The Four Preps

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The Four Preps were a popular music quartet most popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They originally consisted of Bruce Belland (born October 22, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois), Ed Cobb, Marv Ingram, (originally Inabnett) and Glen Larson (born 1937).

The four were students at Hollywood High School and were signed to a long term contract by Capitol Records after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a talent show at that school in 1956. They had a minor chart hit that year with "Dreamy Eyes" and between 1956 and 1964 reached the top 100 charts with 13 different songs. The following year they appeared with Lindsay Crosby on the top-rated television special The Edsel Show.

Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)" which was written by Belland and Larson and reached #2. Those two members of the group also wrote "Big Man" (which reached #3) and "Down by the Station," another lesser hit for the group.

For a short period, Don Clarke replaced Marv Ingram while Marv finished college at UCLA, but he rejoined the group in 1960.

In 1959 the group played themselves in a movie, "Gidget."

In 1966, David Somerville, formerly of The Diamonds, joined the group replacing Cobb. In 1969 the group disbanded, as their type of music became less popular, though they had one last chart hit, "A Letter to the Beatles,"in early 1964. Belland and Somerville continued occasionally to perform as a duo after the breakup.

Belland continued writing songs for other singers, as well as writing television show scripts, eventually becoming a network executive. Cobb became a record producer and sound engineer. He wrote the song "Tainted Love" for Gloria Jones, which became a worldwide hit for Soft Cell in 1982. Somerville went into TV acting and doing voice-overs. Larson became a TV writer and producer. Ingram became a commodities broker. Clarke became a music teacher at Glendora High School.

In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of The Lettermen) eventually re-formed a new "Four Preps" group, and went on to perform. Jim Yester (formerly of The Association) replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the "New Four Preps."

In 1999 Cobb died of leukemia in Honolulu, Hawaii and Ingram died of a heart attack.

Yester, Belland, and Somerville continued performing as a trio, using their last names, doing songs that were associated with The Four Preps, The Diamonds, and The Association.

Belland's daughters, Tracey Bryn Belland and Melissa Brooke Belland (born May 17, 1962) followed in their father's footsteps as singers, forming a group named Voice of the Beehive.