The 1910 Fruitgum Company is an American

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

of the 1960s. The group's ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hits were "

Simon Says Simon Says is a children's game for three or more players. One player takes the role of "Simon" and issues instructions (usually physical actions such as "jump in the air" or "stick out your tongue") to the other players, which should be foll ...

", "May I Take a Giant Step", " 1, 2, 3, Red Light", "Goody Goody Gumdrops", " Indian Giver", "Special Delivery", and "The Train".

Background

Bubblegum pop was marketed to preteens as the evolving genre of

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

was beginning to target older adolescents and adults with darker lyrics and heavier rhythms.Simpson, Kim. ''Early '70s Radio: The American Format Revolution''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011, p.25–26 The simple structure of the songs and non-political content of bubblegum pop appealed to a younger audience. Many of the songs in the bubblegum pop genre like "1, 2, 3 Red Light" were intended to be singles within the budget of that younger preteen audience. "1, 2, 3 Red Light" became one of the biggest hits of the genre.

Career

The band began as Jeckell and the Hydes in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1966. The original members were Frank Jeckell, Mark Gutkowski, Floyd Marcus, Pat Karwan and Steve Mortkowitz – all from

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a City (New Jersey), city in southeastern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a boro ...

. During 1967, they were signed to

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...

, where they released five LPs under their own name and a variety of

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, as well as appearing on the LP ''The Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus''. Their first hit single, "Simon Says", reached #4 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

and peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart. The band started touring, opening for major acts such as

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. They also released these other chart hits: "May I Take a Giant Step" (U.S. #63), " 1, 2, 3, Red Light" (U.S. #5), "Special Delivery" (U.S. #38), "Goody, Goody Gumdrops" (U.S. #37), " Indian Giver" (U.S. #5) and "The Train" (U.S. #57). The original group disbanded in 1970. 1910 fruit gum

In 1999, original member Frank Jeckell and Mick Mansueto put the act back together. As of 2019, Fruitgum currently performs its own hits, in addition to other songs from the 1960s.

Million sellers

"Simon Says" sold three and a half million. "1, 2, 3, Red Light" and "Indian Giver" each sold over one million copies. All three were awarded gold discs.

Band members

Current lineup

*Frank Jeckell (Original Member, Guitar and Vocals) *Mick Mansueto (Lead Vocals and Percussion) *Glenn Lewis (Bass and Vocals) *Eric Lipper (Keyboards and Vocals) *Keith Crane (Drums) *John Roginski (Guitar, Keyboards and Vocals)

Former members

*Mark Gutkowski (Original Member, Lead Singer on all the hits, and Hammond B3 Organist) *Pat Karwan (Original Member, Lead Guitarist and Vocals) *Steve Mortkowitz (Original Member, Bass Player and Vocals) *Floyd Marcus (Original Member, Drummer and Vocals) *Mick Mansueto (Lead vocals) *Jerry Roth (Tenor Sax) *Bob Brescia (Keyboards, Vocals and Music Director) *Thomas "Bart" Bartleson (Drums) *Mike Edell (Keyboards and Vocals) *John Korba-Guitar/Vocals *Ralph Cohen (Douglas) (Trumpet) *Pat Soriano (Hammond B3 Organist) *Bruce Shay (Bass and Vocals) *Rusty Oppenheimer (Drums and Vocals) *Larry Ripley (Bass, Woodwinds and Vocals) *Chuck Travis (Guitar and Vocals) *Richie Gomez (Guitar and Vocals) *Michael Stoppiello (Guitar and Vocals) *Philip Thorstenson (Drums and Vocals) *Chuck Allen (Bass and Vocals)

1980s road band members

* Randy Monaco (Lead Vocals) * Jim Bulkowski (Lead Guitar) * Russ Hoffmaster (Drums & Vocals) * Rick Gainor (Bass & Vocals) * John Siroky (Keyboards)

Discography

Singles

Albums

References

External links

Official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1910 Fruitgum Company Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Union County, New Jersey Buddah Records artists American pop music groups Bubblegum pop groups 1965 establishments in New Jersey