I grew up in a home surrounded by music. My mom loved the big bands and standards, but most notably, she loved Frank Sinatra. My dad loved Eddy Arnold, Patti Page and Connie Francis; and my older siblings loved the Four Seasons and the Beatles. My deep rooted passion for music goes way back to my childhood.
I have a good memory. I'm one of those trivia kooks who can tell you when a song came out, what label it was on and who sang lead. There were 45s and 33 1/3 records laying around the house and at any given point you could hear Glenn Miller, the Rolling Stones or Marty Robbins. My childhood friend, Kathy and I would often walk six blocks south and 2 1/2 blocks east to the local Ben Franklin to purchase records. One of my first 45 purchases was a single by the Grass Roots. Today, you wouldn't dream of letting two little kids walk a mile away from their home to do anything, let alone buy records, but those were different times. We practically knew someone on every block we walked thru to get there and when we got there it was like a variety of gift boxes to open.
When I mention the Grass Roots to anyone under a certain age most members of the under the certain age demo have absolutely no idea who I am talking about. I usually look at them with near pity in my eyes thinking you have no idea what happy sounds like. Their music may not have had complex chord progressions, but all these years later whenever I hear one of their songs - I feel good. I still love Cat Stevens, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and of course, the Beatles, but none of them actually make me bounce around and sing along with a loud joy-filled singing in the shower mood.
All these years later - their music still works. It is pop music at its finest. They would go on to have fifteen top 30 hits for Dunhill Records and ABC Records (yes, that ABC - at one point ABC owned a record company). They sold over 20 million records between 1966 and 1973. Their healthy output included such classics as "Midnight Confessions," "Wait a Million Years," "Temptation Eyes," "Sooner or Later," "Heaven Knows," "Come on and Say It," "Two Divided by Love" and their last big charting song, "Glory Bound." "Glory Bound" has this raucous finale with Rob Grill's voice going into the aching category that few could reach. They still hold the record as the act with the longest running non-stop presence on the Billboard charts. They had a song in the top 100 for some 307 weeks straight. No act has ever accomplished that feat.
I loved Rob Grill. He was the voice of The Grass Roots and this kid loved that voice and that face. Over the course of my career in the entertainment industry I've had the privilege (although, sometimes not such a privilege) to meet lots of famous people. Unfortunately, I never met Rob Grill.
The Grass Roots were on television a lot during their heyday. They appeared on "The Tonight Show," "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America." I vaguely remember their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (even though I'm probably confusing a viewing in its original format with a clip pulled from the web). They appeared on "American Bandstand" a record setting 16 times. I must admit I don't remember seeing them all 16 times, but knowing how I rarely missed Dick Clark's show I probably saw them at least a few of those times. One of my first two albums in LP form would be their Greatest Hits collection. Somewhere there is even a photo of me holding it up proudly.
Yesterday morning at 11:00am Rob Grill died in a Florida hospital. I heard the news for the first time late last night. The local news radio station did a nice tribute to him in their top of the hour network news break . He died in the arms of his wife, Nancy listening to "Let's Live for Today." I'm near to crying as I write this post.
Rob Grill (who had several hip replacement surgeries) took a horrible fall a few weeks back and that led to a massive stroke. He had his first stroke three years ago and he learned to walk with a cane. He pretty much couldn't sing like Rob Grill anymore, but he still could play that bass guitar, but the recent stroke ended up putting a hold on that bass playing.
My life has changed a great deal in the last couple of years. My wonderful career in television was literally given up and walked away from when my dad passed away after struggling with Alzheimer's disease for many years. I decided to move home to be with my now aging mom. I haven't regretted the decision once. Life is indeed brief and fragile.
When I was a young girl I could have asked "Where Were You When I Needed You" and now all these years later I could say that the voice of Rob Grill is still here and still giving me great moments of smiling happiness. I don't think I could clean my house without him. I don't fear death due to my deep faith and I hope my dear Rob Grill didn't fear it either. Mr. Grill, you brought me great musical comfort as a child, as a teen-angst ridden high-schooler and I carried you through college, grad school and every move to new jobs in new cities. When I want to get moving, I pull you up on my whatever music device/app is of the moment. I yell out every lyric to every song and it brings back my own glory days of youth.
Rob, may you rest in peace and may you be glory bound.
COPRYIGHT THE FLAMING NOSE
