Songwriters Hall of FameInducted 2009 | ASCAP Writer

In 1965, Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati left the band they were in at the time, Joey Dee & The Starlighters, and formed the “Young Rascals.” From 1965 through 1969, the Young Rascals released some of the most defining songs of that era, penned by Cavalieri and Brigati. They were the paragons of “blue-eyed soul,” building their sound around Felix Cavaliere’s Hammond B-3 organ and the expressive lead vocals of Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati. Their song “Groovin’,” a soulful reverie about “groovin’ on a sunny afternoon,” shot to #1 in the spring of 1967. By the end of the year, the Rascals were venturing into psychedelia with effects-laden songs like “It’s Wonderful” (#20). They reverted to their original name, the Rascals, with the release of “A Beautiful Morning” in 1968. While their hits included “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin’,” “A Girl Like You,” and “A Beautiful Morning,” their biggest hit, “People Got to Be Free,” written in reaction to the assassinations that year of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., rose to #1 on the charts.

The Young Rascals were a pop rock group that formed in 1965 New York City with Felix Cavaliere on vocals and organ, Gene Cornish (vocals, guitar), Eddie Brigati (vocals, Bass) and Dino Danelli (drums). All except Danelli had been in Joey Dee and the Starliters. Brigati and Cornish left the group in 1971 and were replaced by Robert Popwell (bass), Buzzy Feiten (guitar, Larsen Felten Band) and Ann Sutton (vocals). The Group disbanded in 1972 until Cavaliere, Cornish and Danelli reunited in June 1988.

Releasing their first album in 1966 as The Young Rascals, they group followed with Collections (1967) and Groovin’ (#5/1967). They change dthe name to The Rascals and released Once Upon a Dream (#9/1968), Time Peace: The Rascals’ Greatest Hits (#1/1968), Freedom Suite (#17/1969), See (#45/1970), Search and Nearness (#198/1971), Peaceful World (#122/1971) and The Island of Real (#180/1972).

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

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