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Chan Romero: Rock & Roll Pioneer

by Mark Guerrero

    It's my pleasure to introduce you to my friend, Palm Springs resident and rock & roll pioneer, Chan Romero.  If you haven't heard the name, there's an excellent chance you've heard of his most famous song, "The Hippy Hippy Shake."  The song has had a long and storied history.  It was performed by the Beatles in the early 60's, finally appearing in 1994 on "The Beatles Live at the BBC" album.  In 1965 it was a number one hit in England by the English group, the Swingin' Blue Jeans, and has been featured in the movies, "Cocktail," "Angels in the Outfield," "Uncle Buck," "It Takes Two" and "Austin Powers."  The song has legs, to say the least.

    Robert Lee Romero was born and raised in Billings, Montana.  His parents, who were from Colorado, went to Montana for employment as migrant workers.  Ethnically, he is a mixture of Mexican, Spanish, Apache and Cherokee Indian, with a little Irish thrown in for good measure.  He got the name Chan from his grandfather, who affectionately called him Chano. Chano eventually shortened to Chan and it stuck.  As a child he used to listen to country music on radio, his early heroes being Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Jimmy Rodgers.  It was while listening to the Grand Ol' Opry that he first heard Elvis Presley.  Later Chan saw Elvis performing "Hound Dog" on the Steve Allen Show and knew he wanted to be a rock & roll singer.  In the summer of 1958, at age 16, Chan hitchhiked to East L.A. to stay with relatives and check out the music industry.  It was there he wrote "The Hippy Hippy Shake."  His uncle took him to Specialty Records, the label Little Richard recorded for at the time, and presented several of Chan's songs to the A&R man, who happened to be Sonny Bono.  Sonny liked a song called "My Little Ruby" and asked Chan to polish it up a little bit and come back in a couple of weeks.  Chan had to go back to school in Montana and never returned to Specialty Records.

    When Chan got back home, he formed his first rock & roll band and was shortly thereafter introduced to the music of Ritchie Valens.  Many people in Billings, including his manager, local DJ Don Redfield, thought Chan looked and sounded a lot like Ritchie. Indeed Chan and Ritchie had a lot in common, both being Chicano and rock & roll singer/songwriters. Inspired by Ritchie and encouraged by the response to his music in L.A., Chan and his band tightened up and began working regularly around Montana.  After the tragic plane crash that took the life of Ritchie Valens, along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, Don Redfield sent a tape of Chan's music to Ritchie Valen's manager, Bob Keane, in Los Angeles.  Bob loved it and had Chan come out to L.A.  Mr. Keane thought of Chan as a successor to Ritchie Valens and signed him to a recording contract.  Chan was living a dream come true, recording in the same studio, with the same musicians, on the same label as his idol (Del-Fi Records).  He was then introduced by Bob Keane to Ritchie Valen's mother, who was still reeling from the loss of her son two months earlier.  She invited Chan to come and stay at her house, which became his L.A. home when in town over the next two years.  He became part of the family, even sleeping in Ritchie's room.  He remains close to the surviving family members to this day, playing at the annual Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert in Pacoima, California nearly every year.

    "The Hippy Hippy Shake" was released in July of 1959, first in the U.S. and later in England and Australia.  It sold so well in Australia that Chan did a tour there in 1960 with the great Jerry Lee Lewis.  When he returned, he toured the U.S. and Canada.  It was the release of the song in England that found its way to the Beatles, who used to buy American imports for material for their club gigs.  Paul McCartney liked the song and sang it during the early years of the group.  In the mid 60's the Swingin' Blue Jeans' version was not only number one in England, but also in Sweden, Norway and other European countries.  In 1964, Chan toured for six weeks with the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons as a member of Buddy Holly's former group, the Crickets, substituting for Glenn D. Hardin.  It was the same year that he first visited the Palm Springs area and decided he'd someday like to live here.  He finally made the move to the desert in 1986.  Since 1993, he's divided his time between the Coachella Valley and Billings, Montana.

    Chan Romero today is better known and appreciated in England, Europe and Australia than in the U.S.  In recent years, he has performed in Holland, England and Australia, where he gets airplay and his recordings are available. I've had the pleasure of playing guitar with Chan on some live appearances as well as on recording sessions, including co-producing several tracks on his "Fifties Flashback" CD in 1994.  If you're interested in ordering some of Chan's music, write for a catalog to: Warrior Records, P.O. Box 2093, Palm Desert, CA 92261 or Del-Fi Records, P.O. Box 69188, Los Angeles, CA 9006, or on line at www.del-fi.com.

Update

August 2004- Chan Romero is currently working on a new CD with producer Billy Cardenas.  Some of the musicians involved in the project include Andy Tesso (formerly of The Romancers), John Perez (of the Premiers), Willie Mondragon, and yours truly.  Cardenas is using musicians with roots in the East L.A. music scene of the 60s to capture that authentic Eastside sound.  Most of the songs were written by Chan, with a couple of covers and a Little Richard inspired rocker that I wrote especially for Chan.  All the tracks are completed, including the track for my song, with overdubs to be done over the next few weeks.  I played rhythm guitar on the basic track of my song and will overdub a lead guitar part soon.  

This article was based on an audiotaped interview by Mark Guerrero with Chan Romero in May of 1998 in Palm Springs, California.

Real Audio Sound Bytes

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The Hippy Hippy Shake - Chan Romero 1959

The Rooster - Chan Romero 1996

Contact me at:  info@markguerrero.net

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