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| Mike Piano |
The trio first performed together in the Mitchell Boys Choir, before forming the Four Seasons with friend Nick Cahuernga. Due to the rising popularity of a group with that name from New Jersey, they changed their name to the Grads and continued as a trio.
Although the Grads did not enter the charts with their early recordings, they performed well enough to secure a residency at Harrah's Lake Club (now Harveys Lake Tahoe) where a friend brought them to the attention of Herb Alpert of A&M Records. Alpert was impressed with the Grads, but after one single without success the group agreed to a name change, choosing the Sandpipers out of a dictionary. After the name change, their producer, Tommy LiPuma, recommended they record the Cuban anthem "Guantanamera" and they had their first hit. The use of a female singer (Robie Lester, uncredited) to add background vocals on "Guantanamera" established a trend that the Sandpipers would incorporate in multiple future studio recordings and live shows.
Initially Kathy Westmoreland (de) (later with Elvis Presley) toured with the group to provide the lyricless vocals that were used much like second strings, adding an ethereal quality to the Sandpipers' sound. Later Pamela Ramcier was the primary back-up vocalist. At times two or more back-up vocalists were used. For the Sandpipers' first live show in San Diego, two female singers were on stage, the well-known folk singer Penny Nichols and Pat Woolley. Early pressings of the Guantanamera LP showed a five person group—two females with Piano, Shoff, and Brady—on the back cover while later pressings had just the male trio. Subsequent albums depicted only the original trio. Other backup singers followed including Stormie Sherk in 1967, and Diane Jordan and Kathy Westmoreland in 1969, also some pressings of the 1970 Come Saturday Morning LP credit "solo voices" Patrice Holloway, Carolyn Willis, and Susan Tallman.
"Guantanamera" charted in the United States in September 1966 and in the United Kingdom the following month, and remains the group's biggest hit, earning 1967 Grammy Award nominations for Best Performance by a Vocal Group and Best Contemporary Group Performance, plus gold record awards for the single and the album. They also had many lesser chart entries including cover versions of "Louie Louie", "The French Song" (Quand Le Soleil Dit Bonjour Aux Montagnes), and songs from the movies The Sterile Cuckoo and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
The record sleeve for their 1966 album Guantanamera was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover - Photography. Dolores Erickson was featured on the front cover artwork. In 1967 the Baldwin Piano Company signed the group to promote the company's line of musical instruments. In 1968, following a South Africa concert tour, they participated at the Festival di Sanremo in Italy, a highlight on the Italian music calendar. They were, as then usual, alongside Anna Identici as one of the two performers of the song "Quando M'Innamoro," which attained sixth place. The song would become more popular in the interpretation by Gigliola Cinquetti. The English version by British pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck, "A Man Without Love", became a global hit.
In 1969, the group embarked on a European tour with appearances in London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, and Berlin. In 1970 "Come Saturday Morning" was nominated for Best Original Song and was performed by the Sandpipers at the 42nd Academy Awards ceremony. In the mid-1970s, Michael Piano left the group and was replaced in turn by Michael Brady, Gary Duckworth and Ralph Nichols (later with The Lettermen). The final 1979 single, "Singapore Girl", featured only Brady and Shoff.
Original member Michael Piano died on December 29, 2014 in Kauai, Hawaii. Jim Brady died on May 5, 2019 in Durango, Colorado.
The Sandpipers has also been the name of many others including a girl group from Florida; A vocal group who sang for Mitch Miller; A South African folk rock group; A female choral group from Conncticut; A South Florida trio; A new York group; A Detroit group; A Nashville group; A Malaysian group; An instrumental group and a backing group to country singers Gary Lane and Chris Beckett.
(Edited from Wikipedia)