Bev Bivens
Beverly (Bev) Bivens was lead singer with the American West Coast group We Five from 1965-7.
We Five
Beverly Bivens was born in Santa Ana, California and educated at Santa Ana High School and Orange Coast Junior College [1]. In 1964 she began singing with Jerry Burgan and Mike Stewart (1945-2002), who had formed a 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 became known as We Five, recording their first album, You Were on My Mind for A&M records, in 1965. This was also the title of their first “single” - and only "chart" hit - that reached number three in the Billboard "Hot 100" in August 1965 [2].
Bivens' voice was what gave We Five its distinctive and memorable sound. Almost operatic in quality, it was described as low tenor to high soprano [3]. At the time Bivens' personal interests were said to be fashion, Chinese food and freedom [4]. As regards fashion, photographs show her wearing dresses well above the knee in 1965, at a time when the mini-skirt, which, in England, beacme a defining symbol of "Swinging" London, had yet to make an impact in America [5].
The spilt and afterwards
We Five were 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, by which time We Five had already disbanded. The notes to their second album, Make Someone Happy (1967), released after their split (an episode that give rise to unfounded rumours that Bivens had been killed in a road accident), observed that
"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 …" [6].
After leaving We Five Bivens married jazz musician Fred Marshall (born 1938) and sang for a while with his band. Their son Joshi is also a musician.
Notes
- ^ Sleeve notes for LP, You Were on My Mind (1965
- ^ 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.
- ^ Sleeve notes for You Were on My Mind (1965)
- ^ Sleeve notes for You Were on My Mind (1965)
- ^ See, for example, Lisa Law (1987) Flashing on the Sixties
- ^ Sleeve notes for LP, Make Someone Happy (1967)