I’m gonna make your life so sweet, yeah, yeah, yeah Like the summer sunshine pour you sweetness over me When I kissed you girl I knew how sweet a kiss could be I just can’t believe the wonder of this feeling, too I just can’t believe the loveliness of loving you It was also a huge hit in the UK, where it stayed at #1 for 8 weeks. It beat out songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Jackson 5, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. And he wound up handclapping on ‘Sugar, Sugar.'” How did it measure up? Its fame would span decades / Amazon Wine further went on, “In fact, a friend of mine had been in town, Ray Stevens, who’s an incredible songwriter, singer, producer, musician, and we were going to just grab a bite to eat, so I told him to meet me at the studio, pick me up, and then we’ll go eat. We didn’t really know how huge, but it was huge.” It was a fun session, it was a blast, and at the session, we just knew that this was something, and something huge was going to happen. Jeff and Andy Kim, who had hits on his own as a writer and singer, Jeff and Andy wrote ‘Sugar, Sugar,’ Ronnie was Archie, and I was Betty and Veronica. And Jeff Barry was going to produce this fictitious animated group called The Archies. Donnie Kirshner wanted to bring the Archies to life, which he did. In our interview with Toni Wine, she explained: “It just was a very easy session.

Everything fell into place with ease Toni Wine, Valerie Simpson and Lesley Miller / Wikipedia Greenwich has written many famous songs, including “Be My Baby” and “Chapel Of Love.” Toni Wine wrote the hit songs “A Groovy Kind Of Love” and “Candida.”Īs part of the bubblegum pop genre, the Archies’ biggest hit represented one of the most successful songs aimed at (or at least accessible to) younger listeners. Kim had a hit in 1974with “Rock Me Gently,” Dante produced “Mandy” for Barry Manilow and “Heartbreaker” for Pat Benatar. The song was written by Andy Kim and Jeff Barry, and was performed by session musicians including Kim, Toni Wine, Ron Dante, and Ellie Greenwich. Composing a bubblegum pop hit Before Kidz Bop, other bands already formed the genre that would be accessible to all listening demographics / Facebook It’s simply a factoid Kirshner loved telling that added to the mythos nicely.

Kirshner was the initial supervisor for the Monkees, and wanted to do the same thing with cartoon characters because they are much easier to work with than people.Ī popular urban myth says “Sugar, Sugar” was offered to The Monkees, but they turned it down. The Archies group was put together by Don Kirshner, a prolific promoter and producer. Archies, assemble! The Archies got the green light thanks to the success of The Monkees, which made them think this premise might just work again / Everett Collection

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