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Arranger, producer and songwriter who co-penned The
Royal Guardsmen's biggest hit, "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron". Although
it earned them dubious "one-hit wonder" status, he continued
to produce their albums and milk the cow -- er, the dog
-- for three more novelty records. Around the time The Royal Guardsmen
were first planting the seeds of their group, Gernhard was slumming in a
band called The Sugar Beats where he met singer-songwriter Kent
Lavoie. It began a creative
partnership that would last about twelve years. In 1969, Gernhard produced Lavoie's
debut 45, "Happy Days in New York City". The B side was "My Friend is
Here". Although it was an
inauspicious collaborative effort, two years later, the pair struck gold
with a song called "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo." Lavoie, afraid he would go the way
of The Royal Guardsmen and be stereotyped as a novelty act, adopted the
moniker Lobo. The song was a
hit and the name stuck. It was
not the last career Gerhard would help launch. In 1973, he would produce former
Sugar Beat member Jim Stafford's "Swamp Witch", which hit
the top forty. A pair of
follow-ups, "My Girl Bill" and "Wildwood Weed" were
co-produced by Gernhard and Lobo and were both successful, the latter
reaching the top ten in the U.S.
Gernhard also marshalled a bit of a comeback for sixties sensation
Dion by giving him a song called "Abraham, Martin and John", a
song that was supposedly earmarked for The Royal Guardsmen. It put Dion back on the charts and
began another important artistic collaboration for Gernhard, who would go
on to produce a couple of Dion's albums in the '70s. As the decade muddled along,
Gernhard trended towards country, producing The Bellamy Brothers' "Let
Your Love Flow", Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition"
and helping Jo Dee Messina give her a career the shot in the arm that it
needed, signing her to Curb Records.
He even made a brief foray into film and served as Music Supervisor
for the Mike Curb-produced wrestling film Body Slam in 1987. Phil
Gernhard was recently at a platinum-record unveiling for another one of his
prodiges, Rodney Atkins. Lobo
continues to tour internationally and Jim Stafford owns his own theatre in
Branson, Missouri. Not bad for
three Sugar Beats that the sixties weren't all that sweet to.
The Royal
Guardsmen recordings
Snoopy vs. the
Red Baron (Phil Gernhard/Dick Holler)
Sources:
1.
http://www.crazedfanboy.com/spotlight/guardsmen.html
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snoopy_Vs._The_Red_Baron
3.
http://www.mp3.com/albums/82386/summary.html
4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobo_(musician)
5.
http://www.dizzyrambler.com/index.html?legends/Lobo/Lobo.html~mainFrame
6.
http://www.fansoflobo.com/simple.html
7.
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6851082/a/Ruby+Baby.htm
8.
http://www.classicbands.com/lobo.html
9.
http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/lobo/artist.jhtml#bio
10.
http://www.dizzyrambler.com/index.html?legends/JimStafford/Jim_bio.html~mainFrame
11.
http://www.mp3.com/albums/72540/summary.html
12.
http://www.teaprod.com/jodee_messina.htm
13.
http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1536715/20060719/atkins_rodney.jhtml?headlines=true
14.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092684/combined
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