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#REDIRECT [[Beverly Bivens]] |
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[[Image:Bev Bivens - San Francisco 1965.JPG|thumb|125px|left|Beverly Bivens in 1965]] |
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'''Beverly (Bev) Bivens''' was lead singer with the American West Coast [[folk-rock]] group [[We Five]] from 1965-7. |
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== We Five == |
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Beverly Bivens was born in [[Santa Ana, California]] and educated at [[Santa Ana High School]] (attended also by [[Bill Medley]] of the [[Righteous Brothers]], as well as members of the [[Chantays]] and actress [[Diane Keaton]], who frequently broke the rules on dress<ref>Jonathan Moor (1990) ''Diane Keaton: The Story of the Real Annie Hall''</ref>) and [[Orange Coast College|Orange Coast Junior College]].<ref>Sleeve notes for LP, ''You Were on My Mind'' (1965)</ref> In 1964 she began singing with [[Jerry Burgan]] and [[Michael Stewart (musician)|Mike Stewart]] (1945-2002), who had formed a [[folk music|folk]] duo at high school and branched out into electronic music with guitarist [[Bob Jones]], whom they met at the [[University of San Francisco]]. With the addition of [[Pete Fullerton]], this group, initially called the Ridgerunners<ref>[http://www.wefive.net/ http://www.wefive.net/ ''Wefive.net'' ]</ref> and, for a while, the Mike Stewart Quintet, became known as We Five.<ref>The name is thought to derive from ''We Seven'' (1962), the title of a book by the seven [[Project Mercury|Mercury]] [[astronauts]].</ref> They recorded their first album, ''You Were on My Mind'', for [[A&M Records|A&M]] records in 1965 after [[Herb Alpert]], founder of A&M, heard them in a San Francisco folk club. |
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A distinctive version of [[Sylvia Tyson|Sylvia Fricker]]'s song ''You Were On My Mind'' <ref>See Charles H Smith (2007) [http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/essays/youwere.htm]</ref> was We Five's first “[[single record|single]]”, reaching number three in the ''[[Billboard]]'' "Hot 100" in August 1965.<ref>Charlie Gillett & Simon Firth (1976) ''Rock File 4''. In Britain, the "hit" version of ''You Were On My Mind'' was by [[Crispian St Peters]], who reached number two in January 1966. The latter success may have hindered recognition of We Five internationally: see ''The Independent'', 27 November 2002. Some [[Internet]] "[[blogs]]" have queried whether Bivens' was the voice on We Five's recording of ''You Were on My Mind''. This seems to be based on a view that it was a different type of song to many others on the album (some of which were show standards) and the fact that Debbie Graf, who later married Jerry Burgan, sometimes filled in for Bivens if she were unavailable or unwell. However, there is no obvious evidence for this claim and Bivens performed the number live with the group; in fact, it was effectively their signature tune.</ref> A few weeks after recording this song, they performed it live on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television show ''[[The Hollywood Palace]]'', on which they were introduced by guest compère [[Fred Astaire]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_f16t1JGHo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_f16t1JGHo] ''YouTube.com'' </ref> A further single in 1965, [[Chet Powers]]' ''[[Get Together (Chet Powers song)|Let's Get Together]]'' was a more modest commercial success, reaching number 31 in the chart. |
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==Influence and style== |
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[[Image:Bev Bivens - KYA Beat 965.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Bev Bivens in ''KYA Beat'', 23 October 1965]] |
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Bivens' voice was what gave We Five its distinctive and memorable sound. Almost operatic in quality, its range was described as low tenor to high soprano.<ref>Sleeve notes for ''You Were on My Mind'' (1965)</ref> Bivens' performances on ''You Were On My Mind'' and in concert largely foreshadowed a female vocal style that, by 1966-7, was associated with, among others, [[Spanky and Our Gang|Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane]], [[Grace Slick]] of the [[The Great Society|Great Society]] and [[Jefferson Airplane]], and [[Cass Elliot]] and [[Michelle Phillips]] of the [[Mamas and Papas]]. It may be no coincidence either that [[Karen Carpenter]] who, like Bivens, had a fine vocal range, was signed by Alpert to A&M, with her brother [[Carpenters (band)|Richard]], in 1969. |
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Bivens' influence was apparent too in recordings by some male bands: for example, the [[The Turtles|Turtles]]' single ''[[Happy Together (song)|Happy Together]]'' and the [[Cowsills]]' ''The Rain, the Park and Other Things'' (both major hits in 1967). In 2002, the British newspaper ''[[The Independent]]'' described We Five as having "bridged the gap" between [[Peter, Paul and Mary]] and the Mamas and Papas <ref>Pierre Perrone, obituary of Michael Stewart, ''The Independent'', 27 November 2002</ref>; indeed, Bivens' voice and that of [[Mary Travers (singer)|Mary Travers]] had a similar atmospheric quality, although Bivens' was the more commanding. |
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===Personal style=== |
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In 1965 Bivens' personal interests were said to be fashions, Chinese food and freedom.<ref>Sleeve notes for ''You Were on My Mind'' (1965)</ref> As regards fashion, photographs show her wearing dresses whose hemlines were well above the knee in 1965, at a time when the [[miniskirt|mini-skirt]], which, in [[England]], became a defining symbol of [[Swinging London|"Swinging" London]], had yet to make a wide impact in America.<ref>See, for example, Lisa Law (1987) ''Flashing on the Sixties''. The mini-skirt really only took off internationally after British model [[Jean Shrimpton]] caused much controversy by wearing a shift dress four inches about the knee at the [[Melbourne Cup]] race meeting in Australia in November 1965: see Shrimpton (1990) ''My Autobiography''.</ref> Surviving television clips capture her rather [[chic (style)|chic]] "[[mod (lifestyle)|mod]]" style of dress. In October 1965 [[KYA (AM)|KYA]], a leading San Francisco radio station, used a large photographic portrait of Bivens to draw attention to its inaugural International Pop Music Awards (maybe patronising her a little in the process with its caption, "[[Wee]] One of the We Five") <ref>''KYA Beat'', 23 October 1965, vol 1, number 13</ref>. |
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==The spilt and the legacy== |
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[[Image:We Five - Make Someone Happy 1967.JPG|thumb|200px|right|[[We Five]] (LP ''Make Someone Happy'', 1967)]] |
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Although We Five had been in the vanguard of the [[San Francisco]] bands, including Jefferson Airplane and the [[Grateful Dead]], that reached international prominence in the “[[Summer of Love]]” of 1967, the original group had disbanded by then. As such, they were part of what [[Janis Joplin]]'s biographer Myra Friedman has described nostalgically as "the exuberant days that preceded the great [[hippie]] migration of 1967";<ref>Myra Friedman (1975) ''Buried Alive: a Biography of Janis Joplin''</ref> by December 1966 there were some 1,500 bands flourishing in the area of [[San Francisco Bay]],<ref>Myra Friedman (1975) ''Buried Alive''. Estimates vary: the ''New Musical Express'' suggested that around 400 groups sprang up in San Francisco and Los Angeles between 1966 and 1967 and that the number "snowballed" until [[country rock]] came into vogue around the end of 1968 (''The NME Book of Rock'' (ed Nick Logan; updated Rob Finnis), 1975).</ref> whereas a year earlier We Five had been among a small cluster. |
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In his notes for We Five's second album, ''Make Someone Happy'' (1967), released after they had split (an episode that give rise to unfounded rumours that Bivens had been killed in a road accident,<ref>[http://www.wefive.net/ http://www.wefive.net/] ''Wefive.net'' </ref>) George Yanok observed that |
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<blockquote>"We 5 was the first “electric band” to come out of San Francisco. It predated the entire present “happening” in the [[Haight-Ashbury]] [a district of San Francisco that became the centre of "[[flower power]]"] with all its attendant trippery and hang-overs …".<ref>Sleeve notes for LP, ''Make Someone Happy'' (1967)</ref></blockquote> |
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Yanok asserted also that "there was nothing [[psychedelic]] or arcane about We 5's music". However, although, in Friedman's words, "it was the [[blues]], amplified and transformed by the screaming colors and and inward messages of acid, that shaped the San Francisco sound",<ref>Myra Friedman (1975) ''Buried Alive''</ref>, various elements of the music of the psychedelic era, notably Bivens' vocal delivery, which Yanok described as "a major reason for this [We Five's] special something", were plainly discernible in We Five's output (for example, on ''Let's Get Together'' and such tracks as ''If I Were Alone'' <ref>''You Were on My Mind'' LP (1965)</ref>, ''Love Me Not Tomorrow''<ref>''You Were on My Mind'' LP (1965)</ref> and Bivens' blues solo ''High Flying Bird'' <ref>''Make Someone Happy'' LP (1967)</ref>). |
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===After the split=== |
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Jerry Burgan and Pete Fullerton reformed We Five. Burgan's wife, [[Debbie Burgan|Debbie]], ''née'' Graf, who sang with a group called the Legendaires and had sometimes worked with the Ridgerunners (as they then were), took over from Bivens as lead vocalist.<ref>[http://www.wefive.net/ http://www.wefive.net/] ''Wefive.net'' </ref> The two allbums featuring Bivens were re-released as a compilation [[compact disc]] by Collectors' Choice Music in 1996.<ref>DPSM 5172 (distributed by PolyGram)</ref> Because of her short period of fame, Bivens has remained a rather elusive, almost semi-legendary,<ref>A term that was sometimes applied by the ''New Musical Express'' in such situations: see, for example, ''The NME Book of Rock'' (ed Nick Logan & updated Rob Finnis, 1975)</ref> figure but one whose voice has plainly been cherished by many of those who heard her in the mid sixties. |
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==Family and other work== |
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After leaving We Five, Bivens married jazz musician [[Fred Marshall (jazz musician)|Fred Marshall]] (born 1938), who had worked with a number of West Coast rock bands and been a member of the [[Vince Guaraldi]] Trio which famously recorded the incidental music for Christmas television specials based on the ''[[Peanuts]]'' cartoons of [[Charles Schulz]] <ref>''Akansas Democrat-Gazette'', 16 July 2000</ref>. Bivens sang for a while with Marshall's band, her work including vocal experimentation that antedated that of [[Yoko Ono]] and others <ref>[http://www.wefive.net/ http://www.wefive.net/] ''Wefive.net'' </ref>. Their son, born in [[Berkeley, California]] in 1971, is the saxophonist [[Joshi Marshall]]. |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.wefive.net/ We Five: folk rock revival] |
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''Note: The photograph on the home page of the above site is of a post-1990 incarnation of We Five. The woman in the picture is not Bev Bivens, but Debbie Burgan. There is no direct link to Bivens' biographical page, but this can be reached via internal hyperlinks.'' |
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_f16t1JGHo Bev Bivens & We Five on ''Hollywood Palace'' (1965)] |
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==Notes== |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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<references/> |
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</div> |
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[[Category:American female singers|Bivens, Bev]] |
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[[Category:American pop singers|Bivens, Bev]] |
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Latest revision as of 00:09, 16 December 2022
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