Robert Hover
Songwriter, musician, and producer Gary Usher, was the number-one unsung hero of the subgenre of rock and roll known as Surf/Hot Rod music. Just as Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys were preparing to lay down the entire foundation for this “California” sound, Gary Usher’s uncle introduced him to Brian Wilson. Within days of their meeting, Usher and Wilson created “The Lonely Sea,” which later appeared as a track on the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ U.S.A. record album. Over the years, Usher and Wilson would co-write “In My Room,” “We’ll Run Away,” and numerous others.
Usher’s solo surfer projects, released under his own name, all crashed on impact.
Usher then picked up the idea of fabricating musical groups by bringing together a group of musical friends in the recording studio to lay down his tunes as he saw fit.
The finished product could then be sold off to various interested record companies and credited to whatever performers the record company(s) wished. Usher and his recording pack included (at various times) Glen Campbell, Bruce Johnston, Jan Berry, and Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son) and others. This aggregate of friends were thus the Four Speeds (with lead vocals being handled by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys), the Super Stocks, the Wheelmen, the Revells, the Knights, the Ghouls, the Silly Surfers, and the Hondells.
With the immediate success of the song “Little Honda” by the Hondells (originally recorded by the Beach Boys in 1964), the pressure was on to put together a touring version of the Hondells to take the hit recording on the road. Ritchie Burns, who was on the actual recording as a background singer, was enlisted to front a “Hondells” group. As the Hondells’ first record album was about to be released, a group still did not exist—for the photo on the record album’s cover, Ritchie Burns, who was working days as a bank teller, had three other tellers at his bank pose for the photo.
Surprisingly, the Hondells were much more successful than anyone had imagined. There were tours, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, the weekly TV show Shindig, and movies like Ski Party from (1965), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), and Beach Ball from 1965. Other singles were issued, including “Younger Girl,” a cover version of the Lovin’ Spoonful hit, only making it to #52 on the national charts in 1966. “Little Honda” clocked in at #9 on the national charts.
By the seventh single, the touring company had rehearsed sufficiently to enter the recording studio. Singer Randy Thomas, with folk-rock leanings, had sung lead on “Younger Girl,” and did likewise on the last Hondells Mercury release, “Cheryl’s Going Home.” Usher and Burns took the Hondells name over to Columbia records, and later to Amos records, where a few more singles were issued. By then, however, the summer sun had set on the surf/hot rod sound, and the group’s efforts at the folk-rock sound were generally unconvincing. In 1970, Gary Usher packed up the Hondells name and placed it into dry storage.
Other cover versions of “Little Honda” were recorded and released by Jan & Dean (1965), the Super Stocks (1964), and, believe it or not, Pat Boone in 1964.