The Sunshine Company was an American

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 ...

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, ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Originally the duo of Mary Nance (November 7, 1947 – November 24, 2019) and Maury Manseau, the group later added the rhythm section of bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante and signed to

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

, releasing their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

in 1967. They scored three

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s on the U.S. singles

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 ...

over the next two years before disbanding after their third album, 1968's self-titled effort. Sims and Bregante later backed

Loggins and Messina Loggins and Messina was an American pop rock duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved major chart success during the early-mid 1970s. Among their well-known songs are " Danny's Song", " House at Pooh Corner", and " Your M ...

History

The group was discovered by the manager of the

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (sometimes abbreviated NGDB), also known as the Dirt Band, is an American band founded in Long Beach, California, in 1966. Since 2018, the band has consisted of Jeff Hanna and his son Jaime Hanna, both guitarists and voc ...

, Bill McEuen. McEuen proposed they record a single, titled Up, Up and Away, which would have been released had not

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

released their own top ten version. Their first single, "Happy", charted at number 50 nationally, while competing with another version by the Blades of Grass (which had less chart success). Guitarist Douglas Mark then joined to form a quintet as the band released their biggest hit, "Back On the Street Again" (#36 on Billboard), but the band never again achieved such success. By the fall of 1967, the band released their debut LP on Imperial Records, titled ''Happy Is The Sunshine Company''. It included their two charting singles and peaked at number 126 on the ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

''. In 1968, the group released their last top 100 charting single, "Look Here Comes The Sun", peaking at number 56. A further two albums were released in the same year but success eluded the band. There was a proposed fourth album, ''Think'', but the Sunshine Company broke up before recordings were complete. , Bregante lives in

Liberty Hill, Texas Liberty Hill is a city in Williamson County, Texas, Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and according to 2023 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a populati ...

, where he has his own recording studio. Sims died in December 2014. Nance, born in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

, resided in San Pedro, California in her later years. She died on November 24, 2019, at the age of 72.

Members

*Mary Nance - vocals (died 2019) *Maury Manseau - vocals, guitar *Larry Sims - bass guitar (died 2014) *Merel Bregante - drums (usually referred to as Merel Brigante) *Douglas Mark - violin, guitar *Dave Hodgkins - acoustic guitar (1968)

Discography

Albums

*''Happy Is the Sunshine Company'' (

, 1967)

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

#126 *''The Sunshine Company'' (Imperial, 1968) *''Sunshine & Shadows'' (Imperial, 1968)

Charting singles

*"Happy" (15 July 1967) U.S. #50 *"Back on the Street Again" (25 November 1967)

#36 *"Look, Here Comes the Sun" (10 February 1968) U.S. #56 *"Let's Get Together" (18 May 1968) U.S. #112 *"On a Beautiful Day" (27 July 1968) U.S. #106 *"Willie Jean" (19 October 1968) U.S. #111

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunshine Company, The Musical groups from Los Angeles Imperial Records artists Musical groups disestablished in 1968 Sunshine pop groups