Livin' Above Your Head - Jay and The Americans (1966) Dancing Along 'I Dream of Jeannie & Bewitched'

18 Views

  • Thanks! Share it with your friends!

    You disliked this video. Thanks for the feedback!

Published
Nice rare footage of Jay and The Americans performing their 1966 minor hit "Livin' Above Your Head" with the added bonus of the cast of 'I Dream of Jeannie' & 'Bewitched' dancing along too.

Jay and the Americans are an American rock group who formed in the late 1950s. Their initial line-up consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howie Kane (born Howard Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (born Louis Sandy Yaguda), though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black (born David Blatt) and Marty Sanders (born Martin Joe Kupersmith) were added to the line-up.

They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.

The group were originally called The Harborlites, and were discovered while performing in student venues at New York University in the late 1950s. They auditioned for Leiber and Stoller, who gave the group its name.

Soon they signed with United Artists Records. With Jay Traynor singing lead, they first hit the Billboard charts in 1962 with the tune "She Cried", which reached #5 (later covered by The Shangri-Las, Aerosmith, and others). The next two singles did not fare as well, and Traynor left the group. Empires' guitarist Marty Sanders joined the group. He brought David Black of "The Empires" in to take Traynor's place, and Black sang lead for the rest of the group's major hits.

They recorded "Only in America", a song originally meant for The Drifters. Other notable hits for Jay and the Americans were "Come a Little Bit Closer" in 1964, which hit #3, and "Cara Mia" in 1965, which hit #4. They also recorded a commercial for H.I.S. Slacks and a public service announcement for the Ad Council, featuring a backing track by Brian Wilson and Phil Spector.

Two tracks from this era later found favor with the Northern Soul crowd: "Got Hung Up Along The Way" and todays song, "Living Above Your Head".

Hope you enjoy this edited video put together for Square Disc by Eddy EVB.

@thesquaredisc
Category
Oldies
Be the first to comment

Up Next