Sweathog was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band. Group members Lenny Goldsmith and David Leonard Johnson first met in 1967 while Johnson was playing in a group called The Persuaders at the

Wayne Manor Wayne Manor is a fictional mansion appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the home of Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, who is also the superhero Batman. The house is depicted as a large mansion on the outskirts ...

nightclub in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

. After Johnson did a stint with

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 ...

and

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. Active as a session mus ...

, he reconvened with Lenny and formed Sweathog along with Barry "Frosty" Smith, also known as Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost, who at that time was playing with

Lee Michaels Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Lee Olson, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on organ, piano, or guitar. He is best known for his 1971 Top 10 US hit single, " Do You Know What I Mean". In 1988 he ...

and had been in Lenny's band in San Jose. Robert Morris "B.J." Jones (November 9, 1942 – June 15, 2013) played with Johnson in Blue Mountain Eagle and was invited to join Sweathog. In October 1970, Sweathog became the house band at The Chronicle, a night club in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

managed by Ed Jordan. Soon after, they released two

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 ...

s on

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records, a former name of Sony Music, a global music company * CBS/Sony, a former name of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a Japanese music company division of Sony * CBS Records International, a label for Columbia Re ...

in the early 1970s, and are best known for their 1971

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'' ...

"Hallelujah", which hit #15 in Canada, #33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

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 number 93 in Australia in 1972. Hallelujah was written by Mitch Bottler, Roberta Twain and

Gary Zekley Alan Gary Zekley (also known as Brandon Chase; January 4, 1943 – June 19, 1996) was an American West Coast record producer and songwriter associated with 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s bands and songs in the bubblegum, rock and roll, sunshine pop, and ...

Frank Barsalona Frank Barsalona (March 31, 1938 – November 22, 2012) was an American talent agent and founder of the first major rock and roll booking agency in the United States. Career Barsalona started out in the mail room at GAC, a New York-based talen ...

signed Sweathog to the Premier Talent Agency and became a top opening act for

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Edgar Winter's White Trash Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American multi-instrumentalist, working as a vocalist along with playing keyboards, saxophone, and percussion. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group and their pop ...

Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved pea ...

and more. In 1973, Johnson and Jones reformed Sweathog with Warren Rex Ludwick and Bobby Burns. Johnson met Burns during the 1965

Shindig! ''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. Of the four original members, Frosty relocated to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

(where he died in 2017), Goldsmith is in the real estate business in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, and his sons Taylor and Griffin are in the band

Dawes Dawes may refer to: Places Australia *Dawes (Parish), New South Wales *Dawes Point, New South Wales Untied States *Dawes Arboretum, in Newark, Ohio *Dawes County, Nebraska *Dawes Township, Thurston County, Nebraska Other uses * Dawes (band), ...

, Jones died June 15, 2013, in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

at age 70, and Johnson owns an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

, ReMIX Media Group, in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...

. Barry "Frosty" Smith (born Barry Eugene Smith on March 20, 1946, in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

) died after a long illness on April 12, 2017, at the age of 71.Barry Eugene Smith of Austin, Texas , 1946 - 2017 , Obituary
accessdate December 4, 2017

Band members

*Lenny Lee Goldsmith (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, keyboards) *Robert Morris "B.J." Jones (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

; died 2013) *David L. Johnson (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

) *Barry "Frosty" Smith (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s; died 2017) *Rex W. Ludwick (

s) *Bobby Burns (

, keyboards) *

Leonard Stogel Leonard Stogel (September 23, 1934 – May 25, 1979) was an American music business manager, promoter, record producer and executive for the music festivals California Jam, California Jam II, and Canada Jam. He also managed Sweathog, the C ...

(

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Band members

Discography

References

External links

Further reading