Devils & Blue Dresses: My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend

customary Detroit contempt for British invaders and reasoned that, if they could be successful making music, so could we. I told Joey about three white boys that had come through the Village as an auditioning back-up band and how nicely and easily they were able to perform the rhythm and blues that I loved so much. And because we secretly admired The Beatles, we might be able to blend the two styles into something new. In the beginning, most of the new wave of British rockers were doing cover versions of American black music anyway.
    When we returned from Florida I called up the white boys from the Village and we settled into rehearsals at the home of Johnny Badanjek, the drummer. Johnny was one of the most gifted and powerful rock drummers to ever breathe air. At the time, he was using a bass drum that was half the size of his parents’ house and he was always messing with those crazy calfskin heads. Jimmy McCarty, the lead guitar player was equally talented, extremely fast and probably the most serious musician of the group. Earl Elliot, the bass player, relied more on sensitivity and taste than attack, and when Joey was added on rhythm guitar you had a group of teenagers, fortified by self-awareness, that were begging for a crack at the British. For now, we were called Billy Lee and the Rivieras, but this same group would eventually become Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.
    We started playing church dances, bar mitzvahs, record hops, little teen clubs––anywhere they would let us set up. Our show brought all of the best elements of our combined musical knowledge to a hybrid state that had not previously existed in whiteboy Detroit. We put together a new sound and our fans showed their appreciation by filling up venues that held thousands of people. We were so hot some of the Motown Records recording artists were opening for us. This from a group of young men who had yet, with the exception of my first solo recording, to see a recording studio or their eighteenth birthday. The only thing missing was the hit record and, as if by cue, my father stepped in with the money.
    The record label was Hyland Records and the accompanying publishing arm was Xyland Publishing. Apparently the “big” record label needed some of my father’s hard earned cash to make the project work. Side A was written by me and titled “You Know.” Side B was written by Jimmy and me and titled “Won’t You Dance With Me.”
    The next step was to get the record played and that effort led to our big break. There was a disc jockey at WXYZ radio named Dave Prince. He had met my parents and all of the boys, and had seen our show and liked us. He even played our record, but it did not do well enough to become a hit. He had a contact in New York City, but felt we could strengthen our position by putting together an audition tape and arranging a showcase performance.
    Dave captured the interest of a successful record producer named Bob Crewe, who was swimming in hit records, and because of Mr. Crewe’s involvement we were slated to open for the British group, The Dave Clark Five. The engagement was going to take place at one of the nicer venues in Detroit, the Masonic Temple, which was large, but not large enough to take away from the intimacy of our well-rehearsed stage show. And where The Dave Clark Five were going to come out and play their hits and stand there looking British, we were going to entertain. This would be very risky given the mindset of the young teenage female audience.

     

     

     

     

     
    We got a sense of what we were up against as we waited in our dressing room. The streets below were full of young, rabid, anything-that’s-British-will-do, fans. We opened our dressing room windows and, without showing our faces, stuck a hand out the opening, which then set off a small riot in the streets below. We did this repeatedly, and with each ensuing riot and scream we became angrier about the nonsensical hold over our girls that the British enjoyed in America.
    When we finally hit the stage all thoughts of boundaries, fair play, and decorum went out the open windows and we performed as if we would never, ever have another chance like this again. We stole the show and Mr. Crewe was so pleased with our initiative and courage––but even more so with our raw talent and potential––that he offered us contracts. We were pleased with ourselves and came to realize that we had broken the invisible barrier that the British