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The Serendipity Singers were a 1960s American folk group, similar to The New Christy Minstrels. Their debut single "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" was a Top Ten hit and received the group's only Grammy nomination in 1965.

History

Newport Singers

This nine-member folk-oriented group started at the University of Colorado with seven original members of a group called the Newport Singers. The members - Bryan Sennett (1940-2011), Brooks Hatch, Mike Brovsky, John Madden, Jon Arbenz (1940-2012), Bob Young (deceased) and Lynne Weintraub - had, with the exception of Weintraub, all previously worked together in various trios before coming together to form the Newport Singers.

In 1963, after working extensively in the Rocky Mountain Denver-Boulder Front Range region, the Newport Singers moved to New York City based on a telegram offering a record contract from a William Morris agent. Fred Weintraub, Lynne's brother and then-owner of the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, agreed to manage the group. Weintraub, also at the time the talent co-coordinator for the popular ABC Hootenanny television series, felt the group needed two more people to round out the sound. He invited Tom Tiemann and Diane Decker, two University of Texas students whom he had heard, to New York for an audition.

As the Serendipity Singers

Fred Weintraub proposed the name change from the Newport Singers to Serendipity. After some considerable discussion the compromise became the Serendipity Singers. After several months of rehearsal and work with Bob Bowers who became the group’s musical director, the Serendipity Singers opened at Weintraub's Bitter End café. They played in Greenwich Village with 90% original songs and were signed to six appearances on the weekly Hootenanny show during the Fall of 1963.

Philips Records signed them in 1964 and released their debut album to considerable sales success. Bowing at #90 on the Hot 100 on February 29, 1964, the debut single "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" climbed to #6 on 2-9 May 1964 and also hit #2 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, right in the middle of Beatlemania. The song was nominated for a Grammy at the 7th Grammy Awards (their only Grammy nomination) in 1965 for Best Performance by a Chorus though losing to The Swingle Singers who won for "Going Baroque." The follow-up, "Beans in My Ears", hit #30 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the AC chart a few months later. "Beans in My Ears" was banned in Boston, by Pittsburgh's KDKA radio station, and "some television shows asked us to do something different. Understandably so--it was dangerous," according to Bryan Sennett. "Obviously, (the song) was a statement about adults not listening to children." The singers were told not to perform the song on their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, December 27, 1964; they performed "Every Time I Hear the Spirit." The group also released a French language extended play record entitled, "Chantent en Français" which met with moderate success in France and included a French version of the Beatles song, "And I Love Her".

They released six albums on the Philips label before the end of 1965 and promoted their music on televisions shows including Hollywood A Go-Go, Shindig!, The Dean Martin Show, and The Tonight Show. Their initial success, however, was dampened by the continuing impact of the British Invasion, and within just two years the group's sound seemed dated to younger audiences and sales of successive albums decreased. The group featured line-up changes as original members departed.In 1965/6, John Madden went to law school while Patti Davis and Lana Shaw became the new female members of the group. The group's final three singles for the Philips label each released in 1966 failed to chart and the group and Philips parted ways. Despite having no new albums in 1966 and 1967, the group extensively played the college circuit and did appear on television including WABC's syndicated series "An Evening With" on May 21, 1966 and a return to The Ed Sullivan Show on January 8, 1967 where they sang, "If I Were a Carpenter" and a medley of folk tunes. They also performed the soundtrack recording for a film spotlighting Lady Bird Johnson's beautification program singing, "We're On Our Way" which was played in movie theaters and television in 1967. The band's connection with the Johnsons had included a White House appearance performing with President Lyndon B. Johnson in attendance and performing at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Moving to the United Artists Records label in 1967, the group minus a number of its original members recorded two vocal tracks associated with the United Artists film Hawaii and released as a single which failed to chart. They also appeared on the soundtrack for the U.A. film The Way West including the title track released as a single which didn't chart and one LP in 1968, which was the group's final album together. That album, "Love is a State of Mind" was a departure from the traditional folk sound. "Pure folk music is dying," said album producer and group leader Mike Brovsky. "We tried a few songs with an electric guitar and they went over so well that we naturally began to do more and more." It spawned two singles, "Rain Doll" and "The Boat I Row" which - along with the LP -- did not chart. In 1968, United Artists released the single, "What Will We Do With the Child" with Nick Holmes which did not chart though Holmes would go on to record a solo album with U.A. The band appeared in four holiday syndicated television specials by Trans-Lux presented for Memorial Day, Independence Day, Halloween, and Christmas of 1968.

In 1969, the band without chart success continued touring and making television appearances including their final Ed Sullivan guest spot on June 8, 1969. The group's final single for U.A. "Come Softly to Me" was released in 1969. The single didn't chart and the group failed to get its second full-length album released by U.A. effectively ending the commercial recording career of the original band. After touring 49 of the 50 United States and 15 foreign countries, selling over five million records, the founding members had left the group by 1970. The group's year ended with a one-hour syndicated television show produced by Weintraub, "Christmas at F.A.O. Schwarz" featuring the Serendipity Singers singing Christmas tunes and also starring Chuck McCann and the Paul Ashley puppets.

1970 - 2003

Though the original members had departed, modified line-ups of singers performing as the Serendipity Singers continued touring continuously from the 1970s and into the 2000s. The 1970 lineup featured Bernadette Carroll formerly of The Angels; Rennie Temple, Tony Perry, John Perry, Matthew Perry, Peggy Santiglia and Brovsky handling management of the group. The group name was purchased by David Stanton of Theatrical Corporation of America, a company that primarily booked talent on the college circuit. Stanton, who as manager of the band, placed the new line-up in five syndicated television specials in 1974 and had two original albums on his label Empire Records. The first album, "The Serendipity Singers Play the Palace" featured highlights from one of the television specials recorded live in San Francisco. The second album was also from a TV special, "Musical Postcard From Vail." Both albums were primarily sold at the group's live appearances. The group also was featured in a 1979 White Castle television commercial.

In 1999, eight of the original nine members reunited for a concert at Branson, Missouri's Celebrity Theater as part of the Fifth Annual Cruisin' Branson Lights Festival. The group's style, if not also its reunion, was thought to be an influence in the folk music parody film, A Mighty Wind with one author suggesting that a song in the film by the New Main Street Singers, "Far Away" may be an homage to the Serendipity Singers' "Sailin' Away." A number of the band members reunited again for the 2003 PBS special and DVD release of "This Land is Our Land: The Pop-Folk Years." Billed as A Serendipitous Reunion, the group sang, "Don't Let the Rain Come Down," "Down Where the Winds Blow," and "Waggoner Lad."

Discography

ALBUMS & EP

• The Serendipity Singers (Philips, 1964) U.S. #11
• The Many Sides of the Serendipity Singers (Philips, 1964) U.S. #68
• Take Your Shoes Off with the Serendipity Singers (Philips, 1965) U.S. #149
• We Belong Together (Philips, 1965)
• The Serendipity Singers Sing of Love, Lies, and Flying Festoons (Philips, 1965)
• The Serendipity Singers On Tour (Philips, 1965)
• The Serendipity Singers Chantent en Français (EP Philips, 1965)
• The Way West (United Artists Soundtrack, 1967) featuring The Serendipity Singers
• Love Is a State of Mind (United Artists, 1968)
• The Serendipity Singers Play the Palace (Empire Records, 1974)
• Musical Postcard From Vail (Empire Records, 1974)

CHARTED SINGLES

• Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man) (Philips, Feb. 1965) #6
• Beans in My Ears (Philips, May 1964) #30
• Down Where the Winds Blow (Chilly Winds) (Philips, Aug. 1964) #112
• Little Brown Jug (Philips, Jan. 1965) #124
• Plastic (Philips, Dec. 1965) #118

References

1. Maher, Jack. "Bitter End (Talent): Here's Lucky Find for Anybody." Billboard, 23 November 1963, p. 16
2. ^ Billboard, Allmusic.com
3. Brown, G. "Colorado Rocks: A Half-Century of Music in Colorado. Boulder, CO.: Pruett Publishing, 2004.
4. Boulware, Hugh. "Serendipity`s There Despite New Faces." Chicago Tribune, 3 November 1988."
5. Ochs, Ed. "Serendipitys Now Rockendipitys." Billboard, 13 April 1968, p. 16.
6. "Serendipitys in 4 TV Shows." Billboard, 4 May 1968, p. 16.
7. Weir, Stan. "Serendipity Singers in Concert at Dodge." Hutchinson News, 18 April 1969.
8. McDonough, Jack. "Serendipity Singers Booked for 5 Television Specials." Billboard, 3 August 1974, p. 51.
9. "A Serendipitous Reunion". broadwaytovegas.com. July 25, 1999. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
10. Muir, John. K. Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company. NY: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2004: p. 181.

External links

• Serendipity Singers video on youtube
• Serendipity Singers White Castle commercial from 1979

• American folk musical groups
• Musical groups from Colorado