t***@iwvisp.com
2017-04-12 18:00:04 UTC
Guitarist J. Geils, born John Warren Geils Jr., has reportedly died. He was 71.
WCVB-TV Boston reports Geils was found dead in his Groton, Massachusetts, home. He had lived in the town for 35 years.
As leader of The J. Geils Band, the group had 17 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including 10 top 40-charting hits. The band's biggest single, "Centerfold," spent six weeks at No. 1 and "Freeze-Frame" peaked at No. 4.
Billboard reached out to the Groton Police Department to confirm the report, but they declined to comment at this time.
Geils formed The J. Geils Band in 1967 with Danny Klein, Magic Dick Salwitz, Stephen Jo Bladd and Peter Wolf (later Seth Justman joined) while studying mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They released 11 studio albums before breaking up in 1985. The group would reunite on and off over the years following.
The band's other charting singles include "Love Stinks" (No. 38), "Give It To Me" (No. 30), "Must of Got Lost" (No. 12) and "I Do" (No. 24). They also had 15 charting albums on the Billboard 200, including the No. 1 set Freeze-Frame, which spent four weeks atop the list in 1982 and finished at No. 5 on Billboard's year-end Top Pop Albums chart (while "Centerfold" was the year's No. 5 Top Pop Single).
In 2012, The J. Geils Band toured without Geils' involvement, leading the founding guitarist to file an unsuccessful lawsuit against group members Richard Salwitz, Danny Klein, Peter Wolf and Seth Justman over use of the band's name for a tour without him. Geils left the band permanently following this incident.
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I added this Obit to the '60's group, even though the J Geils Band was '70's and 80's, because my favorite JGB is "Ain't Nothing But A House Party" which originated in the '60's. And it has an interesting history.
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From Wiki:
After rehearsing under the guidance of Solomon Burke, they modeled themselves initially on The Vibrations. After signing to local Philadelphia label Showtime Records, The Showstoppers had a couple of local hit singles in Philadelphia. Their 1967 hit "Ain't Nothin' But a Houseparty" b/w "What Can a Man Do?" (STR 101), sold well in Pittsburgh, and New York City, and sold about 40,000 copies in Philadelphia, and reached #118 on the Billboard charts on May 27, 1967. The session musicians on the song included Carl Chambers, who was later drummer with Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Joe Thomas, who went on to become the guitarist with The Impressions.
By early 1968 Antiguan-born American businessman Milton Samuel, the head of Beacon Records, a small independent record label started in January 1968 in the Afro-Caribbean London suburb of Willesden,[ who was later Antigua & Barbuda's Ambassador to the UK and the founder of the Bank of Antigua, purchased the UK leasing rights for "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" for only £30. On February 16, 1968, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" became the first release on Beacon Records, (giving it its only hit). In March 1968 Samuel and Mike Berry of Apple Records had negotiated a deal for "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" to be released through a newly created Milton Apple Music, but the inability to locate one of The Beatles to approve the deal forced Samuel to make alternate arrangements. Initially distributed through the British Independent Record Distributors Network, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" caught on with DJs in the UK, and spent 16 weeks in the charts, debuting at #57 on March 2, 1968, before entering the Top 40 at #38 on March 23, 1968. By the end of March, Samuel organized a British visit for the Showstoppers. The Showstoppers made the first of their three appearances on the British television program Top of the Pops on April 18, 1968. According to one British source, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" "was played to death and back to life at the Twisted Wheel and Blue Note Club in Manchester", and peaked at #11 on May 4, 1968 in the UK Singles Chart. Later in May 1968 "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" was released in Germany on Ariola Records and France on Barclay Records, and later released by Beacon in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Austria, Italy, Japan and New Zealand.
Jerry J. Ross (born May 1, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), the head of newly created Heritage Records, heard about "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" from Hal Charm, his national promotions director, and decided to buy the master recordings of "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" by late April 1968, and also signed the Showstoppers to his label, became their manager, and organized MGM to distribute its re-release in the USA. Despite rights being acquired for national release by MGM, it failed to become a national hit, spending 5 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #87 on June 22, 1968. It was ranked #20 on the Soul Brothers Top 20 on August 15, 1968.
"Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" was a discothèque hit (#33) in 1971.
Regarded as a Northern soul classic, the song has been covered by The Tremeloes (1968); The Paper Dolls; Cliff Richard on his album Cliff: Live at the Talk of the Town (1970); The J. Geils Band, who had a #2 AOR U.S. hit with it in 1973; and Phil Fearon, who recorded a house music version produced by Stock Aitken Waterman in 1986 that reached #60 in the UK charts. "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" was covered in 1988 by British "supergroup" The Corporation.
Ray Arthur
WCVB-TV Boston reports Geils was found dead in his Groton, Massachusetts, home. He had lived in the town for 35 years.
As leader of The J. Geils Band, the group had 17 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including 10 top 40-charting hits. The band's biggest single, "Centerfold," spent six weeks at No. 1 and "Freeze-Frame" peaked at No. 4.
Billboard reached out to the Groton Police Department to confirm the report, but they declined to comment at this time.
Geils formed The J. Geils Band in 1967 with Danny Klein, Magic Dick Salwitz, Stephen Jo Bladd and Peter Wolf (later Seth Justman joined) while studying mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They released 11 studio albums before breaking up in 1985. The group would reunite on and off over the years following.
The band's other charting singles include "Love Stinks" (No. 38), "Give It To Me" (No. 30), "Must of Got Lost" (No. 12) and "I Do" (No. 24). They also had 15 charting albums on the Billboard 200, including the No. 1 set Freeze-Frame, which spent four weeks atop the list in 1982 and finished at No. 5 on Billboard's year-end Top Pop Albums chart (while "Centerfold" was the year's No. 5 Top Pop Single).
In 2012, The J. Geils Band toured without Geils' involvement, leading the founding guitarist to file an unsuccessful lawsuit against group members Richard Salwitz, Danny Klein, Peter Wolf and Seth Justman over use of the band's name for a tour without him. Geils left the band permanently following this incident.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
I added this Obit to the '60's group, even though the J Geils Band was '70's and 80's, because my favorite JGB is "Ain't Nothing But A House Party" which originated in the '60's. And it has an interesting history.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
From Wiki:
After rehearsing under the guidance of Solomon Burke, they modeled themselves initially on The Vibrations. After signing to local Philadelphia label Showtime Records, The Showstoppers had a couple of local hit singles in Philadelphia. Their 1967 hit "Ain't Nothin' But a Houseparty" b/w "What Can a Man Do?" (STR 101), sold well in Pittsburgh, and New York City, and sold about 40,000 copies in Philadelphia, and reached #118 on the Billboard charts on May 27, 1967. The session musicians on the song included Carl Chambers, who was later drummer with Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Joe Thomas, who went on to become the guitarist with The Impressions.
By early 1968 Antiguan-born American businessman Milton Samuel, the head of Beacon Records, a small independent record label started in January 1968 in the Afro-Caribbean London suburb of Willesden,[ who was later Antigua & Barbuda's Ambassador to the UK and the founder of the Bank of Antigua, purchased the UK leasing rights for "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" for only £30. On February 16, 1968, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" became the first release on Beacon Records, (giving it its only hit). In March 1968 Samuel and Mike Berry of Apple Records had negotiated a deal for "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" to be released through a newly created Milton Apple Music, but the inability to locate one of The Beatles to approve the deal forced Samuel to make alternate arrangements. Initially distributed through the British Independent Record Distributors Network, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" caught on with DJs in the UK, and spent 16 weeks in the charts, debuting at #57 on March 2, 1968, before entering the Top 40 at #38 on March 23, 1968. By the end of March, Samuel organized a British visit for the Showstoppers. The Showstoppers made the first of their three appearances on the British television program Top of the Pops on April 18, 1968. According to one British source, "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" "was played to death and back to life at the Twisted Wheel and Blue Note Club in Manchester", and peaked at #11 on May 4, 1968 in the UK Singles Chart. Later in May 1968 "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" was released in Germany on Ariola Records and France on Barclay Records, and later released by Beacon in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Austria, Italy, Japan and New Zealand.
Jerry J. Ross (born May 1, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), the head of newly created Heritage Records, heard about "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" from Hal Charm, his national promotions director, and decided to buy the master recordings of "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" by late April 1968, and also signed the Showstoppers to his label, became their manager, and organized MGM to distribute its re-release in the USA. Despite rights being acquired for national release by MGM, it failed to become a national hit, spending 5 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #87 on June 22, 1968. It was ranked #20 on the Soul Brothers Top 20 on August 15, 1968.
"Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" was a discothèque hit (#33) in 1971.
Regarded as a Northern soul classic, the song has been covered by The Tremeloes (1968); The Paper Dolls; Cliff Richard on his album Cliff: Live at the Talk of the Town (1970); The J. Geils Band, who had a #2 AOR U.S. hit with it in 1973; and Phil Fearon, who recorded a house music version produced by Stock Aitken Waterman in 1986 that reached #60 in the UK charts. "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" was covered in 1988 by British "supergroup" The Corporation.
Ray Arthur