- The Parade
The Parade was an American
sunshine pop group from Los Angeles,California .Career
The group featured
Jerry Riopelle , who played keyboards on severalPhil Spector -produced records; Murray MacLeod, anactor who appeared on "Hawaii Five-O " and "Kung Fu"; and Allen "Smokey" Roberds, another actor. They wrote asong called "Sunshine Girl" which was picked up byA&M Records , and in 1967 the tune hit #20 on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 pop single chart. [Joel Whitburn , "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits". 7th edn, 2000] Among thesession musicians on this recording weredrummer Hal Blaine ,bassist Carol Kaye , andsaxophonist "Teenage" Steve Douglas . Their second single was "She's Got the Magic", for which another actor, Stuart Margolin (later appearing on "The Rockford Files ") was included, but both this and the third single, "Frog Prince", failed to chart.The 1968 "Radio Song" bubbled under the Hot 100 at #127, and the group broke up after two further singles - "She Sleeps Alone" and "Hallelujah Rocket" - were unsuccessful. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wcfuxqw0ld6e~T1 Biography] , Allmusic.com] Riopelle then signed to
Capitol Records as a solo artist, and Macleod and Roberds signed withEpic Records as the duoIan & Murray . Roberds also later performed under the name Freddie Allen, and under this name recorded the tune "We've Only Just Begun", which soon afterward became a hit forThe Carpenters .In March 2008, Now Sounds/Cherry Red Records released a 23 song best-of compilation titled "Sunshine Girl: The Complete Recordings" featuring singles, demos and alternated mixes, as well as a rare Roger Nichols Trio song "Montage Mirror" for which Murray MacLeod was also lead singer along with his sister Melinda.
References
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