#866: Time Machine by Dante & The Evergreens
Peak Month: September 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #6 CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
YouTube.com link: “Time Machine”
Lyrics: “Time Machine”
Dante & the Evergreens was an American pop group formed in 1959. They group members all attended Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California. They consisted of baritone singer Bill Young, tenor Tony Moon, bass singer Frank Rosenthal and lead singer Donald “Dante” Drowdy. Tony Moon had previously been the lead for a doo-wop group called Tony Moon and the Aketones. One of the people Dante & the Evergreens were acquainted with was Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean, who’d recently had a Top Ten hit titled “Baby Talk”. Torrence took the group to meet his managers, Herb Alpert and Lou Adler. Alpert and Adler decided the group could do a cover of one of the songs by another group on their label. The song was “Ally Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles.” Dante & The Evergreen’s version was arranged by Tony Moon. In addition to arranging the song, Moon sang and played guitar. Dante & The Evergreens cover of “Alley Oop” climbed to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the Hollywood Argyles original recording of the song went to #1. Dante & The Evergreens had a a bigger hit with the tune on the East Coast. On WMGM-AM in New York City, their version of “Ally Oop” spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and five of these at #1. They also went to #1 with “Alley Oop” in Philadelphia, Allentown (PA), and #2 in Toronto, New Orleans, Jacksonville (FL) and Providence (RI).