The Freshmen were among the most popular Irish showbands of the 1960s and 1970s. They specialised in recreating the complex vocal harmonies of international acts such as The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

 and The 5th Dimension. They had nine top 20 hit single

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...

s in Ireland, including a reworking of The Rivingtons

The Rivingtons

The Rivingtons were a 1960s doo-wop group. The group members were:lead vocalist Carl White , tenor Al Frazier , baritone Sonny Harris, and bass singer Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr.. Frazier was replaced by Madero White for a period in the late 1970s.-History:Their first hit was "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow"...

' song "Papa Oom Mow Mow", featuring the deep voice of lead singer, Derek Dean.

Formation

The Freshmen were formed in 1962 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. The initial line-up changed over the nearly two decades of the band's existence as members came and went. Apart from Derek Dean, members included keyboard player, saxophonist, and singer, Billy Brown

Billy Brown (Irish musician)

William Brown was an Irish musician and artist. He is best remembered as a singer, saxophonist and pianist with The Freshmen, one of Ireland's most popular showbands of the 1960s and 1970s....

, who also arranged their trademark vocal harmonies, Damien McElroy (guitar), Torry McGahey (bass), Maurice Henry (saxophone), Sean Mahon (trumpet/trombone), and David McKnight (drums).

The Freshmen supported The Beach Boys on their 1967 Irish tour. At the Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 gig was a young Rory Gallagher

Rory Gallagher

William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948  – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste...

, who later recalled (in conversation with journalist, John Waters

John Waters (columnist)

John Waters is a columnist with The Irish Times and a former editor of Magill magazine. His career began in 1981 with the Irish political-music magazine Hot Press. He went on to write for the Sunday Tribune and later edited In Dublin magazine and Magill...

) the impression both acts made on him:

The Freshmen, led by Billy Brown and Derek Dean, played first and featured a medley of Beach Boys songs. They were astonishing, Gallagher recalled, singing multiple harmony parts in perfect pitch. When the Beach Boys came on later and sang the same songs, they sounded, by comparison, well . . . rubbish.

Later years

As they matured, The Freshmen moved away from covers and began to record original songs, some written by the band members. In 1970, they undertook their most ambitious project with the release of the six-track concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, Peace on Earth. The record featured new material from well-known songwriters such as Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...

, with linking narration by Irish actor, Micheál MacLiammóir

Micheál MacLiammóir

Micheál Mac Liammóir , born Alfred Willmore, was an English-born Irish actor, dramatist, impresario, writer, poet and painter. Mac Liammóir was born to a Protestant family living in the Kensal Green neighbourhood of London....

. On November 11 1970, at the RDS

Royal Dublin Society

The Royal Dublin Society was founded on 25 June 1731 to "to promote and develop agriculture, arts, industry, and science in Ireland". The RDS is synonymous with its main premises in Ballsbridge in Dublin, Ireland...

 in Dublin, the Freshmen performed the entire album live with the RTÉ Light Orchestra conducted by Don Gould. Due to illness, MacLiammóir was unable to take part and his partner, Hilton Edwards

Hilton Edwards

Hilton Edwards was an English-born Irish actor and theatrical producer. He was the son of Thomas George Cecil Edwards and Emily Edwards ....

, acted as narrator.

The Freshmen's last single before they broke up was the Billy Brown composition, "You've Never Heard Anything Like It", a punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 parody. Released in 1979, it was named 'single of the week' by the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, and reached number 17 in the Irish charts.

In September 2010, The Freshmen were among four Irish showbands featured on a special set of commemorative stamps issued by An Post

An Post

An Post is the State-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a universal postal service to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union...

, Ireland's postal service.

Albums

• Movin' On (1968), Pye NPL18263
• Peace on Earth (1970), CBS 64099
• Now and Then (1974), Dolphin DOLB 7015
• When Summer Comes - The Pye Anthology (2002), Castle CMRCD 271

Irish hit singles

• "La Yenka" (October 1965) #10
• "Papa Oom Mow Mow" (December 1967) #7
• "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
  The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
  "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" is a song written by Don Altfeld, Jan Berry and Roger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singers, Jan and Dean. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964...
  
   (Go Granny Go)" (August 1968) #12
• "Just To See You Smile" (February 1969) #9
• "Halfway to Where" (April 1970) #10
• "Leaving of Liverpool
  Leaving of Liverpool
  "Leaving of Liverpool", , also known as "Fare Thee Well, My Own True Love", is a folk ballad, a popular and wistful song. The song's narrator laments his long sailing trip to America and the thought of leaving his birthplace and loved ones...
  
  " (March 1974) #5
• "And God Created Woman" (December 1976) #3
• "Cinderella" (March 1977) #3
• "You've Never Heard Anything Like It" (September 1979) #17

External links

• irishshowbands.net - The Freshmen and Billy Brown profiles and discography
• [ allmusic.com profile of The Freshmen]