The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
SMITH
“BABY IT’S YOU”
(Burt Bacharach, Mack David, Barney Williams)
Dunhill 4206
No. 5 November 1, 1969
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Before her bluesy rock days, Gayle McCormick (b. Nov. 26, 1948) attended Pattonville High in St. Louis
and sang high soprano with the Suburb Choir, a 150-voice unit that performed annually with the St.
Louis Sym phony. In 1966, fronting a foursome she met while enrolled in a music class–the Chevels,
named for a hip Chevy–Gayle and group played the hops, became regulars at “Chain of Lakes Splash
Party,” and waxed a few singles–released as by Gayle McCormick & the Klass men–for Musicland U.S.A.
“Without You” and “Mr. Loveman” were passed over with little national fanfare. In late 1968, the Smiths,
disintegrating L.A. band, came to town touring behind a Columbia single, “Now I Taste the Tears.”
Most of the Smiths’ members had departed, and replacement players were needed.
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“The Klassmen were being strongly promoted by KXO radio, the rock station in St. Louis; especially by
johnny Rabbit, the n a umber one DJ” said Gayle, in an exclusive interview. “Jerry [Carter (bass) J and
Rich [Cliburn (lead guitar)]–what was left of the Smiths needed a band to back them for their
appearances in town, and Ernie Cummings, our drummers’ dad and our manager, was a go-getter. He
pushed for it, and we got to back them.”
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With thoughts in her head that “these guys are big time, L.A. and on their way,” Gayle left the Klassmen
and St. Louis–with Jerry and Rich–in order to continue promotion on the 45. “When we got to L.A., we
put an ad in the musician’s union paper and started playing the Rag Doll,” said Gayle, “with Bob Evans,
the drummer and Larry Moss, the keyboards. We were now a five piece and Smith.”
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Right from the start, the heart and soul of the new grouping was McCormick. She was only 20 years old
that day in 1969 when out of the blue, dimming stars Del Shannon and Brian Hyland stopped in to wet
their whistles at the Rag Doll, a San Fernando Valley bar. Smith had only been together a month or two,
but Shannon loved what he heard.
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“Del was real excited about the group. I mean, maybe he saw us as a financial thing or a way to advance
his career, but he said, ‘Hey, this is want I want to do…. Come out to the house; I got some songs for you.
‘Baby It’s You’ was one of ’em. It had always been a favorite of mine, by the Shirelles; not the Beatles
version.”
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Once at Shannon’s home, with the roomful of recording equipment, Del showed them the outlines of the
song; working with them until he got the sound just the way he heard it in his head. “I don’t know if he
had this vision that it would be a hit, or what. McCormick said. “But using the Red Dog as the spot, he
had [Atlantic Records] Ahmet come in to hear us. He had Liberty, Decca, *********************. It was
like an immediate celebration. It was electric, and unreal. Within nine months, we were doing ‘Ed
Sullivan; the ‘Mama Cass Show; and ‘Red Skelton’-and he never had rock groups on-and had this Top
five record.”
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The tale gets foggy from this point on. Even Gayle’s not clear as to why, but before even a second 45 was
needed, Del was gone. “I think it was a business deci sion; [the label] just wanted to do their own thing,
with Joel [Sill] producing and Steve [Barril sweetening;’ said Gayle.
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“Take a Look Around,” a fairly tough follow-up, sold well (#43, 1970), but with the release of A Group
Called Smith, their debut LP, Jerry and Rich were, as Gayle phrased it, “released.” “We were incurring
conflicts,
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within the group-personal-and they didn’t receive any royalties from the hit or the album that they
played on.” Brought in were AI Parker (lead guitar) and Jade Hass (bass).
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“The group thing was about through;’ said Gayle. “All this nit-picking; with nobody getting on. We were
promoting ‘What Am I Gonna Do’ [Smith’s third and penultimate 45], when Larry quit, then Bob; so
there’s just Gayle McCormick and two guys that weren’t in the original group. I didn’t feel that I had any
control either, so I told ’em, ‘I’m a goner, too: They got some girl to finish the tour.” Minus Plus, a second
album was pieced together.
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Gayle McCormick carried on for a while with lone solo releases on Dunhill, MCA, and Fantasy. “I got
lost;’ said Gayle. “With each album, I got further away from the Smith sound. I think people expected
more of a gritty sound. By the last stuff, I was being produced by this guy who was doing Dianne Carroll …
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“But I could have only gone on for only so long my voice would have been gone if I had carried on. I
wasn’t born to be a professional singer. It wasn’t meant to be more than it was. One of the guys-I ain’t
sayin’ who-said, ‘It’s a good thing that we only had one hit, . . :’cause I liked drugs too much. It woulda
killed me.” Gayle works for Sears, in St. Louis. Rick lives in the wilds of Oregon, phoneless; Bob owns a
refurbishing company in North Ridge, California; Larry runs a con struction company in Tulsa and plays
organ in a Pente costal Church. Jerry’s whereabouts are unknown.
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As for Gayle’s first group: The Klassmen, in 1970, traveled to L.A. in search of success. No such luck; no
fur ther 45s. Their saxman, five foot-six and blond, Jimmy Koerber, went on to work with Ike & Tina
Turner.