From bcarson@bitstream.net Thu Jan 18 19:54:05 2007
Subject:Re: Shotgun on Sullivan-OT

From Wiki;

The Playboys were almost irrelevant on the record, as they weren’t
allowed to play their instruments and their voices were used sparingly.
Garrett wanted a hit, so he insisted on using trusted studio musicians.
The studio musicians included Tommy Allsup on guitar, Leon Russell on
keyboards, Carol Kaye on bass and Hal Blaine on drums. To help fill out
what he felt to be Lewis’s vocal shortcomings, Garrett brought in a
session singer, Ron Hicklin. Hicklin did the basic vocal track; then
Garrett added Gary’s voice, overdubbed him a second time, added some of
the Playboys, and then added more of Hicklin. "When I got through, he
sounded like Mario Lanza" Garrett commented.
Next came the hype. Garrett got This Diamond Ring on the radio in New
York City by making a deal with WINS disc jockey Murray the K. Kaufman,
who ran a series of all-star concerts at theaters around the New York
area. He was promised that if he played Lewis’ record, the Playboys
would do his shows. Then Garrett had Jerry Lewis pull some strings to
get his son onto The Ed Sullivan Show.
There was a problem, though. It was Sullivan’s policy that all the acts
appearing on his show had to perform live (although one of the rock
bands most commonly featured on Ed Sullivan, the Dave Clark Five,
lyp-synched all appearances from their second appearance on, in early
1964). Since so many studio tricks had been used on the record, there
was no way the Playboys could re-create its sound. So a compromise was
struck. Lewis sang along with pre-recorded tracks as the Playboys faked
it on instruments. America didn’t mind. Gary Lewis and the Playboys
were instant stars. "This Diamond Ring" shot up to #1, and the pressing
plants ran 24 hours a day, but could not keep up with the demand for
the record.

On Jan 18, 2007, at 9:26 PM, Van wrote: