The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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JOHN FRED & HIS PLAYBOY BAND
“JUDY IN DISGUISE (WITH GLASSES)”
(JOHN FRED, Andrew Bernard)
Paula 282
No. 1 January 20, 1968
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“We just started out as a bunch of guys that liked black music,” said John Fred in an exclusive
interview. “Parents didn’t like it, but we did. They didn’t like us neither; … but we didn’t care
none.”
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John Fred Gourrier (b. May 8, 1941, Baton Rouge, LA) had been listening to “Sugarboy”
Crawford, Smiley Lewis, and the Spiders since he was knee-high. He started his first band–the
Playboys, so named for his favorite reading material, Playboy–in 1956 at the age of 15; the idea
was to work the weekend dances, make some money, and have fun. Three years later, Sam
Montel spotted John and his Playboy pack and signed them to his Montel label.
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“In 1959, we went down to Cosima’s Studio in New Orleans and recorded ‘Shirley’ with Fats
Domino’s band,” said John. “That day, Fats was recording ‘Whole Lotta Lovin’ and ‘Little
Coquette.” After he got through recording that, I just went right in with his band. We didn’t
expect nothin’. We just wanted to make records to get more jobs.”
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“Shirley” charted at number 82. After Montel issued several more singles and the band toured
up north and appeared at one of Alan Freed’s rock’n’roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount
Theatre, John–who was the son of Fred Gourrier, one-time third baseman for the Detroit Tigers-–
decided to put his career on hold while he attended Southern Louisiana College on a basketball
scholarship. When he graduated in 1964, John formed a new Playboy Band and cut a remake
of bluesman John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillun” for the En-Joy label.
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When “Boogie Chillun” began attracting some sales action, En-Joy chief Rocky Robin
approached Stan Lewis at the Shreveport-based Jewel/Paula record complex about national
distribution. Soon afterward, Fred and his Playboys moved over to Lewis’ labels.
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“Stan put us with Dale Hawkins [rockabilly legend, known for “Susie Q”] first, but soon let me
do pretty much what I wanted,” Fred explained. “I got to produce the band. Andrew Bernard,
our sax player, did most of the arrangements. We burned. We got some hot cuts put out before
‘Judy’ got us typecast.”
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The members of the Playboy Band at time of the recording of “Judy in Disguise’ were
saxophonist Andrew Bernard (b. 1945, New Orleans), bassist Harold Cowart (b. June 4, 1944,
Baton Rouge, LA), keyboardist Tommy “Dee” DeGeneres (b. Nov. 3, 1946, Baton Rouge),
trumpeter Ronnie Goodson ( b. Feb. 2, 1945, Miami), percussionist Joe Miceli (b. July 9, 1946,
Baton Rouge), guitarist Jimmy O’Rourche (b. Mar. 14,1947, Fall River, MA), and trumpeter
Charlie “Spinn Spinosa” (b. Dec. 29, 1948, Baton Rouge).
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“Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)” was the group’s 16th single. “We were playing in Florida, and
all the girls at that time had these big sunglasses. One of the guys was hustling this chick. She
took off these glasses, and she could stop a clock. I said, ‘That’s it: That’s what gave me the
idea.” That, and the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” said Fred.
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Where did John Fred and Andrew Bernard, the song’s writers, pick up “Judy”‘s bizarre/
psychedelic references to “lemonade pies” and “cantaloupe eyes”? ”At the time, ‘The Monkees’
was on TV, and the show’s sponsor was Yardley and Playtex,” Fred recalled. “I was sitting there
and writing words while the TV was on. And they said something like ‘Cross your heart with a
living bra.’ I just wrote that down, too. We first called it ‘Beverly in Disguise,’ but it just didn’t
flow, you know.”
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“Judy” was a weird one, but what a hit-it stayed perched atop the charts for
two weeks straight. Though Fred and his Playboy Band tried to repeat the trick, only their
immediate follow-up, “Hey, Hey Bunny” (#57, 1968), managed to make the national listings.
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“Everytime we put out another record, they’d go, ‘Oh, man, this ain’t no ‘Judy in Disguise.’ Well-
shit no, of course it wasn’t. Paul McCartney told me, ‘That’s the most unique song I’ve ever
heard.’ It wasn’t a great song; it was a great record,” Fred explained.
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“It was problems. We didn’t get much promotion and what we did got us miscast. Man, people
who did not know of our history thought we were some novelty act; then that album cover
made us look like some drum and bugle corp. Here we were doin’ tight Wilson Pickett…. We
were a white R & B band. We wanted to do what was happening, but didn’t get the chance to
show our roots. We got cast and put on tours as this bubble-gum thing that we weren’t.”
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In 1969 John and band were signed to Uni. “Uni was gettin’ hot. They signed three acts at once–
me, Neil Diamond, and Elton John. One of us got lost. Actually, I shoulda stayed with Stan
Lewis [Jewel/Paula].”
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Fred remained a full-time music-maker until1976, when he became the vice president of Deep
South Records. There, he wrote commercials and did some production work (one notable
project: IRMA THOMAS’ Safe With You album). For awhile he was running John Fred Music and the
Sugarcane record label. In the ’80s, he retooled the Playboy Band for performances through
out the South. In the ’90s, Fred organized and recorded with the Louisiana Men, a trio
comprised of himself, ex-CHASE vocalist G. G. Shin and ex-Uniques vocalist JOE STAMPLEY.
Playboy bassman Harold Cowart went on to play bass with the Bee Gees for 10 years and later
sessioned for Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and Barbra Streisand.
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Fred adds, “‘Judy in Disguise’ was a once in a life time thing. You can never cut anything like it
again. That song was us, but we were so much more and most people never got to know that
side of us. Hey, what can I say, that song is gonna outlive me.”
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John died April 15, 2005.