User:Cowman109/steam

Steam was a pop music group from Bridgeport, Connecticut, best known for the 1969 #1 hit song and perennial favorite "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)". The song was written and recorded by studio musicians Gary DeCarlo, Paul Leka and Dale Frashuer. The single was attributed to the band "Steam" although, at the time, there was actually no formal band. When "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" topped the pop charts and there was no existing band to take the song on the road, producer Paul Leka quickly assembled a touring band which he also called "Steam". The band subsequently recorded a self-titled LP and three additional singles but disbanded in 1970.

Band History

Origins

DeCarlo, Frashuer and Leka were members of a Bridgeport, Connecticut band called the Chateaus. As the Chateaus, they recorded some failed 45s in the early '60s for Coral and Warner Bros. The trio separated but kept in touch. Leka became a tunesmith with Circle Five Productions and, in 1968, he wrote and produced the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" and other Pipers' numbers with Shelley Pinz.

In 1969, Leka and DeCarlo met again at Mercury Records. Leka was working there and DeCarlo, who was now a solo artist, had convinced the label's A & R man, Bob Reno, to let him record some solo sides. With Leka producing, DeCarlo recorded four singles, all of which Reno thought would do well issued as an A-side. To fill up up the B-side of the first single, DeCarlo and Leka were asked to cut a throwaway flip side. Their former bandmate from the Chateaus, Dale Frashuer, stopped by the studio the night of the recording and inspired Leka to dig up a 1961 ballad the three had written during their Chateau days called "Kiss Him Goodbye." Instead of using a full band, Leka spliced together a drum track from one of DeCarlo's four songs, and played keyboards himself. "I said we should put a chorus to it (to make it longer)," Leka told Fred Bronson in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. "I started writing while I was sitting at the piano going 'na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na'...Everything was 'na na' when you didn't have a lyric." Someone else added "hey hey."

To the great surprise of all involved, the powers-that-be at the label decided to release the song, now named "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)"--"an embarassing record...an insult," in Leka's opinion--as the A-side on Fontana, a Mercury subsidary. Since none of the song's creators wanted credit for the tune, a nonexistent group, "Steam", was concocted.

Success

DeCarlo's solo singles (which Leka, Reno and the singer himself had preferred to "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)") were released under his pseudonym, Garret Scott. None of DeCarlo's preferred singles charted, but Steam's "[[Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)]" sold more than a million copies, and hit number one in the United States.

Leka quickly assembled a Steam band to tour in support of the studio creation: Jay Babina (guitar), Ray Corries (drums), Mike Daniels (bass), Hank Schorz (keyboard), Bill Steer (vocals), and Tom Zuke (guitar) were all from the Chateau's hometown of Bridgeport. When an album was needed, DeCarlo was approached, but he refused to return to the studios. Before Steam was eventually dissolved, three more singles appeared, but only one made the charts--"I Gotta Make You Love Me" (#46, 1970).

Musicians

Early Trio

Gary DeCarlo, Lead vocalist
Paul Leka, Producer, keyboard
Dale Frashuer, Songwriter

The band, Steam (1969-70)

Bill Steer, Lead vocalist
Jay Babina, Guitar
Tom Zuke, Guitar
Hank Schorz, Keyboard
Mike Daniels, Bass
Ray Corries, Drums

"Steam" Discography

"STEAM" (Mercury SR 61254) 1969
- Side 1
  - Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye
  - I've Gotta Make You Love Me
  - It's The Magic In You Girl
  - Come On Home Girl
  - Love And Affection
- Side 2
  - Come On Back And Love Me
  - I've Cried A Million Tears
  - I'm The One Who Loves You
  - One Good Woman
  - New Breed, Now Generation

45s
- (Fontana F-1667) 1969
  - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
  - It's The Magic In You Girl
- (Mercury 73020) 1970
  - One Good Woman
  - I've Gotta Make You Love Me
- (Mercury 73053) 1970
  - I'm The One Who Loves You
  - What I'm Saying Is True*
- (Mercury 73117) 1970
  - Don't Stop Lovin' Me
  - Do Unto Others

Sources

Hinckley, David, " 'Na Na Hey Hey' was an unexpected winner,"

Seattle Times, 4 April 3005, Northwest Life, p.E4. [1]

Fred Bronson, ed., The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, 5th ed. (New York: Watson-Guptill), p.263.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ydj97i6jg76r~T1