The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California….who during the late 1960’s had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts….which included “Windy”, “Cherish”, “Never My Love” and “Along Comes Mary”….with the first and latter being featured in this video herewith…..and were the lead-off band at 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival…..as they are known for intricate vocal harmonies by the band’s multiple singers.
Jules Alexander was in Hawaii in 1962 serving a stint in the Navy….when he met Terry Kirkman….who was a visiting salesman…..as Kirkman had grown up in Chino, California and attended Chaffey College as a music major….so, the two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged….which happened a year later….as the two eventually moved to Los Angeles….and began exploring the city’s music scene in the mid-1960’s….while often working behind the scenes as directors and arrangers for other music acts. At the same time, Kirkman played in groups with Frank Zappa for a short period before Zappa went on to form the Mothers of Invention.
Eventually, at a Monday night hootenanny at the Los Angeles nightclub The Troubadour in 1964….is when an ad hoc group called The Inner Tubes was formed by Kirkman, Alexander and Doug Dillard, whose rotating membership contained, at one time or another, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and many others who drifted in and out. This led, in the fall of 1964, to the forming of The Men, a 13-piece Folk rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour.
After a short time, however, The Men disbanded, with six of the members electing to go out on their own in February 1965. At the suggestion of Kirkman’s then-fiancée, Judy, they took the name “The Association”. The original lineup consisted of Alexander (using his middle name, Gary, on the first two albums) on vocals and lead guitar; Kirkman on vocals and a variety of wind, brass and percussion instruments; Brian Cole on vocals, bass and woodwinds; Russ Giguere on vocals, percussion and guitar; Ted Bluechel, Jr. from The Cherry Hill Singers, on drums, guitar, bass and vocals; and Brian Cole’s friend and bandmate from the group Gnu Fokes, Bob Page on guitar, banjo and vocals. However, Page was replaced by Jim Yester on vocals, guitar and keyboards before any of the group’s public performances, so, thus The Association.
