He'd never abandon this aesthetic, crafting a handsome, modest body of work over the course of nearly five decades, but he'd always be known for "American Pie," his fluke 1971 chart-topper. McLean specialized in that netherworld between '60s coffeehouse folk and '70s introspection, navigating the distance between confessional singer/songwriter and MOR pop. For the next couple of years they did quite a few energetic R&B tunes on the Moonglow label that bore similarity to the gospel/soul/rock style of Ray Charles, copping their greatest success with "Little Latin Lupe Lu," which became a garage-band favorite covered by Mitch Ryder, the Kingsmen, and others.ĭon McLean released his debut album, Tapestry, at the dawn of the 1970s when the hangover haze of the 1960s still lingered strongly in the air. By 1963, they were calling themselves the Righteous Brothers, Medley taking the low parts with his smoky baritone, Hatfield taking the higher tenor and falsetto lines. When Medley and Hatfield combined forces in 1962, they emerged from regional groups the Paramours and the Variations in fact, they kept the Paramours billing for their first single. The white Southern California duo were an established journeyman doo wop/R&B act before an association with Phil Spector produced one of the most memorable hits of the 1960s, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." The collaboration soon fell apart, though, and while the singers had some other excellent hit singles in a similar style, they proved unable to sustain their momentum after just a year or two at the top. They weren't brothers, but Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (both born in 1940) were most definitely righteous, defining (and perhaps even inspiring) the term "blue-eyed soul" in the mid-'60s.
His last appearance was on the ironically titled follow-up Keith Potger and the New Seekers, which was issued before the end of the year and featured numerous personnel changes only Eve Graham and Marty Kristian remained, joined by singer Lyn Paul and guitarists/vocalists Paul Layton and Peter Doyle. Potger christened them the New Seekers and produced their self-titled 1970 debut album, and while he did sing with them at first, he soon retired from both performance and production to become their manager, leaving them with no members of the original Seekers. After the Seekers disbanded, guitarist/vocalist Keith Potger put together an otherwise completely new band in late 1969: female vocalists Eve Graham and Sally Graham (no relation), guitarists/vocalists Laurie Heath and Marty Kristian, and bassist/vocalist Chris Barrington. Although their clear harmonies, pop leanings, and squeaky-clean image were similar to the original band, their actual connection was tenuous at best. Known chiefly for making a Coca-Cola jingle into a massive worldwide hit, the New Seekers ostensibly grew out of the ashes of the Australian folk-rock outfit the Seekers ("Georgy Girl").