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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZLIMELITERS, TheUS folk trio formed '59: Glenn Yarbrough, tenor, guitar (b 12 January 1930, Milwaukee WI; d 11 August 2016, Nashville TN); Alex Hassilev, baritone, guitar and banjo (b 11 July 1932, Paris); Lou Gottlieb, bass, string bass (b 1923, Los ANgeles; d 11 July 1996). Gottlieb was a witty front man, with a PhD in musicology from UCLA; Hassilev was an actor who also had several languages; Hassilev and Yarbrough had run a club in Aspen called the Limelite. They were more literate than the Kingston Trio, for whom Gottlieb wrote some arrangements. They toured with Chris Connor, George Shearing, comics Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman; they did a Hollywood Bowl show with Eartha Kitt. 'A Dollar Down' was a minor hit single '61; they did better in clubs and on albums: ten charted '61-4; best-sellers were live concerts: Tonight: In Person at the Ash Grove, Hollywood (no. 5 RCA LP helped their first LP on Elektra to the top 40), The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters was no. 8, all '61. They slowly slipped until washed away by the British Invasion. Yarbrough's voice was particularly good; he had met Jac Holzman in college, and his first record was said to be a Holzman production of 'Follow The Drinking Gourd' on a 78 on the Stratford label. His first album was English And American Folk Songs '57 on Holzman's Elektra label, and the Limeliters began there. Yarbrough wrote 'Lass From The Low Country', 'All My Sorrows', etc; went solo again '63 and continued on RCA: ten solo LPs charted '64-9, one in the top 40 (Baby The Rain Must Fall '65; title track was no. 12 single hit). He made three albums of songs by 'poet' Rod McKuen (b 29 April 1933, Oakland CA; d 29 January 2015, Beverly Hills). Yarbrough also recorded for Tradition, e.g. Looking Back '70, and other labels, including a recording of Annie Get Your Gun with his daughter Holly on Folk Era. He had an insatiable wanderlust, building and living on three different boats, eventually realising his dream of sailing (almost) around the world. |