About The Rascals
The Rascals are an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey, United States, in 1965.
Between 1966 and 1968 the New Jersey act embraced soul music, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with nine singles, including the #1s "Good Lovin'" , "Groovin'" , and "People Got to Be Free" , as well as big radio hits such as the much-covered "How Can I Be Sure?" and "A Beautiful Morning" , plus another critical favorite "A Girl Like You" , becoming one of the best known examples of the blue-eyed soul genre, along with the Righteous Brothers. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
The Rascals were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2010 and also reunited in 2012 for a series of shows in New York and New Jersey. The reunion continued in 2013 with shows on Broadway.
Felix Cavaliere was already trained in classical piano by his mother when he founded a doo-wop group, the Escorts , while enrolled at Syracuse University. In 1964, Cavaliere took a job with Joey Dee's backing band, the Starliters, of "Peppermint Twist" fame, where he met Starliter David Brigati. When the group played the Choo Choo Club in Garfield, New Jersey, Cavaliere met Brigati's younger brother, Eddie, who wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps. Cavaliere, in an interview with journalist Don Paulson, spoke about his first encounter with the younger Brigati:
I saw a little kid walk into the place. He didn't look old enough to go out of his house alone. He used to walk into the club and no matter who was singing, get on the stage, and bury them with his voice. We made an impression on each other. He used to come around every once in a while, and I loved to play behind his singing. I told him that someday we were going to get together.
Canadian guitarist Gene Cornish left his group, The Unbeatables, for which he acted as their frontman, to join the Starliters, in early 1965. After meeting Cornish, Cavaliere's interest in forming a band of his own led him to convince both Cornish and Brigati to depart from Dee's backing band to start a new one with an old acquaintance of his, jazz drummer Dino Danelli. The group came up with the name "Rascals" while at the Choo Choo Club. Prior to the Rascals name they were using another group name "Them". Because there was another group, which included Van Morrison, using the name "Them" in the UK they dropped that name and came up with The Rascals name through the help of TV comedy star Soupy Sales whom they met through manager Billy Smith. The Rascals were Sales's back up band touring local colleges in the early months of 1965.
Initially, the Rascals began rehearsing at Cavaliere's house in Pelham Manor, New York and then, the Choo Choo Club, mostly because it was close to Brigati's home and they needed a showcase. Later in May 1965, under the direction of their management Billy Smith, they were hired to do a summer engagement at the debut club of The Barge on Dune Road in Westhampton New York, a floating Long Island club, where they settled. There they developed their mixed R&B-soul sound based on Cavaliere's organ and soulful vocals, mostly filled with traditional R&B covers.
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