Steve Alaimo (born December 6, 1939) is an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s. He later became record producer and label owner, but he is perhaps best known for hosting and co-producing Dick Clark's Where the Action Is in the late 1960s. He had nine singles to chart in the Billboard Hot 100 without once reaching the Top 40 in his career, the most by any artist.
Stephen Charles Alaimo was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to Rochester, New York, at the age of five. He entered the music business during his time as a pre-med student at the University of Miami, joining his cousin's instrumental rock band the Redcoats, becoming the guitarist, and eventually, the singer. The Redcoats consisted of Jim Alaimo on rhythm guitar, Brad Shapiro on bass, and Jim "Chris" Christy on drums.After playing a Sock hop held by local disc jockey Bob Green and label owner Henry Stone, the band earned a record deal with Stone's Marlin Records. In 1959 "I Want You To Love Me" became
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a regional hit for the band. Green became Alaimo's manager, ultimately giving up the role to Stone. That same year, Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars came to Miami needing a band to back up artists, so the Redcoats became that band.
a regional hit for the band. Green became Alaimo's manager, ultimately giving up the role to Stone. That same year, Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars came to Miami needing a band to back up artists, so the Redcoats became that band.The Redcoats broke up in 1960, and under Stone's tutelage, Alaimo became a "blue-eyed soul singer" with an all African-American back-up band. Alaimo and the group became the house band for a local club known as Edan Roc. Despite his rising local fame, he released two solo albums that didn't earn him the national spotlight. During this time, Stone put Alaimo to work as a promotion man for Stone's Tone Distributors, which acquainted him with the music industry at large.
Through his promotion job, Alaimo landed his first major record deal with Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, in 1961. There, he struck a minor amount of gold in 1963 with his single "Everyday I Have to Cry Some", peaking at Number 46 on the Billboard Charts. The song was also a top 5 hit in Miami on local
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radio stations. Later that year, Alaimo left Checker for Imperial Records, and ABC Records, but the fame of his recording career would soon be eclipsed.
Remembering the favour the Redcoats had done him, Dick Clark wanted to hire the band again for the music show Where the Action Is, but the Redcoats had broken up. Instead, Clark hired Alaimo as the male host and music director. As music director, Alaimo took the opportunity to promote his own records on air; however, he rarely had time to record new songs. Alaimo would also become co-producer of the show, which lasted from 1965-1967.
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| Linda Scott with Steve Alaimo |
In 1969, Henry Stone reunited with Alaimo, who set up Alston
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Records as an outlet for Alaimo's music. Alaimo quit performing to focus on running a record label. In 1972, Timmy Thomas hit with "Why Can't We Live Together" for Stone's Glade Records, which released the single in partnership with Atlantic Records. Stone then consolidated many of his labels under the TK Records umbrella with Alaimo in 1973. Shortly afterward, the business partnership of Casey, Finch, Alaimo and Stone would achieve their greatest commercial success with the heyday of KC & the Sunshine Band.
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| Alaimo and Stone |
Steve and his partners put Vision Records on hiatus around 2000 to concentrate solely on running their recording studio - originally built for in-house use, but later booked out to others. Alaimo still continues in the record business today. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)