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The Prince & The Paupers story began in the early 1960s when guitarist Ron Tognarelli began to get requests to perform at local parties and functions in the greater Boston area. A band, originally named The Vibrations, was formed from young local musicians. The group began as an instrumental combo and performed music by The Ventures and other popular material from the surfing era.
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| Prince & The Paupers, L-R: Mike Leone, keyboards; Ron Tognarelli, guitar; Bob Silva, bass guitar; Dennis Corso, lead vocal; Chris Cunningham, guitar; and John Mydelski, drums. |
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| The Vibrations on stage in Boston, 1963. L-R: Ron Tognarelli, guitar; Bob King, guitar; Pat Federico, drums; and Tony Piccolo, guitar. |
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Ron Tognarelli Recalls Prince & The Paupers
At the onset of the British Invasion, The Vibrations decided it would be necessary to add vocals and update their sound and image so lead vocalist Frank Whitehead was added. The sound of the Vox electronic keyboard was all the rage at this time and could be heard in the music of such groups as The Animals, Paul Revere and The Raiders and The Doors, necessitating the addition of Mike Leone on Vox organ. A new drummer, John Mydelski came onboard and the name of the group was changed to Prince & The Paupers. The new sound and appearance that the group was marketing at this time quickly put them in the forefront of popularity in the music scene around the New England area.
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| Prince & The Paupers, L-R: Bob Silva, bass guitar; Mike Leone, keyboards; John Mydelski, drums; Bob King, guitar; and Ron Tognarelli, guitar. Frank Whitehead, lead vocalist, is front center. |
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Prince & The Paupers would go on to become the featured concert and touring group for WMEX, Boston’s number one radio station at the time. They toured extensively throughout New England, making appearances with celebrity deejays such as Arnie Ginesburgh, Bill Jones, Rockin' Robin and Larry Justice.
The group’s career really began to skyrocket when they were signed by the prestigious Boston music management company, Lordly and Dame, Inc. This put them in a whole new performance category, appearing as the featured band in large auditoriums and as opening act for many of the top bands of the '60s. They also appeared on numerous TV shows including a number of appearances on the popular New Hampshire Bandstand, which was a takeoff on the nationally broadcasted hit, American Bandstand.
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| Prince & The Paupers live on New Hampshire Bandstand. L-R: Bob Silva, bass guitar; Frank Whitehead, lead vocalist; and Chris Cunningham, guitar. |
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| Boston Globe Mention |
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We once appeared at a Leukemia drive that was mentioned in a Boston Globe article. This event was hosted by Danny Thomas at Boston University's Nickerson Field. We appeared along with Bobby Vinton and his orchestra in front of 48,000 screaming teens.
It was a totally "wild" event. The stage was set in the center of the field and every time any of us tried to get to the stage to perform, whole sections of the audience--I'm talking seven to ten thousand kids--would storm the field, screaming for autographs. It got so bad that Danny Thomas had to let us all use his limo escorted by Boston motorcycle police to get to and from the stage to perform.
At one point, some of the kids broke through the guards who were blocking the entrance to the corridors which lead to our dressing rooms. We were caught and crushed against our dressing room door by a crowd of maybe one thousand kids. We tried to keep them calm by handing out autographed pictures, but that many people pushing against you can cause problems that kids of our age weren't prepared for. Most of us ended up with a good portion of our clothing torn off of us. Bob Silva had his head smashed against the concrete wall and needed stitches.
The real horror show was yet to come though. At the end of the concert, we all were given directions to get out of the field without incoutering the 48,000 people who were leaving by the main gate. Prince And The Paupers all left in one vehicle together. Our driver took a wrong turn and ended up right on Commonwealth Aveune, directly in front of the main exit gate. We were stuck in traffic and horrified that we would be recognized and eventually we were. Everyone started screaming and running up to our car. It was the most freightening thing that has ever happened to me. There was a least half of the audience surrounding our vehicle.
We again tried to apease them by handing autographed photos out little slits in the windows. That only worked for awhile. They began to climb all over the car and up on to the roof. So many were on the roof that it began to collapse. We all thought it was the end for us for sure. There were soo many people around us that the police couldn't get to us. We could hear them running their sirens, but we couldn't hear anything else over the screaming that was going on. By now we were screaming too, but out of fear for our lives. The roof of the car did collapse and we were all pushed down as far as we could go.
It would have been a matter of minutes before we were all crushed. We were a mess, all were crying and shaking beyond belief. At this point it was us or them. We screamed at the driver to put it in drive and slowly move forward, which we did. He kept blowing the horn and we all kept screaming, "Please move! Please get out of the way. We don't want to hurt anyone." We kept slowly moving forward, pushing kids out of the way and picking up speed until we finally broke though the crowd and pulled away.
The driver could barely see the road to drive, but we managed to get down Commonwealth Avenue to Kenmore Square, where Fenway Park is and we pulled off the road and pushed and kicked against the doors of the car until we were able to get out. Needless to say, we came away from that concert with a painfully acquired awareness of what a large crowd can unintentionally do.
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| Prince & The Paupers performing at East Boston High School in 1965 |
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Prince & The Paupers would undergo two more personnel changes at this point. Guitarist Bob King would leave to pursue a career in jazz and was replaced by guitarist Chris Cunningham. Lead vocalist Frank Whitehead would leave to relocate to the West Coast and was replaced by lead vocalist Dennis ? (name forgotten). (Note: Phil Cabuzzi, who replaced Bob Silva, informed 60sgaragebands.com that Dennis' last name is Corso.) The group’s single, 'Tears That I Cried' b/w a cover of Smokey Robinson's 'That’s What Love Is Made Of' was released in 1966. Both songs were well played by radio stations throughout the Northeast.
We were a here and now type of group completely focused on our live sound and stage apprearance. Prince & The Paupers rehearsed and performed constantly. We were so much in demand that we formed a production company, Vi-Vic Productions, hired nine other bands and subcontracted what we couldn't or didn't want to do to them for a 10% commission. This was my father's idea; he was a very talented business manager. His keen sense of negotiation and motivational skills helped us tremendously as we grew in popularity.
In 1968, guitarist Ron Tognarelli left the group to enter Berklee College of Music where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in music composition. He then went on to study at the University of Massachusetts and received another degree in music education. Ron is now a leading classical performer and teacher in the Metro Boston area.
At this time, there is no information gathered on the other members of the group. What happened to Prince & The Paupers after 1968 remains a little sketchy. It appears as though other members left the group shortly after Ron Tognarelli. Some information has been gathered indicating that guitarist Chris Cunningham kept the group active in the New England area for a few more years and then moved the group out to Hollywood, California.
If anyone has information to add about any of the group’s members, or if you have recordings or videos of the group’s performances that you would like to share, you are encouraged to send a message to prince_and_the_paupers @msn.com.
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| Prince & The Paupers Recording |
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| Vibrations Newspaper Article |
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| Prince & The Paupers Dance Article |
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| Complete Boston Globe 'Record Time' Column |
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| New England Teen Scene Article |
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Introducing Prince & The Paupers. Frank Whitehead, lead singer, lives in Arlington and is the Prince. The Paupers are Ronnie Tognarelli, guitar, in Somerville; Bob Silva, bass guitar, in Revere; and Mike Leone, organ, in East Boston. Robert King, lead guitar and John Mydelski, drummer, round out The Paupers. The band is unique, not only in its sound, but also for its size. Most rock groups consist of four or five members, yet The Paupers feature six in order to capture a wall of sound, with rhythm, lead, bass, guitar and Vox organ. The band has played together for three productive years.
Prince and The Paupers are now touring
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the state on Friday and Saturday nights with D.J.s from WMEX, Boston, and are appearing Monday nights at one of Greater Boston's leading lounge bars for its Go Go night. Prince & The Paupers are climbing steadily to a spot among the top bands of the country. They have just recently signed a contract with a leading recording company and will soon be recording a platter they aim to be a Top Ten. The average age of this group is 18 to 19 years old. Keep your eye on them!
Prince & The Paupers also rcoked at the Teen Scene Fair recently held at the Prudential Center to the plaudits of the teen thousands who heard them.
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