It seems for quite sometime when Dion would perform the audience would yell out “jail” as Dion was singing the word love.

Bruce to this day stays busy, from his long time association with Dave Somerville of The Diamonds and Jim Yester from The Association in Y.B.S. Gold, to a 50th anniversary tour of the Four Preps. Quite a few tour dates are scheduled; see the web site www.thefourpreps.com. . He says, “I can't go too many days without opening the pipes.” Bruce still writes and produces as well and was a major contributor to Dave Somerville's CD “The Cosmic Adventures of Diamond Dave.” Bruce is currently doing a 50th anniversary Four Preps tour. For more information see his web site www.thefourpreps.com.

Trivia: In the Four Preps song “Down by The Station” how many girls does the boy fall in love with? The answer is Three. With the third one telling him to “go down by the station and catch yourself a trolley car that goes into the sea.”