Video Games Vista: The Guess Who - Clap For The Wolfman Videos

Added: Nov 23, 2008

From: JBauder1948

Duration: 3:59

The Guess Who, the band that became Canada's first international rock music superstars, began in 1962 in Winnipeg as Chad Allen & The Reflections. Including members Randy Bachman (guitar), Jim Kale (bass) and Garry Peterson (drums), Chad Allen and the Reflections had become Chad Allen and the Expressions by the time they recorded a cover of "Shakin' All Over" released by Quality Records in 1965. The song was a #1 single in Canada and reached #22 in America. Burton Cummings joined the group that same year, replacing the keyboard player and sharing lead vocals. Quality Records released the group's first single and album, "Shakin' All Over", in a plain white record jacket with only the question "Guess Who?" written on it. The marketing ploy capitalized on curiosity and the promise of another British Invasion band. It worked. After selling two million copies the band had its trademark name: The Guess Who. Following the success of "Shakin' All Over" the band toured the U.S. as part of Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars Road Revue and in 1967, they landed a regular spot on the CBC-TV Show "Where It's At". The Guess Who traveled to Minneapolis, where they did their first recordings at K-Bank Studios. Their song "His Girl" gave the band a Top 20 hit in England, an offer to sign with London-based King Records and the opportunity to tour. They immediately left for the U.K. After just one album, the band quit King Records and returned to Canada. After recording the promotional album "A Wild Pair" (with The staccatos on the flipside) for Coca-Cola and appearing on the TV show Let's Go, the homecoming of The Guess Who was marked by he sale of their Quality Records contract for $1,000 to Nimbus 9, owned by producer Jack Richardson. Richardson believed so strongly in The Guess Who that he mortgaged his home to finance the recording of the album, "Wheatfield Soul", which was released in 1968. The first single, "These Eyes", reached #1 in Canada, earning the band a U.S. contract with RCA Records. Heralded as the beginning of the Canadian Invasion, "These Eyes" reached #3 in America in 1969 with total sales of more than one million copies. Their second album for RCA, "Canned Wheat" by The Guess Who, also released in 1968, contained the Top 10 hits "Laughing" and "No Time" as well as Top 40 hit "Undun" (the B-side of "Laughing"). Ironically it was "American Woman" from March of 1970 that gave The Guess Who a #1 single in the U.S., unseating The Beatles for three weeks straight. The top 10 album, also entitled "American Woman" contained the hits "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" (the B-Side of American Woman"), which also went to #1 in Billboard for three weeks. It was during the peak of the success that Randy Bachman decided to leave the band (replaced by guitarists Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw) and formed Bachman Turner Overdrive shortly thereafter. Over the next few years the group continued to chart with the singles "Hand Me Down World", "Share The Land", "Bus Rider", "Rain Dance", "Albert Flasher", "Star Baby" and "Clap for the Wolfman", which reached #6 on the Billboard Charts, and the album "Greatest Hits". In all, the group has 14 bona fide Top 40 Hits to it's credit!

Channel: Music

Tags: pop  rock 

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