The Troys were one of the most popular groups to come out of the suburbs, following in the footsteps of the Shadows of Knight. It was very easy to react positively to their music; they were tight, professional, and they played the current hits from the radio as well, if not better, than the original artists. No group had a more loyal following than did the Troys, and their manager, Cellar owner Paul Sampson, had high hopes for them; as did their producer Bill Traut. Had the Troys been able to gain a recording success that was commensurate with their popularity, they would have undoubtedly been one of the more important groups to come out of the area. There was no questioning the fact that the talent was there. Their vocal harmonies were enthralling. What happened? Apparently, the group was caught in the transition period of Chicago rock, when music was changing from light to heavy, and bands were beginning to play their own material. On top of that, we have to blame Tower Records for a total lack of promotion of their record. But, in order to understand the end, we must look at the beginning.
That beginning was in 1965, when Randy Curlee and Jack “Hawkeye” Daniels formed the Troys. “The name ‘Troys’ came from a toothbrush,” recalled bassist Randy Curlee. With Hawkeye on lead guitar, the group was rounded out by Mike Dixon on keyboards, Mike Been on guitar, Dave Nelson on drums, with Mark Gallagher handling the lead vocals, while all added harmonies.
The group began as a copy band, playing other people’s material, and quickly gained a reputation as a solid interpreter of others’ hits. In 1966, this was a formula followed by many local bands.
By late 1967, the Troys were packing places like the New Place and Green Gorilla. “Our most requested song was ‘Good Vibrations’ by the Beach Boys, in which Mark imitated the theramin part with his voice,” according to Curlee. But just as many people dug the way they performed the lovely “Maria” from “West Side Story.” At this time, the Troys began throwing in some original material including “Got to Fit You into My Life” [https://youtu.be/-Uz-hxSACTs](https://youtu.be/-Uz-hxSACTs). Crowd reaction was so strong, the group cut a version produced by Skeet Busher for Dunwich Productions in 1968, which then licensed it to Tower Records,
Violins were overdubbed onto the original track in order to increase the sales, but nothing turned out to help without the promotion from the label. The song showcased the group’s smooth vocal stylings as well as capturing some of the excitement that the group generated when it performed live. It was the high point of the group’s career, but good things never last forever, especially in the world of rock and roll.
Internal dissensions began to plague the group. There was a natural rivalry between the vocalists Gallagher and Been, and the strain was starting to show when Gallagher and drummer Nelson left the band. As a foursome, Been moved over to drums, and the group began evolving into a totally different animal. Curlee had some new musical ideas that he wanted to try out. He relates, “Some of the members of the group were maturing musically faster than the others. A lot of groups were changing at this time just for the sake of change; they did not know what they were doing, but we did. Our material from this period was a lot better, musically speaking, but the people in the audiences still screamed for our old stuff!” Actually, the Troys had moved in to the symphonic rock style of Vanilla Fudge, but they could not shed their old image. As a result, they lost a lot of their fans.
The group hoped to change all this with a change of name, from Troys to Magic, but it did not help. Magic disbanded soon after, and Curlee along with Hawkeye formed the sort-lived Zebra. Mike Dixon, in the meantime, had started his own group Pendragon, Tower issuing their lone single “Never Gonna Go Back” b/w “Desert of Time” in 1969.
Meanwhile Hawkeye went on further to join the third incarnation of the Shadows of Knight. And later moved onto his own band, a progressive space-rock outfit called Stratosled.
While this was going on, Gallagher had merged energy with Tom Murray to form the Litter, a hard and heavy rock band who lived a nomadic existence between Chicago and Minneapolis releasing a self-titled album The Litter (Probe) in 1969. After the Litter, Gallagher remained in Minnesota as part of Archangel, releasing one single “Atomic Letter” b/w “Barrier” (Andromeda Tour).
From there Been went on to release an album with Fine Wine in 1976, formed the Call in 1980, and released a couple solo projects of his own in the early ’90s. Sadly, Been died in 2010 after suffering a heart attack backstage at a festival in Belgium where he was working as a sound engineer for his son’s band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Randy Curlee went on to join Zazu, a south side progressive rock band in the vein of Styx, releasing a self-titled album Zazu (Wooden Nickel) in 1975. He then started his own guitar company, Curlee Guitars, which enjoyed a run renowned for their bass guitars from 1976-82. Curlee had moved to Texas and sadly has also passed away in 2005 at the age of 56 of complications from diabetes. (Thanks to Jeff Lind’s “History of Chicago Rock” for much of the information in this story.)
Discography
1968 Got to Fit You Into My Life b/w Take Care (Tower 406)