I WONDER WHAT THEY'RE DOING TODAY !!

Barry was in fact California-based Barry De Vorzon whose career goes back to the mid-fifties. At the time, he was under contract to RCA Victor and cut three singles for them in 1957 and 1958. These were nice teen rockers which fitted in well with those by Nick Venet and The Twin Tones. He then switched to Columbia but only one single was issued in 1960. However, his writing skills were rapidly developing and that's how he made his mark in the muisc business. Here are some of the first songs he wrote or co-wrote for others : 'Dreamin' and 'Girls' (Johnny Burnette - Liberty 55258 and 55345 respectively), 'Just Married' (Marty Robbins - Columbia 41143), 'Hey Little One' (Dorsey Burnette - Era 3019) and 'Treasure Of Your Love' (Eileen Rogers - Columbia 41214). Around 1962, Barry and a partner founded the Valiant label. Shelby Flint had the first release (and the first hit, albeit a minor one) on the new imprint : 'Angel On My Shoulder'. He would stay with the label until 1966.

The big break came in 1963 when Barry discovered The Cascades, a vocal quintet from San Diego, California. In the December 1, 1989, issue of my favorite US mag, 'Goldmine', an interview of De Vorzon by Stu Fink was published and revealed that The Cascades were originally called The Coastlighters ; he renamed them The Cascades after a brand of dishwashing soap ! Comprised of John Gummoe, Dave Wilson, Eddie Snyder, Dave Stevens and Dave Zabo, the group (once described as 'a clean-cut bunch of skin diving mountaineers' by UK music writers, Phil Hardy & Dave Laing) missed the Charts with their first (and excellent) Valiant '45 ('There's A Reason') but they scored a Top 3 hit with the second, Gummoe's own 'Rhythm Of The Rain' - a pretty song which emphasized their smooth harmonies. There were many cover versions of this song, especially in France. Two soft & summery sounding singles followed, featuring songs co-written by De Vorzon and... Bodie Chandler ; 'Shy Girl' was one of them which, coupled with 'The Last Leaf', achieved some degree of success. One album was released on Valiant before The Cascades went to RCA Victor where 'For Your Sweet Love' was a lesser hit in '64. They went on to record for Charter (1964), Liberty (1965), Arwin (1966), Smash (1967), Probe (1968) and UNI (1969) where they had a last small hit, 'Maybe The Rain Will Fall'.


In the aforementioned interview, Barry De Vorzon confessed that he formed his own group, Barry & The Tamerlanes, in order to record a song he had originally co-written for The Cascades. The Tamerlanes were fellow songwriters, Bodie Chandler and Terry Smith ; the song in question, a Chandler-De Vorzon composition, was 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight' - an overnight smash. In terms of singing and production, it perfectly epitomized the sound of 1963 Pop Music : bright and breezy. But clearly, the production values were in full evolution and yet, there was still a direct link to the music of the '50s - like the 'I Wonder, Wonder...' bit, reminiscent of the unforgettable 'Book Of Love' by The Monotones (Argo 5290 ; 1958).

Alas, follow-ups to the hit - all of them, very nice medium tempo Chandler-De Vorzon efforts - didn't meet with success. 'Roberta' was probably too similar to its predecessor to click and its flip, 'Butterfly', co-written by Barry with someone named Crawford, featured a celeste solo close to the one in 'Rhythm Of The Rain'. 'Lucky Guy' was nothing special but I found 'A Date With Judy', with its brass arrangements, very catchy. And before calling it a day as a group in 1964, Barry & The Tamerlanes put out a last single on Valiant which truly should have been better received than it was. The main side was a bouncy remake of an old but influential song from 1954 : 'Gee', by The Crows, featuring handclaps and a good organ solo. Moreover, Chandler's & Smith's rather bland harmonies were richly augmented by those of (I think) P. F. Sloan & Steve Barri. The flip, 'Don't Cry Cindy', is one gorgeous number, with an almost religious feel at times, due in part to the organ backing ; listen for the ending harmonies : wonderful !

Most of these sides, plus a few others such as their own cover of 'Rhythm Of The Rain', appeared on their Valiant LP. For my part, I got acquainted with most of that stuff thanks to a Japanese compilation album titled 'The Cascades v.s. Barry & The Tamerlanes', released by WB in 1985 as part of their remarkable '30th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' series (P-11579). It's clear that those songs blend beautifully well together on LP. However, I don't understand why four of the Cascades songs appear in true stereo (the last two Valiant singles in fact - see discography below) whereas the other four (including 'Rhythm Of The Rain') as well as the whole Barry & The Tamerlanes side (all their Valiant singles minus 'I Don't Want To Be Your Clown' and 'Pretty Things') are mono only. But the sound is superb and the cover cleverly designed. It's a good starting point to investigate De Vorzon's music and Valiant label.
One point of interest was raised by Ronnie Salyer (a collector from Richmond, Virginia) : the version of 'Don't Go' included in that Japanese compilation is not by Barry & The Tamerlanes (it was the flip side of 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight') but by Danny & The Memories, who also cut it for Valiant.

Among countless other credits, Barry De Vorzon co-wrote 'All You Had To Do (Was Tell Me)' with Chris Montez, a song which became Montez's first record (Monogram 500, 1962). Along with Perry Botkin, Jnr., he also co-wrote 'Bless The Beats & Children' which was recorded by The Carpenters on what surely accounts for their best effort, the 1972 album, 'A Song For You' (A & M).
In 1965, De Vorzon discovered a six-man outfit called The Association who would soon prove to be destined for stardom. They had five singles on Valiant, featuring two big 1966 hits : the controversial 'Along Comes Mary' and 'Cherish'. Following the release of their second LP in 1967, 'Renaissance', Barry De Vorzon decided to sell his Valiant label to Warner Bros - at a good profit, added Stu Fink in 'Goldmine'!
In later years, he wrote what may be the biggest-selling TV theme of all time, nanely 'Theme From S.W.A.T.', and in 1976, 'Nadia's Theme', which he had co-written with a longtime friend, Perry Botkin, Jr., was used during the coverage of that year's Olympic Games, shooting to #8 on the US Charts.
All in all, that's a nice career which produced some inoffensive but at the same time, lasting pop music.

© PAUL VIDAL * Privas, France * August 2002

BARRY & THE TAMERLANES	V-6034	I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight / Don't Go
	V-6040	Roberta / Butterfly
	V-6046	Lucky Guy / I Don't Want To Be Your Clown
	V-6050	A Date With Judy / Pretty Things
	V-6059	Gee / Don't Cry Cindy
	W-406	'I WONDER WHAT SHE'S DOING TONIGHT'  (LP)
SHELBY FLINT	V-6001	Angel On My Shoulder / Somebody
	V-6014	Magic Wand / A Broken Vow
	V-6017	I Love A Wanderer / The Riddle Song
	V-6031	Little Dancing Doll / It Really Wouldn't Matter
	W-401	'SHELBY FLINT'
	W-403 mono WS-403 stereo	'SHELBY FLINT SINGS FOLK'  (LP)
	VLM-5003 mono VLS-25003 stereo	'CAST YOUR FATE TO THE WIND'  (LP)
THE CASCADES	V-6021	There's A Reason / Second Chance
	V-6026 [also V-702]	Rhythm Of The Rain / Let Me Be
	V-6028	The Last Leaf / Shy Girl
	V-6032	My First Day Alone / I Wanna Be Your Lover
	W-405	'RHYTHM OF THE RAIN'  (LP) Shy Girl/The Last Leaf/Angel On My Shoulder/Let Me Be/ Dreamin' Lucky Guy/My First Day Alone/Punch & Judy/There's A Reason/ I Wanna Be Your Lover/Was I Dreamin'/Rhythm Of The Rain
BLUE HILLS	V-6043	Wild Side Of Life / ?
DANNY & THE MEMORIES	V-6049 [also V-705]	Don't Go / Can't Help Lovin' That Girl Of Mine
MARCENE HARRIS	V-727	I Just Don't Understand / Guess Who
LORETTA	V-6054	100202 The Cowboy / 100203 My Heart Tells Me To Believe -> Top side written Chandler/De Vorzon, the other by The Addrisi Bros. Both sides arranged by Bodie Chandler. Collector Steve Dykstra, who provided me with this piece of info, wrote : 'This is Loretta Lynn singing rock and roll'.
MOORE & MOORE	V-749	Leave Him & Come To My Arms / You're All I Live For
MOTLEYS	V-739	I'll See Your Light/You
RED COATS	V-6053	Jack Of All Hearts / I'm Only As Good
SAFARIS	V-6036	Kick Out / Lonely Surf Guitar
SILVERTONES	V-6045	Batsheba / Get It -> Real good Surf instros, first released on Goliath 1355.
SWEETS	V-711	The Richest Girl / Mama Saw Me
THE ASSOCIATION	V-730	One Too Many Mornings / Forty Times
	V-741	Along Comes Mary / Your Own Love
	V-747	Cherish / Don't Blame It On Me
	V-755	Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies / Standing Still
	V-758	No Fair At All / Looking Glass
	VLM-5002 mono	'AND THEN... ALONG COMES THE ASSOCIATION'  (LP)
	VLM-5004 mono	'RENAISSANCE'  (LP)
THE FASTEST GROUP ALIVE	V-754	The Bears / Beside

BARRY DE VORZON			THE CASCADES
RCA Victor	7124	Barbara Jean / Baby Doll	RCA Victor	8206	Little Like Lovin' / Cinderella
	7406	Honey Bunny / Too Soon		8268	For Your Sweet Love / Jeannie
	7510	Cora Lee / Blue, Green & Gold		8321	Little Bitty Falling Star / Those Were The Good Old Days
Columbia	41612	Rosemary / Hey Little Darlin'	Charter	1018	My Best Girl / She Was Never Mine
			Liberty	55822	She'll Love Again / I bet You Won't Say
			Arwin	132	Cheryl's Goin' Home / Truly Julie's Blues
				134	All's Fair In Love & War / Midnight Lace
			Smash	2083	Hey Little Girl Of Mine / Blue Hours
				2101	Flying On The Ground / Main Street
			Probe	543	Everyone Is Blossoming / Two Sided Man
			UNI	55152	Maybe The Rain Will Fall / Naggin' Cries
				55169	Indian River / Big City Country Boy
				73069	'MAYBE THE RAIN WILL FALL'