When members of the rock group The Cyrkle began making music in 1966, fame came quickly. The band’s first album peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard charts while producing two hit singles.
Their first hit song, “Red Rubber Ball,” went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 rock charts, and “Turn-Down Day” rose to No. 16. Things could hardly have looked much rosier for the quartet’s young male bandmates.
Before 1966 ended, the group released a second album which did not do as well as their first effort –but still was something of a success. It rose to No. 164 on the album charts and produced two singles that managed to secure positions in the bottom half of the Hot 100.
But that was about it. Two more non-album singles barely made the charts. A third album was produced as a soundtrack for a movie called “The Minx” but neither the movie nor the album amounted to much.
Perhaps the biggest blow to The Cyrkle having staying power in the oh-so-competitive rock music scene of the 1960s was the untimely death of the group’s manager, Brian Epstein.
Epstein was an Englishman who had discovered the Beatles and managed a few other musical acts. The Cyrkle was his only American client. But Epstein died of a drug overdose in August 1967 at the age of 32 and the Cyrkle was basically finished.
Their final scorecard read three albums and six charting singles. What had started out with a bang in 1966 was a bust by 1968 (when the band broke up) or 1969 (when the third album was released in conjunction with the debut of the unsuccessful movie).
The Cyrkle’s story was in many ways similar to that of many other 1960s rock groups. With several notable exceptions, most bands had a short lifespan.
The band members went their separate ways, got jobs, married, and had families while remembering their brief but magical glory days as rock stars. We will see what else happened in this story’s conclusion next week.
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