The Ohio Express -- great pretenders

[snopes]

"Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "Down at Lulu's" weren't recorded by The Ohio Express. Their name simply was put on the singles' labels and jacket covers. It was all a hoax.

When Dean Kastran lip-synced those two songs on American Bandstand, he was lip-syncing to the voice of Joey Levine, a 17-year-old kid who came from a musical family and lived in New York City. Levine was a studio singer and writer.

Kastran and The Ohio Express never performed with Levine. He never toured with the group or recorded a song with them.

Now, 40 years later, the lie is still trying to be covered up.

http://citybeat.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A140045

[Ali Infree]

I only knew of the Ohio Express from the Top 40 hits, they had psychedelic songs on the albums? Too late for me I guess.

My first real sense that someone could hold highly dichotomous views came from knowing a guy in high school. Fred had a big nine volt battery in his locker hooked up to a variety of lights and found and made art. He literally went to his locker at lunchtime and opened it up and stood around it.

He collected all the Buddha record bubblegum singles because he thought they would be valuable some day. He hated the music, in fact, his favorite musician was...Frank Zappa.

If he kept the bubblegum records and sold them for some money, it sounds like he did better than the Ohio Express.

Ali "no fool like an old fool" Infree

[Ramblin' Dave]

I'm guessing the albums would be worth something to the right collectors today, but the 45s are easy to find and not worth more than a few dollars for the most part.

[BamaRainbow]

According to the AllMusic Guide entry on Ohio Express:

Biography by Bill Dahl
Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Co. were two of the leading late-'60s bubblegum rock groups. Under the aegis of producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, both of these rather anonymous bands surfaced repeatedly on the late-'60s pop charts for Buddah Records, spearheading the bubblegum rock craze. With Joey Levine taking the vocals on their early hits, The Ohio Express roared up in 1968 with "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "Chewy Chewy," a pair of million-sellers. Future 10CC leader Graham Gouldman fronted the Express on their final chart bow in 1969, "Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)."

At the same time, another Kasenetz-Katz discovery, New Jersey's 1910 Fruitgum Co., was bubbling over with the obnoxiously catchy "Simon Says," "1, 2, 3, Red Light," and "Indian Giver," another gold record triumvirate. Like their labelmates, their mercurial chart run was history before 1969 was over.

Also, the group members listed in the entry are Joey Levine, Dale Powers, Tim Corwin, Douglas Grassel, Dean Kastran, and James Pfahler.

I would also point out that this really is NOT all that big a deal. The late 1960s were rife with studio groups that had NO existence outside the studio (the Archies, for one; the Partridge Family for a much more successful example). Also, it seems that the writer of the article was unfamiliar with the "American Bandstand" format--EVERYONE lip-synced (easily evidenced by the way the performers could manage to fade-out the song, rather than come to an absolute finale), so I'm less than impressed with Mr Gross's whole "exposé". Maybe next, he can expose how iTunes sells imitations of some 60s and early 70s hit singles.
Maybe, Mr Gross should consider this statement that appears in the AllMusic Guide entry for Tony Burrows: With his high range and pleasantly anonymous yet versatile pipes, Burrows was an ideal tool for songwriters looking to craft bubblegum or light pop/rock for the AM airwaves — they were looking for hit songs, not for hit artists, and what did it matter to most consumers that the "groups" didn't really exist? (Just for the record, Burrows was the voice of White Plains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'", the Pipkins' "Gimme Dat Ding", the Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand", Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)", and First Class's "Beach Baby".)
I mean, over the years, we've had the misfortune of getting "new" versions of acts like the Cars and InXS and Journey and Queen and Styx, where the *STAR* lead singer was either no longer interested in doing or available for a reunion (or just late-career) gig/tour--to say nothing of the myriad of 50s and 60s oldies shows groups--but I really do agree with the idea that most people listening to the radio in the late 1960s (especially with "bubble-gum" music) didn't really have any interest in whether the "group" was real. Next thing you know, someone's going to tell me that even though they had a genuine Saturday morning TV show, the Banana Splits weren't real and didn't actually play any of their instruments. )

[snopes]

I would also point out that this really is NOT all that big a deal. The late 1960s were rife with studio groups that had NO existence outside the studio (the Archies, for one; the Partridge Family for a much more successful example).

I don't think either of those groups toured much, though. Especially after Jughead was killed in a car accident and had to be replaced by a draw-alike.

- snopes