The Beau Brummels

The Beau Brummels were the first nationally successful rock act to emerge from San Francisco; they were also the first American rock band influenced by the Beatles to have a hit. With the exception of their Irish-born bassist, Declan Mulligan (who quit the group before their hits began and later sued for a piece of their earnings), all the members were Bay Area high school graduates. Their early performances featured covers of Beatles and Rolling Stones songs as well as Ron Elliott's originals. San Francisco disc jockey Tom Donahue signed them to his Autumn Records. Their first release, "Laugh, Laugh" (produced by Sylvester Stewart, who later reached fame as Sly Stone), went to #15 in 1965, only a few months after they had played their first live show together. Their next single, “Just a Little” (#8), was their only Top 10 hit. None of their subsequent releases - “You Tell Me Why,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Good Time Music” (1965), or “One Too Many Mornings” (1966) - entered the Top 30.

In 1965 Autumn went out of business, and the group’s contract was sold to Warner Bros. It failed to regain commercial favor but produced interesting failures, including 1967’s progressive Triangle (recorded after Petersen had left to join Harper’s Bizarre [see entry]) and one of the first country-rock albums, Bradley’s Barn (recorded in Nashville in 1968 by Valentino and Elliott). Neither LP sold well, and by the end of 1968 the Beau Brummels moniker was retired. Valentino then recorded a couple of singles for Warner Bros. before assembling Stoneground. Elliott released a solo album called The Candlestick Maker in 1969 and then took a lengthy sabbatical before resurfacing with a group called Pan in the early ’70s. In 1974 the original Beau Brummels regrouped, augmented by guitarist Dan Levitt. They released The Beau Brummels, but the LP met with little success and the group disbanded. In the years since, versions of the Beau Brummels have included Valentino, Elliott, and Mulligan, in various combinations. The 1994 album Autumn of Their Years includes material recorded from 1964 to 1966.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)