The Lemon Pipers

The Lemon Pipers were a short-lived 1960s American rock band from Oxford, Ohio, known chiefly for their song "Green Tambourine", which reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. The song has been credited as being the first bubblegum pop chart-topper. before releasing a single on the Carol Records label, "Quiet Please". The original band existed as a quartet, and then gained notoriety by reaching the finals in the Ohio Battle of the Bands at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in 1967, losing out to the James Gang.

Signing a record deal

The band recruited Miami University student Browne as frontman, and also engaged Ohio music industry impresario Mark Barger, who steered the Lemon Pipers to Buddah Records, then run by Neil Bogart. The Lemon Pipers, relying in part on advice from Barger, agreed to enter into a recording contract and music publishing deal with Buddah. Buddah's plans for the group focused on bubblegum pop rather than rock music, and the Lemon Pipers joined a stable already containing Ohio Express and the aptly named 1910 Fruitgum Company. Paul Leka was assigned to be their record producer.

Number one hit

thumb|left|[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard advertisement, January 6, 1968]]

The group's debut on Buddah was a Bartlett, composition, "Turn Around and Take a Look". When the song failed to make the charts, the label asked Leka and his songwriting partner, Shelley Pinz, who were working out of a Brill Building office on Broadway, to come up with a song. The pair wrote "Green Tambourine" and the band reluctantly recorded it. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of 1967 and reached No. 1 in February 1968 on the Billboard and Cashbox charts. and was also a hit worldwide. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) in February 1968.

The success of "Green Tambourine" caused the label to put pressure on the group to stay in the same genre, and in March 1968 the band released another Leka/Pinz song, "Rice Is Nice", which peaked at No. 46 on the US Billboard charts, No.42 on the US Cashbox charts and No. 41 in the UK in May. Browne moved to California to continue playing music, Walmsley played bass around Oxford. Bartlett became despondent and reclusive following the death of his wife Dee Dee. Nave became a jazz disc jockey on WVXU in Cincinnati and played organ occasionally with The Blues Merchants in southwestern Ohio venues.

Drummer Bill Albaugh died on January 20, 1999, at the age of 53.

Keyboardist Bob Nave (born Robert Gordon Nave on November 3, 1944 in Dayton, Ohio) died on January 28, 2020, at the age of 75.

Members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable"

! Year

! Album

! Label

! style="width:45px;"|US

| Buddah BDS-5009

| align=center | 90

| Jungle Marmalade

| Buddah BDS-5016

| align=center | —

| colspan="4" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes the release did not chart.

Compilation albums

Best of the Lemon Pipers (Camden/BMG, 1998)
Green Tambourine: The Best of the Lemon Pipers (Buddha 99798, 2001)

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Single

! scope="col" colspan="6"| Chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Catalogue

! style="width:45px;"|US

! style="width:45px;"|US CB

! style="width:45px;"|CAN

! style="width:45px;"|AUS

! style="width:45px;"|NZ

! style="width:45px;"|UK

|rowspan="1"|1966

|"Quiet Please" / "Quiet Please" (long version)

| align=center | —

|Dana Records 70610

|rowspan="2"|1967

|"Turn Around and Take a Look" / "Danger"

| align=center | 132

| align=center | —

|Buddah BDA-11

|"Green Tambourine" / "No Help from Me"

| align=center | 1

| align=center | 3

| align=center | 2

| align=center | 3

| align=center | 7

|Buddah BDA-23 / AU: Astor AP-1445 / UK: Pye International 7N-25444

|rowspan="5"|1968

|"Quiet Please" / "Monaural 78" (instrumental)

| align=center | —

|Carol Records 107

|"Rice Is Nice" / "Blueberry Blue"

| align=center | 46

| align=center | 42

| align=center | 40

| align=center | 37

| align=center | 6

| align=center | 41

|Buddah BDA-31 / AU: Astor AP-1466 / UK: Pye International 7N-25454

|"Jelly Jungle (of Orange Marmalade)" / "Shoeshine Boy"

| align=center | 51

| align=center | 30

| align=center | 20

| align=center | 26

| align=center | —

|Buddah BDA-41 / AU: Astor AP-1492 / UK: Pye International 7N-25464

|"Wine and Violet" / "Lonely Atmosphere"

| align=center | —

|Buddah BDA-63

|"Love Beads and Meditation" / "The Shoemaker of Leatherware Square"

| align=center | —

|AU only: Astor AP-1558

|rowspan="2"|1969

|"Rainbow Tree" / "Hard Core"

| align=center | —

|Buddah BDA-124

|"I Was Not Born To Follow" / "Rainbow Tree"

| align=center | —

| align=center | 87

| align=center | —

|Buddah BDA-136

|rowspan="1"|1975

|"Green Tambourine" / "Jelly Jungle" (re-issue)

| align=center | —

|UK only: Buddah BDS-422

| colspan="9" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Notes

References

External links

[ Allmusic overview]
Rick Kennedy, "Off the Charts", Cincinnati Magazine, May 11, 2012, including interviews with band members.
(archive)

Signing a record deal

Number one hit

Members

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

See also

Notes

References

External links