"California Sun" is a song with a shadowy history. It is originally credited to Henry Glover and Morris Levy. Glover was a producer for an independent record label King Records; Levy was the founder and owner of Roulette Records, which Tommy James said was run by the mafia. Their song ended up being recorded by the New Orleans singer Joe Jones and released by EMI, fizzling out after barely scratching the top 100.
The Rivieras then covered it, and launched themselves into history by becoming one-hit wonders. Well, in addition to their one hit, the Rivieras scored three more songs in 1964 that dipped into the Billboard Hot 100: "Let's Have a Party" (#99), "Little Donna" (#93) and "Rockin' Robin" (#96).
So, were The Rivieras from Orange County, California, during this heyday of the surf rock revolution? Nope, they were from South Bend, Indiana, specifically alumni of South Bend Central High School. Originally called the Playmates, they were forced to change their names as there was already a group playing under that name. They decided to rename themselves after the Buick Riviera. And they were literally a teenage garage band, in which the lead singer Marty "Bo" Fortson left shortly after this single came out to join the Marines and go off to Vietnam. The other band members dropped out one by one under pressure from their parents to go on to college and stop this rock 'n' roll nonsense at once.
"California Sun" is a song with a shadowy history. It is originally credited to Henry Glover and Morris Levy. Glover was a producer for an independent record label King Records; Levy was the founder and owner of Roulette Records, which Tommy James said was run by the mafia. Their song ended up being recorded by the New Orleans singer Joe Jones and released by EMI, fizzling out after barely scratching the top 100.
The Rivieras then covered it, and launched themselves into history by becoming one-hit wonders. Well, in addition to their one hit, the Rivieras scored three more songs in 1964 that dipped into the Billboard Hot 100: "Let's Have a Party" (#99), "Little Donna" (#93) and "Rockin' Robin" (#96).
So, were The Rivieras from Orange County, California, during this heyday of the surf rock revolution? Nope, they were from South Bend, Indiana, specifically alumni of South Bend Central High School. Originally called the Playmates, they were forced to change their names as there was already a group playing under that name. They decided to rename themselves after the Buick Riviera. And they were literally a teenage garage band, in which the lead singer Marty "Bo" Fortson left shortly after this single came out to join the Marines and go off to Vietnam. The other band members dropped out one by one under pressure from their parents to go on to college and stop this rock 'n' roll nonsense at once.
"California Sun" is a song with a shadowy history. It is originally credited to Henry Glover and Morris Levy. Glover was a producer for an independent record label King Records; Levy was the founder and owner of Roulette Records, which Tommy James said was run by the mafia. Their song ended up being recorded by the New Orleans singer Joe Jones and released by EMI, fizzling out after barely scratching the top 100.
The Rivieras then covered it, and launched themselves into history by becoming one-hit wonders. Well, in addition to their one hit, the Rivieras scored three more songs in 1964 that dipped into the Billboard Hot 100: "Let's Have a Party" (#99), "Little Donna" (#93) and "Rockin' Robin" (#96).
So, were The Rivieras from Orange County, California, during this heyday of the surf rock revolution? Nope, they were from South Bend, Indiana, specifically alumni of South Bend Central High School. Originally called the Playmates, they were forced to change their names as there was already a group playing under that name. They decided to rename themselves after the Buick Riviera. And they were literally a teenage garage band, in which the lead singer Marty "Bo" Fortson left shortly after this single came out to join the Marines and go off to Vietnam. The other band members dropped out one by one under pressure from their parents to go on to college and stop this rock 'n' roll nonsense at once.