Although not in any way affiliated with the “To Know Him Is To Love Him” group, Jacksonville’s The Teddy Bears were a very popular southern rock and roll combo that performed at many of the city's teen clubs and hot spots. Like their more famous namesake, the band recorded and, with the assistance of The Classic IV’s Walter Eaton, laid down several slick and excellent songs. Drummer Don Richards has recently hooked up again with the rest of the band and plans are afoot to hold their second reunion sometime in 2007.
You can read more about The Teddy Bears, see more photos and memorabilia, and sample sound clips at the Southern Garage Bands website. |
An Interview with Don Richards
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Don Richards: If you’re old enough, you remember the I Love Lucy show with Little Ricky. Well, he played drums and I was just fascinated by this. He was a little younger than I was and could just go to town on them. I heard Gene Krupa and was blown away by his solos as well. Ricky Nelson also played drums early on the Ozzie and Harriet show. I had no drums to bang on but I did manage to get my hands on a pair of drumsticks. I would listen to the radio and tap out the rhythms on a pillow at night so as not to wake my parents. In my teenage years I was also fascinated with disk jockeys and wanted to be one. They got to play music, have girls listen to them, and work with bands. What a life. So, when the opportunity presented itself as a “talent contest” the stage was set and the musical instrument of choice had already been determined early on.
60s: Terry & The Tornados/Mustangs was your first band? How long was it together? How many members went on to play in The Teddy Bears?
DR: We first got together around the beginning of 1964 to enter the local high school talent contest. The Beatles, Beach Boys and Roy Orbison were the rage and we followed right after them, as best we could, staying together for about a year. James Williams and I went on and found two replacements after the split up of The Mustangs.
60s: Where and when was The Teddy Bears formed?
DR: James and I had met Hal Shaw at a teen club in Callahan, Florida (a small town just outside of Jacksonville). His grandmother owned the building and ran the club (teen clubs were all over the place back then) and Hal worked there. As The Mustangs, we played there and got to know him. When we broke up, he was our first choice. As a matter of fact, he was our only choice. James and I didn’t know anyone else that could play guitar. One of Hal’s neighbors was also messing around with a guitar and was interested in joining us. So, by the end of 1964 the four of us— Hal, Al, James, and me—were practicing. |
60s: Who all comprised the band?
DR: James Williams - rhythm guitar; Hal Shaw - bass guitar; Al Duckworth - lead guitar; Ken Webb – keyboards; Michael Beckham - alternate drums; and Don Richards - drums.
60s: Ken Webb joined the band sometime after the first recording. Whose idea was it to add another member, and where did you locate Ken?
DR: We had been together for a year or so and had started bumping against our limits with a lead, rhythm, bass guitar, and drums. We had discussions about expanding using horns or a keyboard like some of the other bands. Horns presented somewhat of a compatibility problem in that we didn’t read music and most of them did. In addition, not all of our selections needed horns. It became clear as we worked through (the fact) that a keyboard player was the logical choice for our type of music. We started auditions and had a couple of guys come over and play with us. Around this same time, we were playing with a group of other bands at Jacksonville Beach for some event. Ken was with another band and was looking to make a move and started talking with us so we auditioned him. He seemed like a good fit and besides, he could sing. He was just what we were looking for.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
DR: I would say we had a “transparent rock” sound. What I mean by this is that we tried to achieve the sound of the song that we played. If it was The Beach Boys, we would concentrate on the harmony. If it was rhythm and blues we would try to achieve the feeling of soul. We played the songs we liked and the ones that we thought would push our ability. Take the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” and “Good Vibrations” for instance. These songs contained multi-part harmonies and we worked out decent versions. As we developed, we gravitated toward vocal harmonies. As far as influence goes, I would say The Beatles, Beach Boys, and rhythm and blues groups. |
60s: Where did the band typically play?
DR: Any place that would have us but mostly teen centers. The City of Jacksonville actually ran about a half dozen or so youth centers that held dances each Friday and Saturday night in addition to the many privately run clubs. I remember Masonic halls, VFWs, high school proms, beauty pageants, and community centers in smaller towns and cities.
One of the oddest places I remember was early on with Terry and The Tornados. All four of us attended the same high school and our history teacher, Mr. McMillan, taught a night class to inmates at the county prison farm. Well, he asked us if we would perform. I guess he thought his “night class” might enjoy hearing us or maybe it was just his subtle way of showing us what could happen. We did manage to get enthusiast applause for our four or five songs including Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” that night. I might be sticking my neck out but I would venture to guess we were one of the first teen bands in the nation to play in a prison.
60s: Which teen clubs or centers did you regularly perform at?
DR: I remember the Southside, Green Street, Woodstock, and Tredinnick Youth Centers. All were run by the City of Jacksonville and they promoted them well through the local newspaper and radio. Green Street was the starting out place where you paid your dues so to speak and I remember we played one night only making about $4.00. We loved playing and never complained about our meager earnings; the city manager got to know us and when he moved up and on to larger centers, we always got a greater cut and constant bookings.
Jacksonville Beach had a Band Shell and Auditorium. The Place and The Sherwood Teen Club were some of the others. In Georgia, just about every town we played in, it was a community club, VFW, recreation center or something like that.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
DR: It ranged from south to Daytona and Inverness, Florida; north and west to Atlanta, Georgia; and east to Beaufort, South Carolina on the coast. |
60s: The Teddy Bears participated in many battle of the bands? What other bands do you recall playing against?
DR: Some of the bands were the Jokers of Jacksonville; Jaguars of Douglas, Georgia; and even The Royal Guardsmen just before the “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” came out. As I recall, I don’t think we ever lost a battle.
60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?
DR: Let’s see…some of the groups were: The Vikings (they played at our high school prom); Tiny and The Surfers and The Yo Yos (they played at the first youth center that I remember going to); and The Illusions (they were featured on a weekly TV show kind of like Hullabaloo but local).
The Cornonados were good to us and would sometimes fill in if we got double booked. Mouse and The Boys were probably one of the most popular groups around and we had the chance to work with them at Sound Labs. The Bushmen were another top group from South Georgia and in a league of their own. The Strange Bedfellows from South Georgia was another one that I never saw but I always thought they had such a clever name. The Candymen was a first class group and we had the chance to play on the same stage with them in Atlanta.
60s: Marvin Shaw managed The Teddy Bears. How active was he in promoting the band?
DR: Oh, Mr. Shaw was extremely active in promoting us. He was Hal’s father and had a fulltime job and family. The Shaw’s had two daughters and two sons. Now, he managed to keep them in line - as well as us. Looking back, it was like herding a bunch of cats but somehow he and Mrs. Shaw managed to pull it off. During our three years he managed to book us almost every weekend and occasionally during the week, mostly in the summer. We received coverage through the newspaper and radio station WAPE (this was the WLS of the South) and made a TV appearance. He managed to find bookings out of state and we played in South Georgia just about as much as Florida, all without the help of the Internet. There is no telling what his phone bill would run.
60s: Whose idea was it to print up a brochure promoting the band? This was very unusual for bands of the day. Do you recall how many were printed, and where were they distributed?
DR: I think that was Mr. Shaw’s creation. He wanted to promote us with a little more information and pizzazz than a small business card. We were somewhere between the card and a professionally posed 8” x 10” glossy picture. Besides, the glossies cost big bucks. I think he had a couple of hundred or so printed up. We got about two each and he mailed and gave out the rest to booking contacts. Maybe its time to get more printed; who knows?!
60s: How popular locally did The Teddy Bears become?
DR: We managed to hold our own. There where other bands more popular in Jacksonville such as Mouse and The Boys but we were right in there behind them. In South Georgia it was The Bushmen but once again we were right in there behind them. When I go back and compare the recreation center schedules printed for weekend dances in the Jacksonville paper, I see that we were as busy as any of the other bands. Looking back, I tend to think we were probably more popular than we thought. |
60s: What was the impetus for The Teddy Bears' decision to record?
DR: To a ‘60’s teenaged rock band a “record” was the golden apple. Girls had tons of 45s and we wanted them to have and play our record as well. “Cutting” a record was a logical next step. It never occurred to us to record someone else’s song so we put our effort into something of our own but we had no idea how to take it any further.
60s: The Teddy Bears recorded "Blue Surf" / "Baby You Go Round" at Norm Vincent Studios in Jacksonville. What do you remember about the recording session?
DR: I think we got together on a Saturday morning and had bought about two hours of time. As I recall the studio was not on the ground floor and we had to lug our equipment up in the elevator. The engineer had us place our equipment and he positioned the microphones and we did some sound checks. We did a couple of practice runs and then he started rolling the tape and we did “takes” until we thought they were what we wanted. The engineer adjusted levels and added echo (and maybe some equalization) but that was about it. If you compare those early recordings with Walter’s (NOTE: Eaton, of Classics IV fame) a year later you can hear a difference.
60s: Why wasn't that particular record released as a 45?
DR: At the time it was recorded, we had paid for the studio time ourselves and when we got back home we had about five acetate records that were cut, on site, right after the session. We didn’t have a clue as what to do with them, so I think it was more of a novelty than anything. As time went on, we never looked back or thought they would amount to anything, but they might have received some airtime with a few tweaks and a good studio producer. Who knows?
60s: "Miss to Mrs." and "Teddy Bear" were recorded at Sound Labs. What do you recall about that recording session?
DR: Now this was the big time for us. Mr. Shaw had become acquainted with the disc jockeys at WAPE. He, as well as other promoters, was buying commercials for our dances so he talked us up every chance he got. I believe one of the jockeys, Ken Fuller, put us in touch with Walter probably because of our name and one of the names of his songs being “Teddy Bear”. The next thing I remember is going to the studio in the evening. This was totally different than our first recording session. We worked about two or three hours a night for a couple of months. This studio had quite a few people hanging around such as The Classics and Mouse and The Boys so more than one song was being worked on at a time. One of the conversations we had was concern over our name conflicting with the original Teddy Bears (of “To Know Him Is to Love Him” fame) if…with a big if…we ever got big. Walter and Dennis Yost said they had the same problem with a group up north called The Classics and that we could add something on the name like “The Teddy Bears V” or “The Fabulous Teddy Bears” or something like that. Another conversation was about driving back after bookings late at night listening to the likes of WLS, Mr. Norm commercials and Don Phillips, WOWO in Ft. Wayne or WLAC, and Randy’s Record Shop commercials fading in and out on the car radio while trying to stay awake. Hearing one song start and waking up to another was quite an eye opener…especially if you were the driver!
60s: Why wasn't "Sole Summer" ever released on a 45?
DR: This was the third song and we were hoping to find a fourth song for the back of the record. The time frame was the summer of 1967 and Walter was working on 20 things at once. I think we just ran out of time because The Classics IV were getting involved with Bill Lowery and starting to record in Atlanta.
60s: Walter Eaton wrote the three songs recorded at Sound Labs. What was it like working with him?
DR: Walter was awesome. I remember he was very friendly and explained what to do and what he wanted out of us. He was a perfectionist and knew exactly what he was doing and what the finished product should sound like. He got his sound by using the musicians available to him. An example is the wedding march horn parts on “Miss. to Mrs.” That was the brass of Mouse and The Boys. In “Teddy Bear” there is a chime part and I think that was Walter playing on a xylophone. |
60s: Did The Teddy Bears have a primary songwriter, or did you rely on mostly outside writers?
DR: We concentrated on learning hits of the day. It really never crossed our minds to write and come up with our own songs. James made the only attempt with “Baby You Go Round”. In our peak, we were learning about two to three songs a week and constantly adding to our play list. One of the things that made local bands popular was the ability to play current hit songs. Those kids would hear a song on the radio and would request it when we preformed so we couldn’t afford to play the same old songs. Even to this day, I am amazed at the job Al and Ken did “re-engineering” each song we learned. They would choose the song and have the basic cord structure figured out before we started. Then everybody would work on his part and we would start putting it together. Somehow we managed to make it sound close to the original.
60s: Do any other Teddy Bears recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?
DR: Yes, I have a couple of taped practice sessions and a couple of live dances. I am amazed that I am able to get anything at all on 40+-year-old reel-to-reel tape but I have quite a bit of usable material. Ken had a single channel recorder and would place the microphone near the PA speakers so most of the sound was vocal. It was very crude but I was able to capture our sound and with a little help from computer enhancement programs a usable CD is possible.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
DR: Yes we did. There were two occasions. The first was with Terry and The Tornadoes in April of 1964. We were all in the 4-H club at school and our county agent had a local TV program on at 6:30am that was farm related: Raising cows, chickens, and growing stuff. Well, here we are, a young teenaged rock and roll band playing on this show. One can only imagine what those farmers thought of us.
The second time was about 1967 on a local Today TV show.
60s: Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?
DR: Yes. There is some home movie footage with plans to convert into movie files.
60s: What year and why did the band break up?
DR: We broke up in the fall of 1967 because of a number of things. I was about to be drafted and was able to join the Air National Guard. We were fortunate enough to get Michael Beckham to fill in for me for about four months or so. Michael was a good fit and did a fantastic job. James and I were married and starting families. Hal and Al had just graduated and Hal was going to attend college out of state. Hal’s father, Mr. Shaw, had been our manager for three years now and with Hal leaving wanted to devote more time to his family. It was going to be a major change and we would have so many obstacles to over come that it seemed like the right thing to do. Sometimes it’s better to go out at your peak with a good reputation than just hang around and try to continue and not give 100%. All things considered, it was the right choice for us. |
60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Teddy Bears?
DR: Al, James and I didn’t pursue any other bands after the breakup. James and I had wives by now and other interests. Hal, Ken, and Michael went on with other bands: Hal with Flight and Catslick, both Jacksonville bands, as well as studio session work. Ken was with The Rowe Brothers. Michael was with The Second Helping and The Glass Onion (a Beatles tribute band) and is still playing to this day. The current band is an Eric Clapton tribute band called Generic Eric.
60s: What keeps you busy today?
DR: I am retired from Lucent and live in Kennesaw, Georgia. After The Teddy Bears I put down the drumsticks and never picked them up for a performance again. I have said many times that I have some of the greatest memories of my life playing the drums and I don’t want to turn them in to nightmares by trying to do it again. I have made a good living in the telecommunications industry at a job I loved but I am glad to be retired. It has given me time to try to uncover and record the history of The Teddy Bears. Today my wife, Jan, and I like to travel in our RV and I have been able to accomplish a life long dream of obtaining my private pilot license. I also love to putter around with woodworking and computers.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Teddy Bears?
DR: Over the years, many times, my thoughts have carried me back to those days especially when I hear one of the “oldies” songs that we played or even some newer ones today. I still can’t help tapping out a rhythm and thinking how phenomenal those days were. None of us were into sports or real brains in school but we managed to develop what we were good at and make it work. All of us owe so much to Mr. Shaw for putting up with us. I know that he was a positive influence and we are better people for working with him. The Teddy Bears will be celebrating our second reunion in 2007 after about 40 years of not keeping in touch. We have rekindled our friendship and try to get together once a year to uncover old stories in a race with fading memories and misplaced memorabilia. Besides, if we can’t remember we can just make it up. |
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