The Lettermen

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The Lettermen are a pop music, vocal group.

The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. They were popular mainly with adult audiences during the 1960s.

1 History
2 Personnel
3 Awards and recognition
4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 Singles
5 External links

[edit] History

The group was formed in late 1950s by Mike Barnett, Dick Stewart and Tony Butala. They auditioned for Jackie Barnett, chief comedy writer for the Jimmy Durante TV show. They landed the part to impersonate the Rythem Boys, the vocal group that traveled with Paul Whiteman and his orchestra in the late 1920s. The "Newcomers of 1928" review opened February 28, 1958 at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, Nevada. This review also starred Paul Whiteman, Buster Keaton, Rudy Valee, Harry Richmond and Fifi D'Orsay. They played to sell-out audiences and were held over for many weeks. This review also played a six week review at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, with Butala being the only consistent Letterman. Barnett and Russell were replaced by Gary Clarke and Jerry Paul. When the review ended, Butala landed a job as singer/bass player in a lounge group, "Bill Norvas and the Upstarts", with Gary Clarke. After a few months, Clarke left the group and was replaced by Jim Pike. Pike and Butala decided to leave the Upstarts and resume the Lettermen. Pike recommended the third Letterman should be Bob Engemann, a singer that Pike had met when he attended Brigham Young University,a few years earlier. This combination first recorded in late 1959. They secured a record contract with Warner Brothers Records and released two single records in the space of one year, 1960.

They remained relatively unknown until they signed with Capitol Records in 1961. Their first single for Capitol, "The Way You Look Tonight," succeeded on the pop charts, and their next, "When I Fall in Love," reached the Top 10 in late 1961. They had several other Top 10 hits, such as the 1965 "A Theme From A Summer Place", the 1968 medley "Goin' Out of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off of You", and 1969's "Hurt So Bad". They had 32 consecutive Billboard Magazine chart albums. In 1961, they started performing live concerts doing 100+ shows a year, an unbroken string that continues to the present now amounting to 47 straight years.

Over the decades, the group has had various line-ups, replacing members who left for various reasons with new people to maintain a trio. Tony Butala, who (as of 2007) is still a member, has stated that the group ethos is that of three strong soloists that harmonize, and that the group encourages individual singing and songwriting.

They pride themselves in welcoming audience member photographs during the show, unlike many recording acts.

[edit] Personnel

Tony Butala
Bob Engermann
Gary Pike
Donny Pike
Jim Pike
Ralph "Chad" Nichols
Don Campeau
Ernie Pontiere
Bobby Poynton
Darren Dowler
Donovan Tea
Mark Preston was asked to join the group in 1980, but due to previous commitments, had to turn the offer down. In the following years, Mark was the opening act for Phyllis Diller, as well as stand-in and photo double for Vega$ star Robert Urich. In 1984, Butala called again, and at that time, Mark joined the group. Along with Donovan Tea (who started the same day) the trio released several singles, and two albums.

Mark left the group in 1988, and returned to a solo career that encompassed showrooms around the country, and many different cruise lines. In January of 2006, Mark rejoined the Lettermen, and the combination of Butala, Tea and Preston is the current lineup.

David "Red" Saber (now a maritime captain hired to scatter cremated ashes in the sea at Redondo Beach, California) — a biography of him

[edit] Awards and recognition

Inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

A Song for Young Love (1962)
Once Upon a Time (1962)
Jim, Tony and Bob (1962)
College Standards (1963)
The Lettermen in Concert (1963) (Live)
A Lettermen Kind of Love (1964)
She Cried (1964)
The Lettermen Look at Love (1964)
Portrait of My Love (1965)
The Hit Sounds of the Letter (1965)
You'll Never Walk Alone (1965)
More Hit Sounds of the Lettermen (1966)
New Song for Young Love (1966)
The Best of the Lettermen (1966)
Spring! (1967)
The Lettermen!!...And Live! (1967) (Live)
Warm (1967)
Goin' Out of My Head (1968)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (1968)
Special Request (1968)
Hurt So Bad (1969)
I Have Dreamed (1969)
The Best of the Lettermen, Volume 2 (1969)
Reflections (1970)
Traces/Memories (1970)
Everything's Good About You (1971)
Feelings (1971)
Love Book (1971)
Lettermen 1 (1972)
Alive Again...Naturally (1973)
All-Time Greatest Hits (1974)
For Christmas This Year (1990)
Close to You (1992)
Sing We Noel (1992)
Twin Best Now (1992) (Japanese import)
When I Fall in Love (1992)
Why I Love Her (1987- re-released in 1993 and again in 2006)
The Best of the Lettermen (1993)
Deck the Halls (1995)
Today (1997)
Christmas with the Lettermen (1997)
Memories: The Very Best of Lettermen (1999)
Greatest Movie Hits (2000)
A Song for Young Love/Once Once Upon a Time (2003)
Greatest Hits: The Priceless Collection (2003)
Absolutely The Best (2004)
The Lettermen: Complete Hits (2006)

[edit] Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US AC
1961	"The Way You Look Tonight"	13	3
1961	"When I Fall in Love"	7	1
1962	"Son of Old Rivers"¹	-	-
1962	"Come Back Silly Girl"	17	3
1962	"How Is Julie?"	42	16
1962	"Turn Around, Look at Me"²	105	-
1962	"Silly Boy (She Doesn't Love You)"	81	-
1962	"Again"³	120	-
1963	"Heartache Oh Heartache"⁴	122	-
1963	"Allentown Jail"⁵	123	-
1963	"Where or When"	98	-
1964	"Put Away Your Tear Drops"⁶	132	-
1964	"You Don't Know Just How Lucky You Are"	-	-
1965	"Girl with a Little Tin Heart"⁷	135	-
1965	"Theme from A Summer Place"	16	2
1965	"Secretly"	64	8
1965	"Sweet September"⁸	114	24
1966	"You'll Be Needin' Me"	-	-
1966	"I Only Have Eyes for You"	72	4
1966	"Chanson D'Amour"⁹	112	8
1967	"Our Winter Love"	72	16
1967	"Volare"	-	17
1967	"Somewhere My Love"	-	-
1967	"Goin' Out of My Head / Can't Take My Eyes Off You"	7	2
1968	"Sherry Don't Go"	52	9
1968	"All the Grey Haired Men"¹⁰	109	-
1968	"Holly"	-	-
1968	"Medley: Love Is Blue/Greensleeves"	-	-
1968	"Sally le Roy"	-	-
1968	"Put Your Head on My Shoulder"	44	8
1969	"I Have Dreamed"¹¹	129	16
1969	"Blue on Blue"	-	-
1969	"Hurt So Bad"	12	2
1969	"Shangri-La"	64	8
1969	"Traces/Memories Medley"	47	3
1970	"Hang On Sloopy"	93	18
1970	"She Cried"	73	6
1970	"Hey Girl"¹²	104	17
1971	"Morning Girl"	-	34
1971	"Everything Is Good About You"	74	6
1971	"The Greatest Discovery"	-	-
1971	"Feelings"	-	33
1971	"Love"	42	8
1971	"Oh My Love"	-	-
1972	"Spin Away"	-	-
1973	"Sandman"	-	-
1973	"Summer Song"	-	25
1974	"The You Part of Me"	-	-
1974	"Touch Me in the Morning/The Way We Were"	-	31
1975	"Eastward"	-	16
1975	"You Are My Sunshine Girl"	-	28
1976	"If You Feel the Way I Do"	-	-
1976	"The Way You Look Tonight"¹³	-	-
1977	"What I Did for Love"	-	-
1979	"World Fantasy"	-	-
1980	"In the Morning I'm Coming Home"	-	-
1985	"It Feels like Christmas"	-	-
1986	"Proud Lady of America"	-	-
1987	"One More Summer Night"	-	-
1988	"All I Ask of You"	-	-

Footnotes:
¹"Son of Old Rivers," a parody of "Old Rivers" by Walter Brennan, was released as by Tony, Bob, and Jimmy.
²"Turn Around, Look at Me," the b-side of "How Is Julie?," did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
³"Again" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #20 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁴"Heartache Oh Heartache" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #22 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁵"Allentown Jail" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #23 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁶"Put Away Your Tear Drops" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #32 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁷"Girl With a Little Tin Heart" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #35 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁸"Sweet September" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #14 on the Bubbling Under chart.
⁹"Chanson D'Amour" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #12 on the Bubbling Under chart.
¹⁰"All the Grey Haired Men" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #9 on the Bubbling Under chart.
¹¹"I Have Dreamed" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #29 on the Bubbling Under chart.
¹²"Hey Girl" did not chart on the Hot 100, but hit #4 on the Bubbling Under chart.
¹³The 1976 release of "The Way You Look Tonight" was a new disco version.