Danny Owen Faragher (born May 15, 1947, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

) is an American rock/soul musician and singer and founding member of the bands: The Peppermint Trolley Company, The Faragher Brothers,

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

and The Mark Five.

Early years

Danny Faragher's early years were filled with music. He took to it at a very young age and music played an important role in his childhood. In 1965, he and brother, Jimmy Faragher, still in their teens, cut their first records, with Danny's band, the Mark Five, releasing three singles with Impression Records.

The Peppermint Trolley Company

From these garage band beginnings, they evolved into The Peppermint Trolley Company, one of the progenitors of the West Coast Harmony Sound, which was blossoming in the late Sixties. Their music style is now referred to as

sunshine pop Sunshine pop, originally called soft pop and soft rock, is a loosely defined form of pop music that was first associated with early soft rock producers and songwriters based in Los Angeles, California, during the mid-to late 1960s. Its recording ...

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

, or

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

. With fellow members, Greg Tornquist and Casey Cunningham, and working with producer Dan Dalton, the Peppermint Trolley Company had a national hit – " Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind", and released the album, '' The Peppermint Trolley Company''. In addition to his vocal contributions, Faragher was an early user of the clavinet, and played original counter melodies on the trombone. In 1968 the PTC made numerous TV appearances, including ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family ...

'', ''

Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that originally aired for eight seasons on CBS from September 16, 1967, to March 13, 1975. The show was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer ...

'', Dick Clark's '' Happening '68'', '' Upbeat'' and ''The

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talki ...

Show''. In early ’69, they recorded the original

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired five seasons from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three gir ...

theme song.

Bones

In 1969 Danny, Jimmy, Greg and Casey walked away from their contract with Acta and changed their name to

. Within a couple of years, they emerged with a harder rock sound infused with elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

. Danny moved to the B3 organ. Hooking up with producers,

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024) was an American record producer. He began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late ...

and

Vini Poncia Vincent "Vini" Poncia Jr. (born April 29, 1942) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Life and career Early life Poncia was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He is of Italian ancestry. The 1960s In the 1960s, Poncia formed a ...

, Bones cut two albums: ''

'' on the

Signpost Traffic signs or road signs are signage, signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone Milestone, milestones. Later, signs with directional ...

label, and '' Waitin’ Here'' on MCA and had a hit with "

Roberta Roberta is a feminine version of the given names Robert and Roberto. It is a Germanic name derived from the stems *hrod meaning "famous", "glorious", "godlike" and *berht meaning "bright", "shining", "light". People with the name *Roberta Achtenbe ...

". In ’72 the band added Patrick McClure on second guitar.

The Faragher Brothers

After Bones disbanded in 1973, Danny and Jimmy formed the

blue-eyed soul Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and St ...

group The Faragher Brothers, teaming up with younger brothers

Tommy Faragher Thomas Edward Faragher is an American producer, composer, songwriter, singer, and arranger. He is originally from Redlands, California. Performer Faragher started his career as a singer and keyboardist with his family, who formed a group called ...

and

Davey Faragher David Allen "Davey" Faragher (born August 18, 1957) is an American bass guitarist from Redlands, California. Faragher's career took off and received critical notice as a founding member of the nineties band Cracker, and his subsequent work wit ...

. The brothers released four albums, '' The Faragher Brothers'' and ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the social shift in the United Stat ...

'', both on

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

, and '' Open Your Eyes'' and '' The Faraghers'', both on

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

. ''Open Your Eyes'' and ''The Faraghers'' featured younger siblings Pammy Faragher and Marty Faragher. The band charted with the single "Stay the Night" in ’79. The group appeared on ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'' and ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. After airing locally on WCIU-TV in Chicago, Illinois, for a year, it aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featu ...

'', and shared the stage with

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''wikt:rufus, rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Marcus Caelius Rufus, (28 May 82 BC – after 48 ...

and

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

before calling it quits in 1980.

Later years

Danny has written and performed music for the television sitcoms, '' The Facts of Life'', and ''

Who's the Boss? ''Who's the Boss?'' is an American sitcom television series created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, that aired on ABC from September 20, 1984, to April 25, 1992, with a total of 196 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. It was produce ...

'', and has also sung on the recordings of

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is an American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and an occasional vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. Criss established th ...

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California, in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk, folk, alternative, country, and world music, among other ge ...

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been played by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early li ...

, David Pomerantz, Lynne Andersen, and others. As an instrumentalist, he's played harmonica, B3 organ and trombone on records of top artists, including

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas, which scored several major Hot 100 hits such as " Nowhere to Run", "Heat ...

the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, Record producer, producer, and composer and Conducting, conductor for Film score, film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway theatre, Broadway's pit orchestras; he ...

, E.G. Daily, and Full Swing. Danny served as the musical director for the play, '' Working'', at Santa Monica's Mayfair Theater, acting and singing in the production. He was a featured vocalist with the highly respected L.A. Jazz Choir and sings every Holiday Season with the Caroling Company, an

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group featured in ''

The Addams Family The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

''. He also has a popular vocal group, Daddy Cool, who perform

Doo-Wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

and Rock and Roll tunes.

New Recordings and Reissues

In 2000, the first two Faragher Brothers LPs were reissued on CD by

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the la ...

. In 2009, Cherry Red/ Now Sounds, a label out of the U.K., released a CD reissue of the Peppermint Trolley Co.'s album under the title, '' Beautiful Sun.'' Cherry Red Recording Artists" The CD is the same as the original release of The Peppermint Trolley Company LP, however, it is packaged with sixteen bonus tracks and includes many of the Mark V singles. In 2005 Danny released the album '' Blue Little Corner'' an eclectic mix of Rockabilly, R&B, Soul and other traditional music styles. In February 2015 the album '' Dancing with the Moment'' is expected to be released. It has so far received positive critical responses from sites such as Something Else Reviews Review of Danny Faragher – Dancing with the Moment and received early radio play and praise on KCSB. The album is another Eclectic selection of various genres from melodic Downtempo Ambient piano songs to uptempo EDM tracks and features Psychedelic, Soul, R&B and Electric Blues.

Album discography

* 1968: ''"The Peppermint Trolley Co", The Peppermint Trolley Co'' * 1972: ''"Bones (album)" – Bones'' * 1973: '' "Waitin' Here" – Bones'' * 1976: '' "The Faragher Brothers" – The Faragher Brothers'' * 1977: '' "Family TIes" – The Faragher Brothers'' * 1978: '' "The Faraghers" – The Faragher Brothers'' * 2004: '' "Beautiful Sun" – The Peppermint Trolley Co.'' * 2005: '' "Blue Little Corner" – Danny Faragher'' * 2015: '' "Dancing with the Moment" – Danny Faragher''

References

External links

Official website of Danny Faragher
*

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091001030934/http://www.cherryred.co.uk/nowsounds/artists/pepperminttrolleycompany.htm Profile of PTC at Cherry Red/Now Soundsbr>Biography of the Early Garage Days of the Mark V
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faragher, Danny Living people 1947 births Musicians from Long Beach, California American soul musicians American rock musicians American funk musicians