The Association

The Association is an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts (including "Windy", "Cherish", "Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and were the opening act at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. Generally consisting of six to eight members, they are known for intricate vocal harmonies by the band's multiple singers.Their best-known lineup included Terry Kirkman (vocals, woodwind instruments, percussion), Russ Giguere (vocals, guitar), Jim Yester (vocals, rhythm and lead guitar), Jules Alexander (vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, bass), Brian Cole (vocals, bass) and Ted Bluechel Jr. (vocals, drums, percussion). This lineup recorded their first two albums, And Then... Along Comes the Association and Renaissance (both 1966) before Larry Ramos replaced Alexander in early 1967. With Ramos, the group recorded their third and fourth albums, Insight Out and Birthday. Alexander re-joined in late 1968, and the group released their fifth album The Association in 1969. Keyboardist Richard Thompson replaced Giguere in 1970, with whom the band recorded their final two albums Stop Your Motor (1971) and Waterbeds in Trinidad! (1972). The group has since been through several lineup changes. The current lineup includes Alexander, Yester and longtime members Joe Lamanno, Gary Swan, Bruce Pictor and Paul Holland.Jules Alexander was in Hawaii in 1962 serving a stint in the Navy when he met Terry Kirkman, a visiting salesman. The two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged. That happened a year later; the two eventually moved to Los Angeles and began exploring the city's music scene in the mid-1960s, often working behind the scenes as directors and arrangers for other music acts. At the same time, Kirkman played in groups with Frank Zappa for a short period before Zappa went on to form the Mothers of Invention.Eventually, at a Monday night hootenanny at the Los Angeles nightclub The Troubadour in 1964, an ad hoc group called the Inner Tubes was formed by Kirkman, Alexander and Doug Dillard, whose rotating membership contained, at one time or another, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and many others who drifted in and out. This led, in the fall of 1964, to the forming of the Men, a 13-piece folk rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour.After a short time, however, the Men disbanded, with six of the members electing to go out on their own in February 1965. At the suggestion of Kirkman's then-fiancée, Judy, they took the name the Association. The original lineup consisted of Alexander (using his middle name, Gary, on the first two albums) on vocals and lead guitar; Kirkman on vocals and a variety of wind, brass and percussion instruments; Brian Cole on vocals, bass and woodwinds; Russ Giguere on vocals, percussion and guitar; Ted Bluechel Jr. from the Cherry Hill Singers on drums, guitar, bass and vocals; and Brian Cole's friend and bandmate from the group Gnu Fokes, Bob Page on guitar, banjo and vocals. However, Page was replaced by Jim Yester on vocals, guitar and keyboards before any of the group's public performances.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.