Song:Western Union
Album:The Best Of The Five Americans
Western Union was a top five hit in 1967. The Five Americans scored some other chart singles but Western Union was their most memorable song. Though they lived in Dallas, lead singer and guitarist Mike Rabon was from Oklahoma. He met keyboard player John Durrill in 1962 at Southeastern Oklahoma State and they decided to form a band. They called themselves The Mutineers after a club they played called Pirates Nook. Other members were Norman Ezell on guitar, Jim Grant on bass and Johnny Coble on drums. At first they were an instrumental band heavily influenced by Duane Eddy. They released a 1963 single and then with the British Invasion started singing Beatles covers. Durrill experimented with keyboards and settled on a Vox organ which became a big part of their sound. When Rabon decided to move to Dallas, Coble was replaced by Jimmy Wright. They signed with Abnak Records owned by John Abdnor Jr. whose father was a multi millionaire. He insisted on the name change to The Five Americans. When the 1965 single I See The Light got radio airplay, it was picked up by Hanna-Barbera's HBR label. It reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100. But they were having trouble with Abdnor. They wanted to sign with a larger label but he wouldn't let them leave. They started working with producer and rockabilly legend Dale Hawkins. The result was Western Union reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. The song came about when Rabon was fooling around in the studio and he played a riff that sounded like a telegraph key. The song wrote itself. They continued to have problems with Abdnor. Durrill and Ezell left in 1968. The band continued as Michael Rabon and the Five Anericans until they split up in 1969. You can get all their hits on this comp from the reissue label Sundazed. Rabon recorded as Choctaw for UNI Records in 1970. Wright was also in that band. Then Rabon was in session musician Doug Rhone's band Gladstone who recorded for ABC Probe. He has worked for the Oklahoma school system for many years. Durrill wrote the 1974 Cher hit Dark Lady. And he was also a member of The Ventures for a while. Ezell has recorded Christian music. Grant and Wright both became artists. Grant died in 2004. Ezell died in 2010. Wright died in 2012. Here's The Five Americans performing Western Union on The Steve Allen Show 1967.
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