Welcome to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kaye. Howdy, thanks for keeping me company this week. Do you remember this song? Come a little bit closer, you’re my kind of man, so big and so strong.
Come a little bit closer, I’m all alone, and the night is so long. Come a bit closer was a massive hit for Jay and the Americans, who were one of the key groups that kept the vocal sounds of the 50s alive throughout the 60s. There have been three Jays out front of the group to date, but founding member Sandy Yagouta, also known as Sandy Dean, has been there from the start.
Sandy joins us today to tell us how Jay and the Americans grew from a humble doo-wop band to become legendary. We started singing very early on. We were all teenagers.
And a lot of kids that I knew at the time all had singing in their workplace. You know, they wanted to be singers. In Brooklyn, it was like either you played ball or you sang.
I did both. And so did most of my friends. Why was singing such a big thing then? I don’t know.
It’s kind of in your blood or it’s not. We would listen to the radio. Growing up in New York was a big blessing, because at the time there was only AM radio.
But New York City had a million different stations you could listen to. They had everything from pop music to jazz, the Broadway shows. They had Latin music.
They had soul music. They had country and Western music, all on separate stations. And if you were adventurous and you turned the dial, you got to hear a lot of stuff.
And I guess that’s what my friends and I all did. We kept turning the dial, listening to different styles of music. And when you’re young and you’re a kid, you’re like a sponge.
You kind of soak little bits of each one up. And that’s what we did. We kind of sucked all of that Latin beats and even Broadway show tunes that we heard wound up being part of our career.
Who were you most influenced by musically? Musically, when we started, there was a group called Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers. And they had a song called Why Do Fools Fall in Love? And they were teenagers. They were little kids.
And they were on the Frankie Lane TV show when television was in its early stages. And they wore white cardigan sweaters with a big red tee for teenagers on it. And they jumped over a fence and started singing the song.
And it made such an impression on me. I went, wow, it’s young people singing young music that they created. I want to do that.
Why do fools fall in love? Why do birds sing so gay love? Why do fools fall in love? The next thing I heard was the Evely Brothers singing, young guys harmonizing. And then as I got a little older, I heard people like Bobby Darin. And of course, I heard Dionne and the Belmonts.
And that was it. I was hooked. I just wanted to do that.
You were also influenced, I believe, by your sister to a large extent, weren’t you? Yes, I had an older sister who was a professional child. She was a singer and she took dancing lessons. She took piano lessons.
She took vocal lessons. She did modern interpretive dancing. And she taught me how to sing harmony.
I was about five years old. She was 13. And she stood me on the toilet, a closed toilet seat, so I could be at her height.
And she would sing, have me sing a melody, and then she would sing the harmony to it. And it was just an exercise in fun between a brother and a sister. And I loved it.
And then I started singing harmony to her melodies. And I found that I was intrigued with how the harmony structured around the melody notes. And I got really good at it at a very early age.
And I think that’s why the group that I formed is so harmony-based. It’s got the big lead singer and all of these kind of, not complex, but interesting vocal harmony backgrounds. And that’s what based our stuff on.
So when you started singing with your sister, were you singing the pop tunes of the day or you were just making up stuff? Oh, sure. She was actually a blues singer. And she would play her records in the house.
And I would hear, you know, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald and the Pied Pipers. And Frank Sinatra, of course, when he, she was a Bobby Soxer. But she was a torch singer and she was pretty good.
So it gave me a basis for wanting to be a singer. But my parents said, no, you’re a boy. You’re going to be a doctor.
You’re not going to be a singer. So I followed her around and learned as much as I could at all the lessons that she was taking. And I soaked that up like a sponge also.
So your parents must have been pretty mad at you when you decided to make this your full-time career, weren’t they? Oh, they were. They always had a heart attack. I was going to college.
I was studying pre-med for vet medicine. I was going to be a veterinarian. And we had just scored a recording contract.
And I was sitting in the cafeteria at Hofstra College. And on the loudspeaker in the cafeteria, I heard the number three record in the country. She cried by Jay and the Americans.
And I took all my textbooks and I dumped them in the dumpster, right in the garbage, and walked out of college. My parents, my mother clutched her heart. My father wanted to beat me mercilessly.
Then we got going. And now they wanted me to sign autographs for all their friends. So it became, you know, from a bad thing to a good thing.
I told her her kisses were not like before. She cried. I thought that our romance was over and done.
But to her it had just begun. Where did you find the other guys in the group when you first formed it anyway? Well, I was going to high school. And I wanted to have a group.
And I held auditions. And I said, anybody that can sing and that knows a little bit about harmony, and then has a white dinner jacket, show up at my address at 7 o’clock and audition to be in the group. And everybody wanted to be in a singing group.
So like 10 people showed up with white dinner jackets. Guys, girls. We whittled it down to five or six people.
So we had a group of like seven. And I tried to work with that, but it got very cumbersome. And I wound up with just three people.
It was myself, my high school girlfriend, who was the lead singer. Her name was Sydell. And her sister’s boyfriend, Henny.
And the three of us formed a trio named the Harbalites. Of course, we lived in Bell Harbor, Queens. And we got a record deal and got played on the radio locally.
So we were like a local group in high school. I wrote a song called, Is That Too Much to Ask? And we rehearsed. And Sydell was a piano player and a songwriter.
And she had a voice like Cyndi Lauper. And Kenny and I were male sopranos. So we sounded like a girls group when we sang, the three of us.
Sydell’s voice was the lowest voice in the group. We did this three-part harmony. And it intrigued a couple of people.
My parents knew some people in the neighborhood who owned a small record label. And they got us an audition. And they loved us.
And they signed us and put a record out, which actually got played on the radio. It became a local hit. We were celebrities.
We were signing autographs. We were doing record ops. And we were the local Rockaway High School band.
Is that too much to ask? I want one moment of bliss. Is that too much to ask? Oh, my baby, my baby. Oh, my baby, so shy.
Oh, my baby, my baby. Oh, my baby. Trying to express things I don’t like.
But your love is what I’m thinking. Oh, oh, oh, but it’s not. Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Is that too much to ask? Then it evolved into an all-boys group. Other people we met along the way formed a boys group. And that became Jane and the Americans.
That was an amazing thing. You couldn’t plan it. It just happened.
How’d you get the name? Well, the people that we signed with were two very successful songwriter record producers. They were the hottest guys in the record business. And they were Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoler.
They wrote 100 hit songs and produced 100 hit records for a million different artists. Their main groups that they were responsible for were the Drifters and the Coasters. And we loved the Drifters.
We thought the Drifters were it. They had the best songs that Jerry and Mike wrote. They made the best records with strings, horns, arrangements.
It wasn’t just four chords. It was interesting stuff. And we wanted to be the white Drifters.
You know, Jerry and Mike had all black artists until us. We went up to audition for them. And they were kind of impressed that we sounded as soulful as we did with the first J. First J was kind of a soulful singer.
And they loved his voice. So they gave us a deal. We were thrilled.
And we knew that we were in for something special because these guys, they wrote Hound Dog for Elvis Presley. They wrote Kansas City. They wrote Ruby Baby.
They had a million hit records on their wall in their office that they wrote and produced. So we were flying high because we were like at the top of the food chain with these guys. And we knew that we were going to get treated royally because they were so important.
And we came up with that first hit record, which was She Cried. It became a huge hit all over the world. And we didn’t have any success after that for the next two sessions.
And the record company and Jerry and Mike kind of got disinterested because they had artists with their stable that were constantly making hit records. They only had so much time to devote to their artists. And we were coming in last all the time.
So they kind of let us go because the original J got disheartened when the next two records came out and decided to go solo. Somebody had whispered in his ears, you know, Phil Spector wants to record you as a solo artist. And so he left the group.
So we were stuck with a group, a recording contract, a hit record with two other records that weren’t hits. And Jerry Lever and Mike Stoller being disinterested. Get a break and maybe grow up to be president.
Only in America, land of opportunity, yeah. Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me? Only in America can a kid who’s washing cars take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars. Only in America could a dream like this come true.
Would a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you? We thought for sure they were hits. They sounded as good as she cried. You know, they were great songs.
The production was great. The records were great. But sometimes the formula isn’t the right time.
And we were kind of left out in the cold. And all the good material that Jerry and Mike were coming up with were going to the Drifters and the Coasters and the Exciters and Benny King and Elvis Presley. I mean, you know, these are people that we couldn’t compete with at that point for their attention or their pick of the little songs.
So we were kind of left in the lurch. We were left to our own devices. The first thing we had to find a new lead singer.
And we found a new lead singer who was magnificent singer. But he wasn’t soulful the way Jay Traynor was. He was more of a semi-operatic, powerful vocalist, like Mario Lanza in the movies.
You know, he could break glass with his voice and had a terrific range. We brought him up to Lieber & Stoller thinking they’d be excited because this guy’s voice was special. And they said, yeah, he’s really great.
We don’t know what to do with him. He’s not something that we could work with because our style is blues and soul, you know, rock and roll soul. And that’s not what he is.
So they lost even more interest. They kind of let us go do our own thing. And we had met friends in the business who were also producers and worked in the studio that liked us and thought we were good.
And they said, OK, come to us. We’ll produce records with you. And then we went to them.
That was became Buddha Records.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Buddha Records turned out to be the place to be.
They had a lot of artists that became successful. We were among them. We had come a little bit closer and Let’s Lock the Door and Paramia and a whole bunch of hits.
So we did it without Jerry and Mike and they acknowledged that fact and they said, Hey, you wouldn’t have had those hits if you’d have stayed with us anyway. Because that’s not material we would have been interested in. So, things happened for a reason.
In a little cafe, just the other side I started to say, yeah A bit closer, you’re my kind of man So big and so strong Come a little bit closer I’m all alone and the night is so long We started to dance in my arms She felt so invited And I just couldn’t resist Just a little kiss so exciting And I heard the guitar player say Vamos, José’s on his way And I knew, yes I knew I should run When I heard her say, yeah Come a little bit closer, you’re my kind of man So big and so strong Come a little bit closer I’m all alone and the night is so long Come a Little Bit Closer was Jay and the Americans’ biggest hit and was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the songwriting team who scored many of the Monkees’ hits. While its success heralded a new chapter for Jay and the Americans, the disappointment they’d experienced leading up to it was still very fresh. You know what, I never ever thought that we were going to stop, even though it was kind of stacked against us.
I mean, when you’re with the best people in the business and they kind of turn their backs on you, most people would fold their tent up and go home. But there was no quitting us. We were determined that we were good enough to get something to happen.
We did do Only in America with Lieber and Stoller. Then we were an established group making hit records. Eventually we got to make our own records.
After learning how to make records with Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, and thank goodness they did, or there wouldn’t have been a This Magic Moment or A Walking in the Rain or the last two albums that I produced for the group, that were huge successes. So, you know, it’s like a path. And you keep walking the path.
And in the music business or in anything in the entertainment business, it isn’t constant success. We had to build it and grow it as we went along. And most artists do that too, you know.
Every record they make isn’t their hit. So it’s a tough road to hoe. Let’s lock the door And throw away the key now Oh no! One little minute more We met at a party Out on the street How I wished everyone would go So I could say when I got you alone Come on now Let’s lock the door And throw away the key now I loved every minute of it.
I’m hearing you say that you just need to keep putting one foot in front of another despite what comes. If you believe in yourselves enough, you just keep propelling forward. You know, you only need one yes.
You’re going to hit ten no’s in this business. There were people, I mean, we found a couple of guys that came to us when we opened offices and I started producing the group. And they were college graduates, they graduated from Bard.
And they were songwriters, two kids. And they were starving and they didn’t know how to get their career started. They walked into our office and we heard them sing a couple of songs they wrote.
And we knew immediately that they were geniuses. You don’t have to be super smart to know when something’s special. So we took them under our wing and we tried to get their career started while I was producing our group.
The other guy was producing them, getting demos on their songs. And we took them to everybody in the music business and they all said no. They all passed on these guys.
And they became Steely Dan. So it shows you that everybody isn’t right all the time. Some of the biggest people in the music business passed on Donald Fagan and Walter Becker.
We didn’t. We kept pushing and pushing and pushing. And finally our friend Gary Tax took them to California, got them signed to ABC Dunhill Records and made six of the greatest albums in the history of rock and roll.
It’s hard till it’s dawning But they catch you at the corner And the mourners are all sangin’ As they drag you by your feet But the hangman isn’t hangin’ And they put you on the street Yeah, you go back, Jack, do it again We’ll turn it round and round You go back, Jack, do it again Andy, take me back to this magic moment because I can imagine that recording that song after being such a huge Drifters fan must have been like… So that’s why we did it. We were in a cold period. Everybody had deserted us and were giving their best material to other artists.
The people who were currently in the top ten, which we were not. And I get it. It’s music business.
So I understood why it was happening. So I said, well, we’re not going to get the first choice on songs. And we’re not capable.
We didn’t think of writing them ourselves. Even though we wrote some songs that were pretty good, we knew that they weren’t the caliber of the songs that Burt Bacharach and Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoll were writing. We needed that stuff.
So we decided that since nobody’s giving us new stuff, let’s go back and do old stuff that we love, that we thought were incredible songs, treat them like they’re brand new songs, arrange them in the way that we arrange our music, being true to our sound. And let’s do an album of stuff that we cherish and loved when we were coming up the ranks and listening to. Naturally, the first choice was The Drifters.
Because we loved The Drifters and we thought that they were amazing. And we thought that this magic moment was brilliant. The arrangement, the strings, everything about it.
So we said, well, let’s do this magic moment. But we’re going to do it, not like The Drifters, but like Jamie Americans. This magic moment So different and so new It’s like any other Till I kiss the prize I knew that you felt it too By the look in your eyes Sweeter than a wine Softer than a summer night Everything I want to have Whenever I hold you tight We were really complimenting every artist on that album with someone that we respected and loved.
And, you know, we did Roy Orbison. We did The Drifters. We did Benny King.
We did a lot of different stuff, songs that we cherished. And then this magic moment became this huge hit. And then we did the next, and it started The Rock Revival.
And that was the first time that a remake of a song went top 10, a song that had been a hit record before. So it kind of started a whole genre of a new approach to music. Ah, you started everybody else off.
Sands of Time was the first album that ever had a top 10 record with old songs that were hits before. The phrase was called Later On. I don’t have plants and trees And I don’t have hopes and dreams I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have farm design And I don’t have happy eyes I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have happiness And I guess I never will ever again When you walked out on me In mortal misery And it’s been years since then I don’t have love to share And I don’t have one care I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you So that was 1969 when that album came out.
What happened then that the group split up in 73? Well, Jay Black, who was the voice, he was the one who replaced the first Jay. He had a big gambling problem and he lost more money than he earned and he wound up losing not just his money, but we would go to jobs and the money was gone for all of us because they didn’t separate the pay. Pay was made out to Jay and the Americans.
He would get his hands on it and it would vanish to his bookmakers. So it started to be a no-win situation for us to continue together. And he was becoming more and more well-known and pushing his brand separate from us.
So we saw the handwriting on the wall and we said, see ya, and we left. And then? Then I started doing record production for ABC Records and then I got involved in a Broadway show and it was a huge success and that became a whole new career for me. And then Jay Black lost more money and had to go bankrupt again.
The federal government wanted to take the name Jay and the Americans from him as an asset and auction it off to recoup the taxes he’d never paid. So I said, wow, this is dangerous because the federal government will sell it to anybody who has the check. And all of a sudden there’ll be five young 20-year-old guys in suits saying they’re Jay and the Americans if the wrong people buy the name.
So my son and I decided to bid on the name to protect the name. Never dreaming that we would reform, find a third Jay and go on the road. I mean, we hadn’t done anything like that in 15 years.
And my son said, well, you’re not gonna go back on the road, are you? Be careful what you wish for. And I said, no, I don’t think we could ever find another Jay. So when we went to buy the name, some guy in Chicago offered $100,000 to buy the name.
So we were bidding against each other at the auction to buy the name. And I said, can I have his name? I’d like to get in touch with him, find out what is he gonna do with the name? So I call him up and I say, are you Jay Renke? He said, yeah, that’s my name. I said, I’m Sandy Yaguda.
He says, it’s an honor to talk to you. He knew immediately who I was. I said, well, why are you offering all this money to buy the name? He said, I have a local band in Chicago.
I’m the lead singer. And I’m the only guy that can sing Caramea in this whole city. And everybody knows it.
He says, I do about six of your songs in our show. And I figured if I buy the name, we could be Jay and the Americans. And I said, well, you can’t because there’s a law that’s being passed state by state that says it’s called the Truth in Music Law.
One of the first states the law was passed in and voted on was Illinois. And he said, oh my goodness. He says, you’re right.
I’m going to have to withdraw my bid. I said, well, you know what? I’m curious. Are you any good? He said, I’d like to think so.
So I call Howie and I say, Howie, you want to take a plane to Chicago with me? He said, sure, why not? So we flew to Chicago that weekend and Jay picks us up at the airport and says, I’ll take you to lunch. And we went to lunch. And then he said, we’re going to be playing in this club tonight.
Why don’t you come by? I left your names. And he did six Jay and the Americans songs. And Howie and I are looking at each other saying, this guy’s got a powerful voice.
And then he sang Caramellia. And the place erupted. I mean, they went crazy in there when he sang that song.
Caramellia Must we say goodbye Each time we part My heart wants to die Darling, hear my prayer I’ll be your friend I’ll be your love Till the end of time I’ll be your Must we say goodbye I said, you know what, Howie, I think that if we take this guy into a rehearsal hall and we work with him for a couple of months, maybe we could really make him into the third Jay. So after he was finished with his set, I walked over to him and I said, listen, if you were to become part of our band, a new Jay and the Americans, what would your wife say? Because you’d have to leave town. You’d have to travel because we’re a national act.
And he said, well, she’s sitting right over there. Why don’t you ask her? So I went over to his wife and I said, listen, we’re thinking of asking him to join the band. And if he becomes Jay, he’s not going to be home all the time like he is now.
Are you on board for that? And she said, this has been his dream his whole life. I wouldn’t stand in the way of that. I totally support it.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Buddha Records turned out to be the place to be.
They had a lot of artists that became successful. We were among them. We had come a little bit closer and Let’s Lock the Door and Cara Mia and a whole bunch of hits.
So we did it without Jerry and Mike and they acknowledged that fact and they said, Hey, you wouldn’t have had those hits if you’d have stayed with us anyway. Because that’s not material we would have been interested in. So, things happened for a reason.
In a little cafe, just the other side I started to say, yeah A bit closer, you’re my kind of man So big and so strong Come a little bit closer I’m all alone and the night is so long We started to dance in my arms She felt so invited And I just couldn’t resist Just a little kiss so exciting And I heard the guitar player say Vamos, José’s on his way And I knew, yes I knew I should run When I heard her say, yeah Come a little bit closer, you’re my kind of man So big and so strong Come a little bit closer I’m all alone and the night is so long Come a Little Bit Closer was Jay and the Americans’ biggest hit and was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the songwriting team who scored many of the Monkees’ hits. While its success heralded a new chapter for Jay and the Americans, the disappointment they’d experienced leading up to it was still very fresh. You know what, I never ever thought that we were going to stop, even though it was kind of stacked against us.
I mean, when you’re with the best people in the business and they kind of turn their backs on you, most people would fold their tent up and go home. But there was no quitting us. We were determined that we were good enough to get something to happen.
We did do Only in America with Lieber and Stoller. Then we were an established group making hit records. Eventually we got to make our own records.
After learning how to make records with Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, and thank goodness they did, or there wouldn’t have been a This Magic Moment or A Walking in the Rain or the last two albums that I produced for the group, that were huge successes. So, you know, it’s like a path. And you keep walking the path.
And in the music business or in anything in the entertainment business, it isn’t constant success. We had to build it and grow it as we went along. And most artists do that too, you know.
Every record they make isn’t their hit. So it’s a tough road to hoe. Let’s lock the door And throw away the key now Oh no! One little minute more We met at a party Out on the street How I wished everyone would go So I could say when I got you alone Come on now Let’s lock the door And throw away the key now I loved every minute of it.
I’m hearing you say that you just need to keep putting one foot in front of another despite what comes. If you believe in yourselves enough, you just keep propelling forward. You know, you only need one yes.
You’re going to hit ten no’s in this business. There were people, I mean, we found a couple of guys that came to us when we opened offices and I started producing the group. And they were college graduates, they graduated from Bard.
And they were songwriters, two kids. And they were starving and they didn’t know how to get their career started. They walked into our office and we heard them sing a couple of songs they wrote.
And we knew immediately that they were geniuses. You don’t have to be super smart to know when something’s special. So we took them under our wing and we tried to get their career started while I was producing our group.
The other guy was producing them, getting demos on their songs. And we took them to everybody in the music business and they all said no. They all passed on these guys.
And they became Steely Dan. So it shows you that everybody isn’t right all the time. Some of the biggest people in the music business passed on Donald Fagan and Walter Becker.
We didn’t. We kept pushing and pushing and pushing. And finally our friend Gary Tax took them to California, got them signed to ABC Dunhill Records and made six of the greatest albums in the history of rock and roll.
It’s hard till it’s dawning But they catch you at the corner And the mourners are all sangin’ As they drag you by your feet But the hangman isn’t hangin’ And they put you on the street Yeah, you go back, Jack, do it again We’ll turn it round and round You go back, Jack, do it again Andy, take me back to this magic moment because I can imagine that recording that song after being such a huge Drifters fan must have been like… So that’s why we did it. We were in a cold period. Everybody had deserted us and were giving their best material to other artists.
The people who were currently in the top ten, which we were not. And I get it. It’s music business.
So I understood why it was happening. So I said, well, we’re not going to get the first choice on songs. And we’re not capable.
We didn’t think of writing them ourselves. Even though we wrote some songs that were pretty good, we knew that they weren’t the caliber of the songs that Burt Bacharach and Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoll were writing. We needed that stuff.
So we decided that since nobody’s giving us new stuff, let’s go back and do old stuff that we love, that we thought were incredible songs, treat them like they’re brand new songs, arrange them in the way that we arrange our music, being true to our sound. And let’s do an album of stuff that we cherish and loved when we were coming up the ranks and listening to. Naturally, the first choice was The Drifters.
Because we loved The Drifters and we thought that they were amazing. And we thought that this magic moment was brilliant. The arrangement, the strings, everything about it.
So we said, well, let’s do this magic moment. But we’re going to do it, not like The Drifters, but like Jamie Americans. This magic moment So different and so new It’s like any other Till I kiss the prize I knew that you felt it too By the look in your eyes Sweeter than a wine Softer than a summer night Everything I want to have Whenever I hold you tight We were really complimenting every artist on that album with someone that we respected and loved.
And, you know, we did Roy Orbison. We did The Drifters. We did Benny King.
We did a lot of different stuff, songs that we cherished. And then this magic moment became this huge hit. And then we did the next, and it started The Rock Revival.
And that was the first time that a remake of a song went top 10, a song that had been a hit record before. So it kind of started a whole genre of a new approach to music. Ah, you started everybody else off.
Sands of Time was the first album that ever had a top 10 record with old songs that were hits before. The phrase was called Later On. I don’t have plants and trees And I don’t have hopes and dreams I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have farm design And I don’t have happy eyes I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have happiness And I guess I never will ever again When you walked out on me In mortal misery And it’s been years since then I don’t have love to share And I don’t have one care I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you So that was 1969 when that album came out.
What happened then that the group split up in 73? Well, Jay Black, who was the voice, he was the one who replaced the first Jay. He had a big gambling problem and he lost more money than he earned and he wound up losing not just his money, but we would go to jobs and the money was gone for all of us because they didn’t separate the pay. Pay was made out to Jay and the Americans.
He would get his hands on it and it would vanish to his bookmakers. So it started to be a no-win situation for us to continue together. And he was becoming more and more well-known and pushing his brand separate from us.
So we saw the handwriting on the wall and we said, see ya, and we left. And then? Then I started doing record production for ABC Records and then I got involved in a Broadway show and it was a huge success and that became a whole new career for me. And then Jay Black lost more money and had to go bankrupt again.
The federal government wanted to take the name Jay and the Americans from him as an asset and auction it off to recoup the taxes he’d never paid. So I said, wow, this is dangerous because the federal government will sell it to anybody who has the check. And all of a sudden there’ll be five young 20-year-old guys in suits saying they’re Jay and the Americans if the wrong people buy the name.
So my son and I decided to bid on the name to protect the name. Never dreaming that we would reform, find a third Jay and go on the road. I mean, we hadn’t done anything like that in 15 years.
And my son said, well, you’re not gonna go back on the road, are you? Be careful what you wish for. And I said, no, I don’t think we could ever find another Jay. So when we went to buy the name, some guy in Chicago offered $100,000 to buy the name.
So we were bidding against each other at the auction to buy the name. And I said, can I have his name? I’d like to get in touch with him, find out what is he gonna do with the name? So I call him up and I say, are you Jay Renke? He said, yeah, that’s my name. I said, I’m Sandy Yaguda.
He says, it’s an honor to talk to you. He knew immediately who I was. I said, well, why are you offering all this money to buy the name? He said, I have a local band in Chicago.
I’m the lead singer. And I’m the only guy that can sing Cara Mia in this whole city. And everybody knows it.
He says, I do about six of your songs in our show. And I figured if I buy the name, we could be Jay and the Americans. And I said, well, you can’t because there’s a law that’s being passed state by state that says it’s called the Truth in Music Law.
One of the first states the law was passed in and voted on was Illinois. And he said, oh my goodness. He says, you’re right.
I’m going to have to withdraw my bid. I said, well, you know what? I’m curious. Are you any good? He said, I’d like to think so.
So I call Howie and I say, Howie, you want to take a plane to Chicago with me? He said, sure, why not? So we flew to Chicago that weekend and Jay picks us up at the airport and says, I’ll take you to lunch. And we went to lunch. And then he said, we’re going to be playing in this club tonight.
Why don’t you come by? I left your names. And he did six Jay and the Americans songs. And Howie and I are looking at each other saying, this guy’s got a powerful voice.
And then he sang Cara Mia. And the place erupted. I mean, they went crazy in there when he sang that song.
Cara Mia Must we say goodbye Each time we part My heart wants to die Darling, hear my prayer I’ll be your friend I’ll be your love Till the end of time I’ll be your Must we say goodbye I said, you know what, Howie, I think that if we take this guy into a rehearsal hall and we work with him for a couple of months, maybe we could really make him into the third Jay. So after he was finished with his set, I walked over to him and I said, listen, if you were to become part of our band, a new Jay and the Americans, what would your wife say? Because you’d have to leave town. You’d have to travel because we’re a national act.
And he said, well, she’s sitting right over there. Why don’t you ask her? So I went over to his wife and I said, listen, we’re thinking of asking him to join the band. And if he becomes Jay, he’s not going to be home all the time like he is now.
Are you on board for that? And she said, this has been his dream his whole life. I wouldn’t stand in the way of that. I totally support it.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. So Jay Reinke, the third and final Jay, joined the band and the guys successfully managed to work up a new version of their old act.
Jay flew to New York for a couple of weeks, we worked with him, he went home, he came back for another couple of weeks, we worked with him, and he went home, and he came back for a couple more weeks. And after about three months, we said, well, we’re close, we’re not there yet, but we’re never going to get there unless we start doing shows. Because singing and performing is like doing push-ups.
You don’t start off being incredible at it. You start off with a goal to be incredible and you work your way towards it. So the first show was shaky and the second show was a little better, and the third show somebody recorded it, and I listened to the thing and I smashed it to smithereens, I said, this isn’t working.
I said, either you’re going to get serious or we’re not doing this anymore. And he got himself in gear, and he started working real hard, and all of a sudden the show started getting good. And by the tenth show, we were starting to sound a little like the old Jay and the Americans.
By the end of the first nine months, we sounded pretty good. There goes my baby There goes my baby I need my baby I want to know Does she love me When you talk about you doing it, because that’s exactly what you’re doing now, you’re back on the road and you’re about to head out on a national tour again, do you have to keep your chops up by rehearsing every day? No, but you keep your chops up by singing. I mean, I sing all the time.
I sing with the television, I sing with the radio, I sing with the CD player. You know, there are enough things for me to sing to. If we were off for a while and I wanted to get my chops back in shape, I put on an Eagles concert and I sing first tenor to every one of those songs.
And boy, does that get me in shape in a hurry. So I thank the Eagles for keeping my voice in shape. Which one challenges you the most of the Eagles repertoire? Oh, all of them.
Those guys sing great. Not only do they have two great lead singers, they have some great harmony singers. And I love singing their stuff.
There isn’t one that I don’t enjoy singing. I’m just telling you, I love every one. I am the biggest, my biggest fan of Steely Dan, the Eagles, Daryl King and Billy Joe.
I mean, that’s my go-to playlist. And I can listen to that stuff all day long and sing with it and sing harmonies and make up harmonies and vocalize. And I’m very happy.
The night we met, I knew I needed you so Had the chance, I’d never let you go So won’t you say you love me And I’ll make you so proud of me We’ll make them turn their heads Every place we go So won’t you please Be my, be my baby Be my little baby I want it only baby Say you’ll be my darling Be my, be my baby Please be my baby now I want it only baby You’re telling me that you can sing today just as well as you started out when you were a teenager? I would say so. I’m pretty close. I’m hitting notes that are actually as high as I did when I was young.
My wife says we sound very young. There are two 83-year-old guys in the group. And we’re still singing the way, in the same keys, the same vocal parts that we sang when we made the records.
So there’s something to be said for genetics and there’s something to be said for hard work. Yeah, absolutely. The third Jay you’re talking about from Chicago, who now sings with you all the time, his name isn’t actually Jay, is it? Yeah, it is.
It is. The second Jay wasn’t a Jay. The second Jay’s name was David.
And he ended up calling himself Jay from then on. Well, he had to be Jay if he was going to be our lead singer. Yeah, but even once he left the band, he retained the Jay, didn’t he? That’s what he was known as.
So if he had any popularity at all, it would be as Jay, not David. So he didn’t have much choice in that. The first Jay’s name was John Traynor.
His nickname was Jay because John Traynor’s father’s name was John. So to have John and John in the same house, they always gave the son a nickname. So Jay Traynor was Jay Traynor.
Jay Rankie, his father’s name was John. Jay’s real name was John. But as a kid, he was known as J.R. or Jay, and that’s what he’s called by his family.
Gotcha. So he was really a Jay all his life. Did it never bother you that having founded the group yourself, that you were one of the Americans and not the Jay or not the Sandy and the Americans? No, that’s strictly an ego trip.
I knew that I was a really good singer, but not the caliber of being an extraordinary lead singer. I mean, I can sing with a lot of people, and I do leads in the show, and they’re more than adequate. They’re pretty good.
But to be a Jay, the way I formulated the group, you have to be an exceptional singer. Hey, baby, I saw you standing over there all by yourself, and I was thinking maybe you’d like to dance, or maybe, you know, you know, would you like to, would you like to dance with me? Hold me closer, closer and closer, much closer while the music plays. Oh, my little darling, won’t you dance with me? Hold me tighter, tighter and tighter, much tighter while the rhythm sways.
Oh. All three Jays are exceptional vocalists, and that’s planned that way. You know, this third Jay is like Roy Orbison, and the second Jay is like Mario Lanza.
This Jay is very reminiscent of Roy or Elvis, that kind of a sound. The first Jay was a crooner. He was more of a stylist.
He was more of like a Sinatra, Mel Torme type of a jazz singer, but soulful. So each guy has his own strengths, and yet they both do it. Every time you kiss me, I’m still not certain that you love me.
Every time you hold me, I’m still not certain that you care. I’m saying you really, really, really love me. Do you say the same words to someone else when I’m not there? Suspicion torments my heart.
Suspicion drives it wild. Suspicion, why torture me? Every time you call me and tell me you’re reaching me tomorrow. I can’t help but think that you’re meeting someone else tonight.
Does it surprise you that audiences today still go for all the old songs like they used to? I mean, you’re pulling audiences all ages. Well, the Beatles did that too, you know. I mean, it’s universal.
Kids gravitate towards great melodies. Young people gravitate. Human beings gravitate towards great melodies, memorable melodies.
When I hear a new song, I judge it by its content and the melody. If I can hear a song once and sing most of it back after hearing it once, that’s a good song. That’s the kind of songs that we chose to record.
Whether we wrote them, somebody else wrote them, we picked songs that moved us. You were actually the first band at the time to record a hit song by Neil Diamond, who was at that stage a rookie writer, wasn’t he? Yeah, he was a demo guy for a publishing company. He’d write songs and go out and plug them.
And he came to the office to plug that song and we tried to sign him as an artist and he said, nah, I’m much too shy. I can’t get on stage. I just want to write songs.
Sunday and one day I’m gonna make her mine It’s gonna be so fine You wait and see It’s gonna be Just Sunday and me There’s not a star that shines as bright Her name is Sunday We’ll take the dark out of the night They call her Sunday And one day I’m gonna take her home Tell the world that she’s my home You wait and see It’s gonna be Just Sunday and me Sandy Dean, you’ve seen music change. You’ve seen so many people come and go and you’ve seen so many young people become huge superstars and you love it just as much today as you did when you first set out, yeah? Yeah, sure. Music is a human language.
It speaks to you. Even if you’re not a musician. Even if you’re just a listener or a hummer, or somebody that just sings in the car or in the shower.
It speaks to your heart. People dance to music. People celebrate music.
It’s a good feeling for the human soul and psyche. Songs take you to places that nothing else can. You’re very privileged to have been a part of this industry for so long.
Is there one particular favourite that you have? Every guy in the group has his favourite song. We’ve grown to hate Taramea because it’s such a challenge vocally every night. Both for Jay and for us to sing harmonies above his voice.
So it’s kind of like a work ethic. But I think my favourite song is Walking in the Rain. I think that record is as close to a perfect record as we ever made.
Both in the song itself, the arrangement, the vocal performance, and the mixing and the actual production. Which I pat myself on the back for because sometimes you think you’re smart, but it’s better to be lucky than smart. And I did everything right that time.
And that record is a masterpiece as far as technically. Jay sang great. The mix came out great.
All the musicians played great. The arrangement was perfect. And of course the songwriting was superb.
Sandy Dean, thank you so much for sharing your stories and your time with us today. What a delight chatting with you and I’m envious of all those people all over America who are going to get to see you on this upcoming tour. Continued success and good times for you because you just personify a happy person who loves what they do.
I think it’s wonderful. We’re privileged for what we do. Like people say, wow, you’re such a great guy.
You’re keeping the music alive. But basically I think the music is keeping me alive. What a great line.
We’ll go out on that one. Have a great day. Thank you.