The Cyrkle

The Cyrkle was a groovy and engaging 60s folksy pop-rock group from the East Coast. The band was distinguished by their lovely vocal harmonies and pleasant melodies. The original line-up was: Don Dannemann (guitar/vocals), Tom Dawes (bass/vocals), Marty Fried (drums), and Earl Pickens (keyboards). Founding members Dawes and Dannemann first met each other while attending Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The group started out as a frat rock outfit called "The Rhondells" before changing their name to the Cyrkle (none other than John Lennon suggested the unusual spelling of their moniker). The band scored a big smash hit in 1966 with the infectiously bouncy and upbeat, "Red Rubber Ball"; this song was co-written by Paul Simon and peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop charts. The equally charming, but more mellow follow-up tune, "Turn-Down Day", likewise did well; it reached #16 on the Billboard pop charts. Moreover, the group performed as the opening act for The Beatles during their 1966 summer tour of America. The Cyrkle appear as themselves and composed the score for the tawdry sexploitation picture, The Minx (1969). Alas, additional singles by the group were undeserved commercial flops and the Cyrkle, subsequently, disbanded in 1968. Tom Dawes and Don Dannemann went on to successful careers as commercial jingle writers: Dannemann wrote jingles for both Swanson Foods and Continental Airlines, while Dawes penned the famous "plop plop fizz fizz" jingle for Alka Seltzer. The Cyrkle briefly reunited and performed at a benefit concert at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1986. Tom Dawes died at age 64 from a stroke on October 13, 2007.