Blues Magoos

The Blues Magoos are an American rock group from The Bronx, a borough of New York City, United States. They were at the forefront of the psychedelic music trend, beginning in 1966. They are best known for the hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet", their only single to reach the Billboard top fifty.The band was formed in 1964 as The Trenchcoats after Ralph Scala and Ron Gilbert met on the golf team at Dewitt Clinton High School. The original members were Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm a.k.a. "Peppy" Castro (vocals and guitar), Dennis LePore (lead guitar), Ralph Scala (organ and vocals), Ron Gilbert (bass) and Jon Finnegan (drums). The band made a name for itself in various clubs in Greenwich Village, most notably the Night Owl Cafe. In 1965, the name had been changed to The Bloos Magoos, and by 1966, the band had settled on calling themselves the Blues Magoos. Mike Esposito and Geoff Daking replaced Dennis LePore and Jon Finnegan, respectively, by early 1966.The band's single "So I'm Wrong and You Are Right" b/w "The People Had No Faces" on Verve Records (both Rick Shorter compositions) did not gain the band much recognition. Verve dropped them shortly thereafter.In early 1966, Mercury Records signed the band to a record deal with the help of Bob Wyld and Art Polhemus of Longhair Productions. Their first single, “Tobacco Road” b/w “Sometimes I Think About” was released in June 1966. The group's debut album, Psychedelic Lollipop, was released in November 1966 – becoming one of the first albums to include the word "psychedelic" on the sleeve (after the 13th Floor Elevators' The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and The Deep's Psychedelic Moods, both also from 1966). They played often at the Chess Mate Coffeehouse, a mostly folk venue in Detroit owned by Morrie Widenbaum that also hosted bands such as Southbound Freeway and Siegel-Schwall Blues Band.The group's most successful song was "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," which reached number 5 on the U.S. charts, and number 4 in Canada.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.