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1960s SHHS Musicians, Singers, Songwriters
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One of my hopes since 2000 has been to create a simple but detailed source of all ‘60s SHHS music people. There are so many, and their careers have taken them in so many directions. I’ll rely mostly on what my sources told me here, and I hope you’ll contribute. We’ll publish links to songs and other information later, if this page works out.

This page is restricted  to 1960s SHHS musicians and singers only, with the exceptions noted. Others may only be mentioned briefly and in passing.  If anyone starts talking about non-SHHS musicians and singers, I’ll delete what they write. This is a 1960s SHHS alumni page, not a place to noodle about a stranger’s career. We tolerate no unmedicated goo.

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Allen Crutcher, ‘64 – played keyboards with the Continentals, also known as the Delanceys. Allen became an architect and still practices in Oregon. He’s currently a keyboard player for the folk-rock group, AnnieMac. 

 

Bill Dickinson, ’65. -- Bill is one of the most accomplished musicians from 1960s SHHS. He began his career as a trumpeter, and soon changed to guitar, especially bass guitar. He’s performed and recorded since then with many of the moist famous bands and singers in the world, including Chicago and the Righteous Brothers. He lived in the San Fernando Valley. As I understand it, he plays rock, pop and jazz.

 

Burleigh Skidmore, ’67 – played in a Sunny Hills band called Garfish Soup. Barry became an accountant, and has offices in Santa Barbara, CA. He plays guitar and sings with the Burleigh Skidmore Band, based in Santa Barbara. Jane Allingham is a vocalist with that band. 

 

Charlie Hale, ’66 – Charlie began singing in public when he was about 5 years old on the old Leo Carrillo television show in Los Angeles. His sister Trudy accompanied him on piano. By the time Charlie reached SHHS, or maybe Wilshire junior high, he sang and played guitar in bands. He continued his musical career while also working as a construction worker and eventually the owner of a cement construction company. An injury to his hand ended his guitar playing career, but he continues to sing. Recently Charlie has had health problems that limit his ability to sing. He loves to remember how the front room of his Malvern home was a rehearsal hall and jamming place for up to 40 of his friends at a time. That place would JUMP.

 

Chuck Estes, ’64 – There was no busier Fullerton musician than Chuck, from Nicolas Junior High school to his untimely death around 2005.  He was a guy born to love and play music. Like Van Gelder, Chuck could pick up any instrument and learn to play it before very long. His favorIte type of music was jazz, which he played exclusively for several years during and after college. He played in so many rock n’ roll bands – over 100, by his own estimate 100 -- he couldn’t remember them all, including one band that Jackson played on briefly at SHHS. As an adult, Chuck branched out into many forms of music, including musical drama and Christmas musical plays, for which he earned an Emmy. He was the funniest and wittiest of our SHHS musicians, I think, and may have had the most fire-breathing opinions on politics and other issues. He was not only a musician but a leader, and had that role throughout his career. He even composed a symphony and many classical works. From middle age on, he insisted on living in his hometown of Fullerton. He liked to say, ’Bloom where you were planted.’

 

Coye Hubbard Owen, ’64 – Coye had a lovely soprano and famously, sang with Steve Noonan in one 1963-1964 SHHS assembly.

 

Dave Andersen, ’67 – Dave first learned to play guitar at about age 5 or 6. I don’t know anything about his career before he reached Nashville and became the musical ambassador to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Blessed with a phenomenal ability to sing and play approximately 3,000 songs upon request, Dave plays every morning for visitors to the hall, and frequently at special events. He is also a well known jazz guitarist who plays gigs in the South and the Midwest. About once a year, Dave comes to southern California and plays one or two restaurant lounge dates. Like an old-fashioned jazz man, Dave always wears a sharp suit with a tie when he plays.

 

Dave Hartzheim, ’67 – NEED HELP

 

David McKain -- Nicolas Junior high school, Fullerton Union High School and First Methodist Church music instructor and director, a gentleman who taught and encouraged many of the people listed on this page.

 

David Murphy, ’66. Dave comes from a musical family and has enjoyed singing since childhood. As I understand it, though, he began to sing full-time only 5 or 10 years ago.  No less than Charlie Hale describes Dave as having the finest voice of all the ’60s SHHS singers. Dave lives in Orange County and plays regularly with a male quartet known as the Fugowies. He also sings solo, and has performed at Bourbon Street.

 

Dennis Challman, ’67 – Dennis currently plays with country bands in Austin, TX and lives nearby with his wife. He’s a pedal steel player, a guitarist and a singer. He’s played music since high school at least, maybe before. When he was a student at San Diego State University, Dennis lived in a house with Allen Crutcher and several other friends. Since the mid-1960s, he’s played in just about every kind of venue imaginable, including some not especially safe for musicians.

 

Erich Brown, ’66 – Charlie Hale, ’66 says Erich had an excellent jazz and blues voice. Erich is an architect on the Central California coast and I don’t know if he still sings or plays. 

 

Gary Lines, ‘60s and later SHHS music, orchestra and band teacher. – TO BE ADDED.

 

Greg Copeland, ’64, known as the poet laureate of SHHS. Greg is a poet, truly, and has now released at least 2 albums of his songs. He does not sing in public often. He’s an attorney, but may have retired now. He lives in Los Angeles and is a close friend of Steve Noonan.

 

Greg Leisz, ’67 – Greg may be the highest ranking ‘60s musician, so to speak. That’s because he’s known as one of the top pedal steel players in the music business. He’s constantly playing, often with Jackson Browne or with Lefty Friesell. The list of artists and albums he’s played on is staggering. Greg also lives in the San Fernando Valley.

 

Greg Nussle, ’65 – all I remember is that Greg played guitar for a band that played a SHHS after school dance in the mid-60s. He was a big guy and his electric guitar looked like a violin in his hands.  A gentleman named Greg Nussle died in Las Vegas some years ago, and I think it was Greg, although I haven’t had confirmation.

 

Jackson Browne, ’66 – Jackson needs no introduction. I only knew him as a speech 2 friend in 1964-1965, but he maintains dozens of friendships with SHHS people. Chuck estes, ’64 said Jackson became seriously interested in singing during his freshman year at SHHS. Chuck was the first one to tell Jackson he needed his own guitar. I believe his first public appearance was at the paradox, then located on El Camino Real in Tustin, and later in the city of orange. As legend has it, Steve Noonan and other friends had to push Jackson onstage when he hesitated. Apparently Jackson was once known as Jackie to his friends, and 1965 or so, he was called Jack. I think Jackson became his sole name after that.

 

Jim Bucheister, ’64 – Jim played guitar for the Continentals. Their music was comparable to the Ventures. Jim became a nuclear engineer and in mid-career, changed to become an accountant. He now lives above San Francisco and maintains close friendships with many SHHS friends.

Joe Romeo, ’65 – Joe played guitar and sang, but became a biologist and a professor at San Francisco state university. He was a close friend of Solberg.

John Leisenthal, ‘63 is another lifelong musician. While he was a student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island, he and his friends formed a band called Soft White Underbelly, that soon became the original Blue Oyster Cult. They were the backing band for Steve Noonan early in his career in NYC. John was an especially dear friend to Berbie Browne, ‘64 and a close friend to the Browne family. To learn more, see 88

 

Jon Mettrick, ’67. – need help.

 

Kit Carson, ’64 – need help.

 

Larry Loeck, ’64 – Larry also played guitar for the Continentals, and continued with as busy a career as any Lancer musician. A ’67 Lancer told me Larry played with the Ike and Tina turner revue, which I have not been able to verify. Many of us saw Larry play at Disneyland. Larry is still active as a singer and guitarist, and last I heard, he had a semi-regular gig playing in Long Beach.

 

Mike Balfe – NEED HELP

 

Pamela Polland – Pamela is not a SHHS graduate but has been a close friend of several Lancer singers and musicians since the early 1960s, beginning at the Paradox in Tustin. She famously lived in the late 1960s Echo Park, los Angeles  apartment building with Jackson, Steve Noonan, Greg Copeland, John Leisenthal, and people named Glenn Frey and 888. Frequent visitors including nearby friends including Linda Ronstadt, Ned Doheny, and many of the legendary laurel canyon singers and musicians of the period, including Mama Cass, Joni Mitchell, Michael Nesbitt, David Crosby and many more. Pamela often sang at the Troubadour, the Ash Grove and other local venues,  as well as venues across the country. She was a singer-member of the famous Mad Dogs and Englishman troupe led by Joe Crocker, that also featured Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge and Leon Russell.  She created a wildly successful singer and actress for a cabaret show called melba 00 that played for several years in San Francisco during the 1970s. She’s written a dozen or so songs that charted for other artists. Recently, Pamela has studied traditional Hawaiian music, culture and language, and sings often with several well-known Hawaiian singing groups. She lives in Maui. Her albums are also available on Amazon.com and through her own website. She’s remained close friends with Jackson and some of the other Lancers singers through all these years. She first met Jackson when he was 14 years old.

 

Ray Vaughan, ‘60s and later SHHS choral music teacher. TO BE ADDED.

 

Richard Bishop, ’69 – Richard was trained as a classical musician, and I believe he studied at Juillard in Manhattan. He became a well-known classical pianist, and also a successful lounge pianist in the manner of Bobby Short.

 

Richard Kieley, ’68 – Rich was a singer and guitarist at SHHS and after. The last time I saw him around 1972, he sang for a group called The United States of America, probably based in Los Angeles. He happened to remark then that the bee gees songs were the most difficult to sing.  

 

Richard Rheem, ’65 – I don’t know if Richard was a singer or musician, but after SHHS he went to new york city to become an actor and model, he became part of the andy Warhol group, and Warhol made at least one short film starring Richard. He was also a close friend of Solberg and others. 

 

Rob Allingham, ’65 – Rob has always been a world class collector, and his two passions were railroads and at the beginning, early jazz music. By SHHS, he already had a collection of over 2,000 jazz 78 RPM records. He went to college at uc Irvine and Berkley, and at some time after graduation, heard of a railroad job opening in South Africa. It was an unusual railroad and he decided to go take the job for a year or two only. He’s still there, with a wife and three grown children. He became a librarian, curator and critic for the largest musical company in the country, and over the next 20-plus years, became a leading authority on all types of African music. He’s still very active in the field.

 

Severin Browne, ’67, once known as Eddie. Severin has also sung since boyhood, and pursues an active career as a singer, guitarist and songwriter, mostly in the southern California area. He often plays with a band called the Tall Men, and one of his favorite venues is Kulak’s woodshed in North Hollywood. 

 

Steve Noonan, ’64. Steve needs no introduction either. He sings and plays guitar widely, and now lives in Orange County, as a teenager, Steve taught many Lancers how to play guitar. Currently, Steve hosts a folk music hoot night every Wednesday evening at the Bourbon Street bar and grill in downtown Fullerton. He writes new songs regularly.

 

Steve Solberg, ’65 – Steve was an actor, documentary filmmaker and a playwright, and I don’t know if he sang or played music. He was a good friend of Jackson, Steve Noonan and others all his life, and was also affiliated with andy Warhol in the early days in new york.

 

Steve Van Gelder, ’65 – Many Lancers still call Steve the Genius of Sunny Hills Music, for several reasons, one was his ferocious enthusiasm for music. Another was his phenomenal talent and skill, which enabled him to play any instrument he tried to after a short period. A third reason was his absolutely untrammeled originality and creativity, which could sometimes border on the wacky. I need others to fill in the period between 1965 and Steve’s death around 2005. At that time he lived on the North Shore of Oahu with his family. There is album called ‘Joe Fool’ by a musician named Steve Van Gelder. Is that our friendq

 

Tim Twombly, ’64 – Tim played bass guitar for the Continentals. He became a chiropractor and practices in the Woodbridge neighborhood of Irvine. Recently he published his first novel, called A Bonafide Detective. It’s available on Amazon.com.  Tim is now busy writing his second novel.

 

Tommy Jewett, ’64, known to many as ‘Tee’. Tee also played guitar for the Continentals. A lifelong sportsman, Tee now lives in North County San Diego and works for the Jewett family construction company.

 

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 Dennis Maxson, '65 -- 'I knew Jackie Browne and his brother and sister when they lived on Orange Ave on the edge of the Basque tract near Euclid and Chapman. Heard him noodling on what became "These Days" sitting around his room with Dennis McFarland and his little brother Terry, who went on to play in Massive Furgeson with John Premo and the greatest SHHS musician ever, Steve Van Gelder. Sadly, Terry, Dennis and Steve they are all gone now. Also in MF, Dave Hartzheim, who was FUHS, I believe. The Continentals played at my Senior prom ('65). I do recall Steve Solberg. He migrated to NYC and the Warhol Factory scene with Pam Nevius.'