Kenny And The Night Riders
Group from Gardner that was active at least from 1962 to 1964.
Members
- Jimmy LaRoche (g)
- Kenny LeBlanc (sax)
- Rene Goguen (g)
- Ronald Roy (g)
- Roger Roy (g)
- Paul Murphy (d)
- Diane Richard (v)
- Carmella Gosselin (v)
- Paul Anderson (g) (on record)
- Richie Sbrega (d) (on record)
Release
- Andromeda / Swamp Rat (Bristol 102) (1964)
Info
- “We used to enter a lot of area talent shows, and we cheated a little,” he said. “We’d enter as The Night Riders, as just six guys doing instrumentals, then we’d enter the two girls and The Night Riders would back them up.” (LeBlanc)
- "The duo of Diane and Carmella performed such hits of the day as Connie Francis’ “My Happiness,” “Do I Worry” by Brenda Lee and “That’s Old Fashioned” by the Everly Brothers, with The Night Riders backing them, en route to the series finals." (thegardnerscene.com)
- "The group qualified in a local competition for the old “Community Auditions” WBZ-TV program where they won the weekly contest, advanced to the show’s quarterfinals, then the semifinals and finally the series championship where they placed second in 1963." (thegardnerscene.com)
- "The appearance on the Sunday afternoon Boston TV show eventually led to a recording contract with Bristol Records in Connecticut, where they released the single “Andromeda” backed with “Swamp Rat,” both instrumental tunes, in January of 1964." (thegardnerscene.com)
- “They hired out a studio in Bristol, Connecticut and it was a little hole in the wall,” LeBlanc recalled. “I think it took us almost 12 hours to get the final cut.” (LeBlanc)
- “The song played locally (on WGAW) and on WBZ, in fact it made it to the BZ Top Ten,” Goguen recalled. “Then The Beatles cut their first record (“I Want To Hold Your Hand”) and it just blew everything out,” he said. “That was it, they took care of any new act who was cutting a record. Within three or four weeks, nobody knew who we were again.” (Goguen)
- Goguen, Ronald Roy and LeBlanc would form the Rising Sons in 1964.
- Goguen and LeBlanc would form the Key 4 circa 1966.
- According to Aram Heller, there are links to the Blue Echoes (Tom Zagryn)
- Great write-up here
Media
