Don Dannemann (born May 9, 1944) is an American musician and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

writer. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist for

The Cyrkle The Cyrkle is an American rock band active from the early to late-1960s, and since 2016. The group has charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and "Turn-Down Day". Career The band was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and T ...

Career

Dannemann formed The Rhondells in 1961 in

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. They signed to

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...

in 1966, were renamed to

by him (the unique spelling of the name being done by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

) and released their highest-selling song "

Red Rubber Ball "Red Rubber Ball" is a pop music, pop song written by Bruce Woodley of The Seekers and Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel, sound recording and reproduction, recorded by The Cyrkle, whose version reached 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' ...

" (written by

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

) the same year. The song peaked at number 2 on the

Billboard 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), ...

. They were the only non-English band Epstein managed, and they toured with

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

during their final tour. Also in 1966, the band briefly went on hiatus when Dannemann enlisted in the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...

. When he returned, he had a

Buzz cut A buzz cut, or wiffle cut, is a variety of short hairstyles, especially where the length of hair is the same on all parts of the head. Rising to prominence initially with the advent of Hair clipper, manual hair clippers, buzz cuts became increas ...

and was often seen on television and promotional photographs with this hairstyle. He was the main songwriter along with Tom Dawes. After another hit with " Turn-Down Day", they disbanded in 1968, and had already split up by the time the 1970 film ''The Minx'', which they had recorded the soundtrack for, had been released. In the 1970s, Dannemann and Cyrkle member Tom Dawes worked as professional

Jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

writers. Dannemann wrote jingles for

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

and Swanson Foods, and also penned the "uncola" jingle for

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

. Dannemann spent the next few decades working in advertising, and in the 1970s, opened the jingle business "Mega-Music" in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Dannemann retired in 2008 and moved out of NYC. In the 2010s, original member Michael Losekamp successfully tracked down Don after over forty years. He had just joined a pop band called The Gas Pump Jockeys that covered songs from the 1960s that had incorporated Cyrkle songs into their setlist following his entry into the band, and asked Don if he wanted to join the band as rename to "The Cyrkle" to start touring again to celebrate 50 years since "Red Rubber Ball". As of 2024, Dannemann and Losekamp are touring the USA with the current version of The Cyrkle.

Career

References

See also