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In the mid-1960’s, with teen clubs proliferating throughout the suburbs, one of the groups to emerge from the Elmhurst area was The Riddles who hit the local WLS and WCFL charts with their single “Sweets for My Sweet” https://youtu.be/1GuYj7X73vk. And while they never recorded again, guitarist Patrick “Rick” Harper went on to enjoy a 20 year career with Kenny Rogers supporting band Bloodline.
The Riddles lineup featured Harper as lead guitarist and vocalist along with Lee Adams on bass, Wes Dobson on rhythm guitar and Ron Fricano on drums.
The Riddles evolved from a group called the Stereos, the trio of Harper, Adams and Dobson getting together while students at Willowbrook High School. Prior to The Riddles, Adams was in a local Elmhurst band called the Roadrunners. The group built a following playing teen clubs in the area – the Coffee Break in Elmhurst, Blue Village in Westmont, Hut in Des Plaines, etal. Home for them was a dance club in Elmhurst called the Golden Pheasant where they truly were the house band. Their repertoire featured covers of popular rock hits from the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
Lyle Gillman, who owned the music instrument store Roselle Music, took them under wing as manager. He was able to secure a relationship for the group with record promotion man Peter Wright.
Wright’s primary business was freelance record promotion and owned Quill Records, and once a record got in his hands it seemed to dominate Midwestern radio playlists. With The Riddles, he took their original “It’s One Thing to Say” https://youtu.be/KJ0Iw1s1WZ0and paired it with one of their popular live performance songs, a cover of the 1963 Searchers hit “Sweets for My Sweet,” releasing it on his Quill label. “Sweets for My Sweet” turned into a local hit, climbing into the Top 20 on the WLS charts and created enough interest that Mercury Records licensed the single for national distribution.
But that was the end of the road for The Riddles. While stories told said they broke up, going off to college to avoid the draft, guitarist Fricano countered those claims, “We did not try to avoid the draft by going to college, we didn’t even go to college! We just could not come up with another song to release.”
Fortunately, that was not the end of the road for Rick Harper. After teaching for a couple of years at Roselle Music, he took off to Nashville. Kenny Rogers had just left the First Edition and was putting a band together pursuing a solo career. In 1977, Harper took on the role as lead guitarist for Rogers’ group Bloodline (pictured here third from the left in front of the bus). For the next 20 years, Harper supported Rogers on the road and in the studio, part of Roger’s biggest years as “The Gambler.” Harper retired in 2001, enjoying life with his family in the Nashville area. Adams passed away while still in his 20’s. After The Riddles, Fricano went on to teach drums at Roselle Music, named “Teacher of the Year” in 1971. Fricano eventually moved to Michigan, where he continued teaching music. Manager and Roselle Music owner Gillman passed away in 2019.
Discography
1967 Sweets for My Sweet b/w It’s One Thing to Say (Quill 116 / Mercury 72669)