Wayback Wednesday: Gary Lewis
Happy Birthday to Jerry’s kid! Gary Lewis turns 74 on this July 31st. The son of Jerry Lewis didn’t take advantage of his father’s big showbiz fame to get his band, then known just as Gary and the Playboys a gig performing at Disneyland. Producer Snuff Garrett saw them perform, and convinced them to use Gary’s famous last name. He got them into a recording studio, where they did “This Diamond Ring”, with lots of overdubs from LA’s renowned Wrecking Crew studio musicians.
Their first 7 releases all went to the Top 10 in 1965, and 1966, including this great Summer song…”Save Your Heart For Me” which reached #2 nationally, and was kept out of the #1 position by Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”. Here’s birthday boy Gary with the Playboys, at the age of just 19, in a TV performance..in color in 1965, on Wayback Wednesday.
