Search results
The Rascals (initially known as the Young Rascals) are an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey, United States, in 1965. [2]
The band began when three short-lived touring members of Joey Dee & the Starliters (Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish) joined forces with R&B drummer Dino Danelli to create...
- Overview
- Origin
- Hit-making popularity
- Post-breakup tensions, reunion, and legacy
the Rascals, American pop group who, along with the Righteous Brothers, were the preeminent practitioners in the 1960s of blue-eyed soul (music created by white recording artists who faithfully imitated soul music). The Rascals’ music was an eclectic mix of influences and styles, including soul, rhythm and blues (R&B), Motown, Afro-Cuban music, and...
The group’s members were experienced musicians who had played with various bands before forming the Rascals in 1964. Cavaliere, a classically trained pianist, had been the only white member of an R&B band in high school and had formed a doo-wop group in college. Brigati had been a pickup singer with local R&B bands. While he was a teenager, Danelli...
In the mid-1960s the Rascals played gigs on the New York club scene, in New Jersey, and as the regular band on a floating nightclub off Long Island. New York promoter Sid Bernstein, who had brought the Beatles to the United States, took over as manager and signed them to Atlantic Records as the Young Rascals (they were compelled to add “Young” to their name to distinguish themselves from another group, the Harmonica Rascals). In 1965 they opened for the Beatles at New York’s Shea Stadium. The Young Rascals’ first single, “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” (1965) was followed by “Good Lovin’ ” (1966), which soared to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned them the first of several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. By this time they had taken to performing in Little Lord Fauntleroy–style outfits.
Over the next few years the band turned out a number of Top 40 hits, including “You Better Run” (1966, which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100), “(I’ve Been) Lonely Too Long” (1967, number 16), “Groovin’ ” (1967, number 1), “A Girl Like You” (1967, number 10), “How Can I Be Sure” (1967, number 4), “It’s Wonderful” (1968, number 20), “A Beautiful Morning” (1968, number 3), and “People Got to Be Free” (1968, number 1), the last written shortly after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy.
The Young Rascals’ debut album, The Young Rascals (1966), went gold, as did their subsequent releases Collections (1967), Groovin’ (1967), Time/Peace: The Rascals’ Greatest Hits (1968), and Freedom Suite (1969). In 1968 they dropped the “Young” from their name and returned to being the Rascals.
Writing for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Patti Smith’s longtime collaborator Lenny Kaye described the Rascals’ sound this way:
Exclusive academic rate for students! Save 67% on Britannica Premium.
Learn More
Cavaliere went on to pursue a solo career as a performer and producer; Brigati and his brother, David, recorded together; and Cornish and Danelli formed a new group called Bulldog that later evolved into Fotomaker (which included Wally Bryson, formerly of the Raspberries). In 1988 Danelli, Cornish, and Cavaliere reunited for an American tour, though the following year they became embroiled in a lawsuit over use of the Rascals name. Cornish and Danelli ended up calling themselves the New Rascals, while Cavaliere billed himself as “formerly of the Young Rascals.” In 1992 a two-CD career retrospective, The Rascals Anthology 1965–1972, was released. In 1994 Cavaliere released his first solo album in more than a decade. The Rascals were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 2013 Steven Van Zandt, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, reunited the four original members of the Rascals for Once Upon a Dream, a hybrid theatrical event that played on Broadway and then toured the country. The show featured a concert as well as taped segments that included interviews with the group and recreations by actors of important events from the band’s history.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Felix Cavaliere (keyboard, vocals), Gene Cornish (guitar), Dino Danelli (drums) and Eddie Brigati (vocals) formed the band in New York City. Three-quarters of the group - Felix, Gene, and Eddie - had previously been members of Joey Dee and the Starliters.
- Brian Kachejian
- How Can I Be Sure. If there is such a thing as the perfect pop song, we will nominate this beautiful and brilliant pop gem by the Young Rascals. It’s hard to believe, but “How Can I Be Sure” was the fourth single released off the legendary Groovin’ album.
- Groovin’ As we move closer to number one on our Top 10 Young Rascals songs list, we are happy to present one of the most soulful, happy weekend songs we have ever heard.
- Good Lovin’ If we had to choose among the most popular Young Rascals songs of their career, the song “Good Lovin’ would be an easy choice. Arthur Resnick and Rudy Clark wrote the song ‘Good Lovin’.
- A Girl Like You. The Rascals’ “A Girl Like You” was one of the most romantic, soulful pop gems of the 1960s. The song was released on the 1967 Young Rascals album Groovin’.
Explore The Young Rascals's discography including top tracks, albums, and reviews. Learn all about The Young Rascals on AllMusic.
People also ask
Who are the members of the Young Rascals?
Who is the Young Rascals?
When did the Young Rascals become a band?
How many albums did the Young Rascals release?
The group had been driven to become known as blue-eyed soul brothers, much in the tradition of the Magnificent Men and the Righteous Brothers, and so where they had formerly assimilated their R&B roots in a way that was never obvious, always in the context of the white rock & roll band formula, the now chose to bring it out in the open.
