Song:The Jerk
Album:Land of 1000 Dances, Vol. 2: 1956-1966
I'm sure most folks are probably aware that there was a very popular dance in the mid-60s called The Jerk. This is the song that launched it. So you don't get confused, there was a vocal group in the 30s called The Larks and there was a doo wop group in the 50s called The Larks. Don Julian also had a doo wop group called The Meadowlarks. He was born Apr. 7, 1937 in Houston and moved to Los Angeles as a teen. They were originally called The Soulinaires in 1952 but they thought the name was too "church" sounding so they changed it to The Meadowlarks. They recorded for Modern Records, Dootone, Original Sound and Dynamite until they met legendary Los Angeles record store owner John Dolphin. Dolphin also owned radio station KRKD and he decided to start his own record company Money Records. The Jerk was the first release and it reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and launched the huge dance craze. For some reason the group was called The Larks and for many years Julian has called the group Don Julian & The Larks or The Meadowlarks. Julian also wrote The Jerk. The Larks continued to record for Money until 1967. The recordings are available but I think most will only want The Jerk and you can get that and plenty of other dance classics on this various artists comp from Ace Records. The Larks' music is definitely a cross between doo wop and 60s soul and a lot of the songs try to create new dances. Sometimes lightning strikes twice but not in this case. Don Julian continued to perform and record occasionally until his death on Nov. 6, 1998 at age 61. Here's Don Julian & The Meadowlarks performing The Jerk Lynwood, CA 1993.
No comments:
Post a Comment