The Gentrys were an 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...

 of the 1960s and early 1970s best known for their 1965 hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 "Keep on Dancing" (in 1971 also a #9 hit for the Bay City Rollers

Bay City Rollers

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at...

). Follow-up singles charted outside of the top 40: "Every Day I Have To Cry" (1966), "Spread It On Thick" (1966), "Cinnamon Girl" (1970), "Why Should I Cry" (1970), "Wild World" (1971), and a 'Bubbling Under' Billboard chart entry "Brown Paper Sack" (#101, 1966).

Career

The seven-member group of Treadwell High School (Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

), alumni included Bruce Bowles (vocals

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

), Bobby Fisher (saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

, keyboards

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

), Jimmy Hart

Jimmy Hart

James "Jimmy" Ray Hart is a professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling under his nickname "The Mouth of the South." He has managed many professional...

 (vocals), Jimmy Johnson (trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

), Larry Butler (keyboards), Pat Neal (bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

), Larry Raspberry (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...

, lead vocalist), and 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...

 Larry Wall (replaced by Rob Straube).
The youths formed the Gentrys in May 1963.

After bubbling under the Billboard charts for about a year, the Gentrys scored with the million-selling "Keep on Dancing" reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in 1965. Success led to appearances on "Hullabaloo," Shindig!

Shindig!

Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....

, and "Where the Action Is

Where the Action Is

Where the Action Is or ' was a music-based television variety show in the United States from 1965–67. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon...

" and they toured with 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 Sonny and Cher, as well as playing on Dick Clark

Dick Clark (entertainer)

Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years...

 bills. However, two follow-up 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...

 failed to break into the Top 40, and not long after appearing in the 1966 movie It's a Bikini World

It's a Bikini World

It's a Bikini World is an American musical comedy film released in 1967 starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame. The film features cameos by the music groups The Gentrys, The Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, The Castaways and R&B girl group The Toys...

, the group disbanded. Other notable band members during the 1963–1966 years were Claude Wayne Whitehead (rhythm guitar), Larry Butler (keyboards), Ronnie Moore (bass), Sonny Pitman (bass), engineer/producer Terry Manning

Terry Manning

Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....

 (keyboards) and drummer Rob Straube.

"Keep on Dancing" is notable for the fact that it is actually one short recording repeated, to stretch the record out to the length of the typical pop single of its day. The second half of the song—after the false fade

Fade (audio engineering)

In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....

, beginning with Wall's famous drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

 fill

Fill (music)

In popular music, a fill is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody....

 -- is the same as the first. Though the group had Jimmy Hart and Bruce Bowles as singers, their biggest hit was sung by guitarist Larry Raspberry.

Original member Hart reformed The Gentrys in 1969, with himself as lead singer; they recorded initially for the Bell Records

Bell Records

Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 by Arthur Shimkin in New York, the owner of children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell who used the Bell name to issue risque novelty records. A...

 label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. The 1969–1971 Gentrys included Hart, Steve Speers (bass), Davey Beaver (keyboards), Jimmy Tarbutton (guitar), and Mike Gardner (drums). In 1970 they recorded an album on Sam Phillips

Sam Phillips

Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...

's Sun label and put 2 singles into the Billboard 100: Why Should I Cry and a cover of Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

's Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young song)

"Cinnamon Girl" is a song by Neil Young. It debuted on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was also Young's first album with backing band Crazy Horse...

.

The 1971 through 1972 line-up of The Gentrys included Hart on Vocals along with Wesley Stafford on Lead Guitar & Vocals, Alan Heidelberg on Drums and Bobby Liles on Bass. Marty Lacker (Member of Elvis' "Memphis Mafia") helped to land this version of The Gentrys a contract with Capitol Records that produced the single written by Hart & Stafford entitled "Let Me Put This Ring Upon Your Finger." Knox Phillips (Sam Phillips Recording Services-Memphis,Tn) was Producer and Mentor for all recording endeavors of this period.

Hart subsequently found much greater fame and success in professional wrestling

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 as a manager

Manager (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d "The Mouth of the South." During this time, he returned to music at least once, as a member of The Wrestling Boot Band

The Wrestling Boot Band

The Wrestling Boot Band, also known as the Wrestling Boot Traveling Band, was a musical group fronted by Hulk Hogan, which also included "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart, Hogan's then-wife Linda, and John Maguire...

, a group fronted by Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan

Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

. The story of the Gentrys is described in the book The Mouth of the South by Jimmy Hart, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Jerry Lawler.

Raspberry went on to play with Alamo, who released a self-titled LP in 1971, and subsequently formed Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers, releasing 2 LP's in the mid-70's. The band is still active.

A contemporary lineup under the Gentrys name is a gospel family quartet of no relation to the original band.

Album discography

• 1965 MGM SE 4336 Keep On Dancing
• 1966 MGM SE 4346 Gentry Time
• 1970 Sun 117 The Gentrys