One Hit Wonder: John Fred & His Playboy Band

Welcome to an other episode of One Hit Wonders on rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this podcast episode I will review the story of John Fred and His Playboy Band who had a hit in 1968.

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Transcript

Welcome to an other episode of One Hit Wonders. In this podcast, I will review the story of John Fred and His Playboy Band who had a hit in 1968.

John Fred Gourrier was born on May 8th, 1941 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When John was fifteen years old in 1956, he formed a rhythm and blues band called John Fred and the Playboys. In 1958 the band recorded a song titled “Shirley”. The recording featured instrumentation by Fats Domino’s backing band.  The single managed to climb to number eighty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1959. This enabled them to appear on Alan Feed’s The Big Beat television program. Fred turned down an opportunity to appear on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand due to a prior commitment for a high school basketball game.  However, several follow up singles failed to chart, and the band split up in 1961 when Fred attended college at Louisiana State University and Southeastern Louisiana University.

Here is the band’s first single to enter the Billboard chart in 1958 titled “Shirley”.

In 1964 a new band was formed called John Fred and His Playboys.

Rocky Robin financed a recording session for Fred and the Playboys at the La Louisianne Recording Studio located in Lafayette, Louisiana. The session produced cover versions of John Lee Hooker’s  “Boogie Chillun” and Frankie Lee Sims’ “Walking with Frankie”.  Stan Lewis, owner of   a record shop in Shreveport, Louisiana, released  “Boogie Chillen’” on his new record label called Jewel Records. The single caught the attention of Wolfman Jack, who was then broadcasting from XERF in Mexico. The Wolfman loved the record, that he would play it six times in a row. Be sure to check out podcast number 193, where I highlight the story of Wolfman Jack. Interestingly, years later when Fred met Elvis Presley backstage at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Presley turned to Fred and said “John Fred and the Playboys… “Boogie Chillun”.  

Here is an excerpt the band’s cover of  “Boogie Chillun”.  

Two albums were recorded and released using the new band name. However the name was changed to John Fred and His Playboy Band so as not to be confused with Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Fred and band member Andrew Bernard became the band’s main songwriters, which resulted in their biggest hit titled "Judy in Disguise –With Glasses”. Initially the single did not impress the music director at WTIX in New Orleans. Initially he declared that it was the worst record that he had heard. However, once the station experienced an explosive response from the listeners, he then proclaimed this is a number one record.  Fred explained that the inspiration for the song came when the band was touring in 1967. At that time the girls in the audience wore big old sunglasses. When one girl took off the sunglasses, Fred got the idea that she was kind of in disguise. The song’s titled is a parody of the Beatles’ song titled “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Interestingly it also displaced the Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” for two weeks from the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 and also became a worldwide hit.  The single went on to sell over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The band performed on the NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. They also traveled to Apple Records in London to meet The Beatles. With the success of  “Judy in Disguise”, the band was considered a novelty group. Unfortunately they were not able to achieve an other major hit.  The follow up single titled “Hey, Hey Bunny” released in 1968, only managed to reach number fifty seven on the Billboard chart. Up until 1988 the band continued to record and release singles, however none made it into the charts.

Fred continued to perform in several bands, coached high school basketball and appeared in concerts and shows in Baton Rouge. He also served as producer for other artists, which included Irma Thomas and Fats Domino, plus he also hosted a local radio program called “The Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll” on WBRH in Baton Rouge.  Several solo albums and a group effort by The Louisiana boys with Joe Stampley were recorded and released. Fred also wrote and produced radio jingles and commercials, which earned two Clio Awards.

In 1999, Fred was awarded the Louisiana Hall of Fame Living Legend Award and in 2007, he was the first artist that was inducted into the Louisiana music Hall of Fame.

Fred was also inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame and the Delta Music Hall of Fame. The discography includes ten studio albums, four compilation albums and thirty seven singles. John Fred Gourrier died on April 15th, 2005 at the age of sixty three.

I’ll conclude this episode with the band’s number one hit from 1967 "Judy in Disguise –With Glasses”.

This has been a look back at the band John Fred and his Playboy Band one of the One Hit Wonder groups of the 1960's. And until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.