Today In Oldies 10/21/2010

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Everything Oldies......Oldies news hot & fresh, or it's free!........um, wait

• Another day, another classic album being reissued
• Who's singing the National Anthem before Game 6 of the American League Championship Series Friday night? 
• Billy Joel is finally allowing his music to be used on the Rock Band video game series thanks to........The Office?!?!?!

Where In The World Is........Henry Gross?

Henry Gross was performing in clubs long before he could legally drink in them.  At age 14, he was a regular all over the New York City area and in the Catskill Mountains each summer.  By 18, he had a hand in forming a band that made "retro" cool. 

While he was a student at Brooklyn College, Henry helped form a rock n' roll revival act who would go on to play Woodstock and have their own highly successful TV show in the 70's.  Sha Na Na gained a huge following playing legendary venues like both of Bill Graham's Fillmore theaters in New York and San Francisco.  By the time Sha Na Na were becoming a household name, however, Henry Gross had bigger plans. 

He broke from Sha Na Na in 1970 and signed a solo deal with ABC/Dunhill Records a year later.  His debut album flopped, and 1973 found him making the jump to A&M Records.  He began to develop a following, and his two albums for the label sold relatively well without producing a major radio hit.  He wouldn't have to wait too long for that, however.

In 1976, Henry Gross jumped labels yet again.  This time, it was Lifesong Records, and the hit he was looking for came with a rather somber subject.  The death of Beach Boy Carl Wilson's dog, an Irish setter named Shannon, provided the inspiration for and title of Gross's first single for Lifesong.  "Shannon" was a worldwide smash, hitting #6 in the U.S. and going all the way to #1 in Canada.  An album, "Release", followed, and produced a Top 40 follow up hit with "Springtime Mama".  Further albums and singles didn't connect anywhere in the neighborhood of "Shannon", and Henry Gross eventually returned to something a little closer to his Sha Na Na days. 

In the early 80's, he began acting in traveling Broadway companies.  By 1986, he moved to Nashville and shifted to Country songwriting.  He has written several million selling Country hits, the biggest being "Big Guitar" by Blackhawk.  He continues to record and tour extensively, and has developed a successful one-man theatrical production cleverly entitled "One Hit Wanderer".  He is working on turning "One Hit Wanderer" into a documentary feature film, and he plans to release a CD of brand new material later this fall. 

Here's a homemade YouTube homage to Henry Gross and his uno momento as a solo artist......

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Burning Question of the Day........Woodstock Week

***This week, each question will pertain to artists who did not appear at Woodstock and the reasons they weren't there***

Although they were listed on the original Woodstock poster as performers, which group backed out after being booked for a show in Paris the same weekend?

Check back @ Everything Oldies Monday (10/25/2010) for the answer, and leave a Comment here with your best guess!

Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day

Which female solo artist (and rumored love interest of one of the members of a new supergroup who DID appear at Woodstock) turned down the invitation due to a scheduling conflict with an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show?

Answer: Joni Mitchell -- once linked to both Stephen Stills and David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young