Donna Loren

The Honeys

Girls On The Beach starlet Noreen Corcoran doesn't make much effort to hide her insatiable sex appetite on the Nino Tempo-produced "Love Kitten" - "hold me tight until I purr, run your fingers through my fur" - uh, isn't that metaphor a little too obvious?? If the track sounds like a Phil Spector production, it's because "Love Kitten" was recorded at Gold Star Studios (Phil Spector's studio of choice) and Nino Tempo used all of Spector's musicians for the track. Noreen Corcoran recorded a total of three singles for VeeJay Records, the other two being "Dreamin' Of You" and "For The Love Of Mike" (not to be confused with the Diane Castle song, another splendid obscurity).

No one made better use of the beach than West Coast girl group the Honeys. With "Shoot The Curl," "Pray For Surf," and other tributes to California's most popular water sport, the Honeys could be called the Beach Boys for girls. This can only be attributed to the fact that Ginger Blake, Marilyn Rovell and her sister Diane were close friends of the Beach Boys. Marilyn dated Brian Wilson and later became his wife. The Honeys released five singles during the sixties, yet even the Beach Boys connection couldn't get them in the charts, and that is truly surprising since the Brian Wilson penned "He's A Doll" is one of the greatest surf songs done by a girl group.

In 1964 it became quite a fad for girl groups to record surf/hot rod songs. Take the Surfer Girls' "Draggin' Wagon" (a surf version of "Go, Johnny, Go"), Susan Lynne's "Don't Drag No More," the Surf Bunnies' "Surf Bunnie Beach," and Carol & Cheryl's "Go Go GTO" - all fantastic tributes to Dick Dale, the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. The Seashells even honor their surf heroes the Beach Boys with a song called "We Love The Beach Boys."

Before putting away those surfboards, there is still one more beach chick worth mentioning. Jackie Ward was always on the set of the Beach movies as the "voice on call," just in case someone couldn't sing, or if background vocals were needed. In 1963 she changed her name to Robin Ward and recorded some singles for Dot Records. "Wonderful Summer" made it through to the Top 20, but the song was really the least interesting of all her recordings. "In His Car" is the best piece of doo-wop a girl group has ever recorded. And check out those sound effects and luscious melodies on "Winter's Here." Anyone have a spare copy of this one?

The "doolang-doolang-doolang" intro of the Chiffon's hit "He's So Fine" was imitated by a large number of unknown girl singers. Namely Ohio-bred Andrea Carroll who used the ubiquitous ditty in two of her recordings. Andrea spent her entire childhood preparing for a future career in entertainment. This multi-talented youngster signed a deal with Epic Records in 1960 and released her debut single, "I've Got A Date With Frankie." The song was originally titled "I've Got A Date With Elvis," but Andrea demanded that it be changed to Frankie, in honor of her crush, Frankie Avalon. It was her first in a string of flops. She scored one national hit with "It Hurts To Be Sixteen," written by Neil Sedaka under a pseudonym. The intro features the Chiffons singing "rat-a-tang, rat-a-tang, too-tang too-tang" until a melancholy Andrea begins explaining why sixteen is such a terrible age. I'm sure it couldn't have been so bad considering Andrea got to tour with Bobby Rydell, Lesley Gore and Frankie Avalon! In 1964 she released "The Doolang," a storming dance track and one of my personal favorites. I just can't get enough of the wailing sax solo and Andrea's ultra-cute voice! Andrea Carroll had a surprisingly strong collection of releases ("Sally Fool," "Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard," "She Gets Everything She Wants"), but she never did make it to the big time. After releasing her last single in 1966, Andrea decided to enroll in university where she majored in psychology.

Some time after Andrea Carroll released "Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard" in 1961, North Caroline native Diane Ray released a version of the same song. Lucky for Diane, music fans preferred her bouncy interpretation and sent the record into the top 100. At age seventeen, Diane Ray hosted her own radio show, sang in a group called Diane Ray & the Continentals and made numerous appearances at record hops. She was also one of the lesser-known singers to release a full-length album, The Exciting Years.