Five Americans was a 1960s American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, most famous for the song "Western Union", which reached #5 in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 and was their only single to chart in the Top 20. In Casey Kasem

Casey Kasem

Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...

's "Book of Records" category of most repetitive word or phrase in a Hot 100 top 10 hit, "Western Union" holds the record (in this case, the two 40-fold and one 50-plus-fold repetition of the imitative word "dit").

History

The Five Americans, previously known as The Mutineers, were from Durant

Durant, Oklahoma

Durant is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 15,877 at the 2010 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 42,416 in 2010...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 (Southeastern State College

Southeastern Oklahoma State University

Southeastern Oklahoma State University, often referred to as Southeastern and abbreviated as SE, or SOSU, is a public university located in Durant, Oklahoma, with an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 4,229 as of 2009.-History:...

). For a short while after their hits "I See The Light", "Western Union", "Sound of Love", "Evol Not Love" and "Zipcode", they toured. However, their manager, Jon Abdnor Senior, president and owner of Abnak Records

Abnak records

Abnak Records was a record label based in Dallas, Texas, owned by Fort Worth insurance man John Howard Abdnor, Sr., active from 1963 to 1971, begun mainly as an outlet for his son John H. Abdnor, Jr., primarily as Jon & Robin. The most success for the label came from the group The Five Americans. ...

 and Bankers Management and Services Insurance Co., was allowed control of their finances. After Abdnor's death in 1996, all rights to their songs should have reverted to the original group, but Sundazed Records

Sundazed Records

Sundazed Records is a record label based in Coxsackie, in the Catskills of New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s.Label founders Bob Irwin and his wife Mary started the label in 1989...

 bought the original tapes. The Five Americans had at least five singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in, or close to, the Top 40 and are now receiving the sales and publishing royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

.

The Five Americans broke up in 1969 and went their separate ways. Mike Rabon had a successful touring career afterwards, released two albums that sold well, and played guitar for the Tyler, Texas

Tyler, Texas

Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...

, pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 group, Gladstone, whose "A Piece of Paper" reached #45 in October 1972. He later returned to college, acquiring a master's degree in public school administration, and has been in the Oklahoma school systems for 28 years. John Durrill, the keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

, wrote "Dark Lady" for Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

 and "Misery and Gin" for Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

, and was also a member of the touring band The Ventures

The Ventures

The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...

. He now lives in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 Jim Grant died on November 29, 2004. Norman Ezell (guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and harmonica

Harmonica

The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

), who became a teacher and minister in Northern California, died of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 on May 8, 2010 at the age of 68. Jimmy Wright (drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

) is living in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and is a freelance videographer.

As of July 2008, there was an online petition to induct the Five Americans into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

. The petition amassed over 400 signatures.

Singles

• "Show Me" / "Love, Love, Love" — ABC-Paramount 10686 (1965)
• "Say That You Love Me" / "Without You" — Abnak 106 (1965)
• "I See The Light" / "The Outcast" — Abnak 109 (1965)
• "I See The Light" (BB #26, CB #41) / "The Outcast" — HBR 454 (1966)
• "Evol-Not Love" (BB #52, CB #68) / "Don't Blame Me" — HBR 468 (1966)
• "Good Times" / "The Losing Game" — HBR 483 (1966)
• "It's You Girl" / "I'm Gonna Leave You" — Jetstar 104 (1966)
• "I'm Feeling OK" / "Slippin' and Slidin'" — Jetstar 105 (1966)
• "Reality" / "Sympathy" — Abnak 114 (1966)
• "If I Could" / "Now That It's Over" — Abnak 116 (1966)
• "Western Union" (BB #5, CB #7) / "Now That It's Over" — Abnak
  Abnak records
  Abnak Records was a record label based in Dallas, Texas, owned by Fort Worth insurance man John Howard Abdnor, Sr., active from 1963 to 1971, begun mainly as an outlet for his son John H. Abdnor, Jr., primarily as Jon & Robin. The most success for the label came from the group The Five Americans. ...
  
  118 (1967)
• "Sound Of Love" (BB #36, CB #31) / "Sympathy" — Abnak 120 (1967)
• "Zip Code" (BB #36, CB #55) / "Sweet Bird of Youth" — Abnak 123 (1967)
• "Stop Light" (BB #132) / "Tell Ann I Love Her" — Abnak 125 (1967)
• "7:30 Guided Tour" (BB #96) / "See Saw Man" — Abnak 126 (1968)
• "No Communication" / "The Rain Maker" — Abnak 128 (1968)
• "Con Man" / "Lovin' is Lovin'" — Abnak 131 (1968)
• "Generation Gap" / "The Source" — Abnak 132 (1968)
• "Virginia Girl" (BB #133) / "Call On Me" — Abnak 134 (1969)
• "Scrooge" / "Ignert Woman" — Abnak 137 (1969)
• "I See The Light '69" / "Red Cape" — Abnak 139 (1969)

Billed as 'Mike Rabon & The Five Americans'

• "She's Too Good To Me" / "Molly Black" — Abnak 142 (1969)

Albums

• I See The Light (BB #136) — HBR HLP-8503 (Mono) / HST-9503 (Stereo) (1966)
• Western Union (BB #121, CB #66) — Abnak ABLP-1967 (Mono) / ABST-2067 (Stereo) (1967)
• Progressions — Abnak ABLP (Mono) / ABST-2069 (Stereo) (1967)
• Now and Then — Abnak ABST-2071 (1968)