The Beau Brummels Introducing The Beau Brummels

Despite borrowing the name of a historic English dandy and drawing from the sound of The Beatles, influential beat group The Beau Brummels was formed in San Francisco in 1964, when Italian-American singer Sal Valentino needed a backing band for a nightclub residency; Sal brought childhood friend Ron Elliott on board as guitarist and chief songwriter, who drafted bassist Ron Meagher, drummer John Petersen and rhythm guitarist Declan Mulligan. Signing to the newly-formed Autumn Records through their manager’s media connections, their early recording sessions, produced by future funk hero Sly Stone, yielded the monster hit “Laugh Laugh,” which peaked at number 15, despite being issued by a small independent; it is widely cited as a forerunner to the San Francisco Sound that emerged later in the decade. Follow-up hit “Just A Little” soon cracked the top-ten, both tracks helping debut album Introducing to reach the top 25 on Billboard’s album charts.