Song:Never My Love
Album:Greatest Hits!
Despite the fact that their sound was closer to The Lettermen than The Jefferson Airplane, The Association were very successful for a couple of years in the mid-60s. They had several top ten hits including Never My Love. Jules Alexander was stationed in Hawaii in the US Navy when he met traveling salesman Terry Kirkman in 1962. They jammed together and promised to get together when Alexander was discharged. They moved to Los Angeles and formed The Inner Tubes with Doug Dillard. This led to the 13 piece folk rock band The Men in 1965. When they split up, The Association was started with Alexander on vocals and lead guitar, Kirkman on vocals, percussion and wind instruments, Brian Cole on vocals and bass, Russ Giguere on vocals and percussion, Ted Bluechel Jr on drums and Jim Yester on keyboards. So they played gigs in Los Angeles and eventually signed with Barry DeVorzon's Valiant label with Warner Bros. distribution. They had their first top ten hit in 1966 with Along Comes Mary and then they had their first #1 hit with Cherish. Their second album Renaissance didn't do as well. They brought in Jim Yester's brother Jerry Yester to produce and it produced no hits. Then Warners bought Valiant and they hired veteran producer Bones Howe to produce The Association. Jules Alexander left and was replaced by Larry Ramos formerly of The New Christy Minstrels. Ramos and Giguere would become the main lead vocalists but the harmonies were the main selling point of the group. The vocal arranger was Clark Burroughs of the vocal group The Hi-Los. Windy topped the charts in July 1967 and then Never My Love reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in Oct. 1967. The song was written by Don and Dick Addrisi who went on to some success in the 70s as The Addrisi Brothers. It was also successfully covered by The Fifth Dimension in 1971 and Blue Swede in 1974. In 1999, BMI recognized Never My Love as the second most played song in history. Jules Alexander returned in 1969 but by this time The Association was in decline. Their music on the soundtrack of the film Goodbye, Columbus did not go well. Warners dropped them in 1972 and you can get all their Warners hits on this comp. The Association continued to record in the 70s without any success and today Russ Giguere and Larry Ramos lead a version of the group on the oldies circuit. Here's The Association performing Never My Love on The Ed Sullivan Show 1967.
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