“Beach Music” got its name in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia sometime during the late l 950’s or early l 960’s. College students, high school students, and other beach people would go to the beach resort areas during the summer to visit or work summer jobs. Those students were the lifeguards, waiters/waitresses, burger flippers, ice cream scoopers, bartenders, bouncers, summer cops, bellhops, fraternities and sororities, and the like. Furthermore, there were aspiring teachers, especially in Virginia Beach; because the city paid well, the lifestyle was great and there was a pent up demand for educators at that time because of the tremendous growth. During the course of their stay, they, as well as the summer visitors would listen to live music being played at the nightclubs and records on jukeboxes at the various nightclubs and barrooms up and down the Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia coast.
Many of these students and visitors had never heard this music especially if they were raised in the south because it was not played on the radio stations back home where they grew up. The reason being, that Beach Music was predominantly black music or race music in the beginning: mostly rhythm and blues, soul, and blues. The exception being some big band music such as Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye and the like. In addition, there were also black big bands such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Therefore, many admirers only heard this music when they went down to the shore, most likely at some Beach Club and sometimes right on the beach. Hence, the term Beach Music, not to be confused with California Beach Music, aka surfing music. If there was one recording group who personified the sound of Beach Music during those early years, it had to be The Drifters. They not only had the right sound and beat but actually sang about the beach and its lifestyle with such memorable songs as Under the Boardwalk and Sand In My Shoes and the shagger’s favorite Little Red Book. They were closely followed by the Platters for exactly the same reasons and their memorable Beach style songs Harbor Lights and Washed Ashore, and the Shaggers’ favorite With This Ring. Of course, plenty of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes down at the Beach Club, well not anymore.
The real irony was that during that era, black music at the oceanfront was played to a 100% white audience. Black beach goers went to segregated beaches, such as Sea View Beach off Shore Drive in Princess Anne County (now Virginia Beach) and Atlantic Beach, north of Myrtle Beach. Except for the bands, most blacks dido ‘t relate to Beach Music and to some extent, still don’t. To them, it was and still is the aforementioned R&B, soul, and blues.
These clubs stretched from Virginia Beach, past Myrtle Beach, down into Georgia. Ironically, many of these clubs were even called ‘Beach Clubs,’ like the Peppermint Beach Club in Virginia Beach and the legendary Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. Most of these clubs were right on or near the oceanfront and even on top of fishing piers or in oceanfront hotels such as the famed Beach Club at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, geared to the more affluent crowd. During that era, these clubs closed at midnight because of the local liquor (only beer, except for the brown bag rule), and even dancing laws. Sometimes, after the clubs closed, the bands would perform right on the beach for an additional fee, a few beers, and, of course, good weather. Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts and companion group, The Cherries, were most famous up and down the coast for this late night beach bash. People loved it. Or you could party till daybreak at one of the after-hour clubs. That’s where all bar and restaurant workers and owners, bookmakers, wannabes, and night owls could play, lounge around, dance, and listen to Beach Music. Before you knew it, beach and shag clubs started popping up in inland cities as well as Beach Music Festivals in Richmond, Charlottesville, the Shenandoah Valley, Danville, Roanoke, Stuart, Fairfax, and really all over the place and, of course, the Carolinas and Georgia, and even Florida’s East and West Coast, and Inland Orlando, but not everywhere.
For the record, there are social shag clubs that have no building but do have activities and events, the biggest being SOS (Society of Stranders) on Ocean Drive in the City of North Myrtle Beach attracting up to 20,000 shaggers. They use several clubs such as Fat Harolds, Pad, Ducks, and Spanish Galleon. Physical shag clubs primarily use DJs and play recorded music. They cater to the shaggers who generally don’t spend too much money. Most or all shag club owners would say they are cheap, the exception being ‘Big George’ now deceased. Some have their bankruptcy papers to prove it. Many shag club owners would testify that they always find empty mini liquor bottles in the mens and ladies room trash bins. However, the same applies to the rhumba, bop, swing dancers, and others. The common denominator is that they love to dance, it’s their fun and hobby plus the camaraderie; “birds of a feather flock together.’ Nevertheless, they are good, respectful people, they dress nice, wouldn’t be caught dead in baggy pants, are never looking for trouble and they are entertaining to watch. Still and all, SOS does have a tremendous economic impact generating multi-millions of dollars to the local economy because they come from elsewhere and are not just locals and, therefore, rent hotel rooms and eat and drink in restaurants and nightclubs. The secret to making money from the shaggers is to get them from someplace else. They’re not like clams and hams where the best ones come from here. Every one of those clubs on Ocean Drive would go bankrupt if they had to survive on the ‘local shaggers,’ the same as here.
Unquestionably, they are an organized voice of at most 100,000, mostly in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia but also in Florida, Tennessee, and scattered elsewhere. There are shag clubs in the most bizarre places because of transplants who took it with them. Surely, the shaggers help keep it alive and spread the word through their various organizations. They have also taught their children the shag so the younger set does exist but the pump needs to be primed and exposed. However, the Shaggers also somewhat dictated to everybody else as to what Beach Music is. The other millions of Beach Music fans are not organized and never have a say in determining ‘What is Beach Music?’ (find enclose). Beach clubs play live Beach Music and cater to a more diverse crowd with dancers and high rollers mixed together and neither is that food oriented. Then there are Beach Music supper clubs whose clientele are more interested in being entertained and having a good meal therefore they spend the most dough. They might even order a bottle of ‘Dom.’ They tip pretty good too.
Shortly thereafter, Beach Music became the songs of Motown, the Philadelphia sound and other hit songs of that era that were made popular by their use in beach-themed movies. There were also the Virginia/Carolina/Georgia coastal sounds. This music was not country, jazz, rockabilly, or hard rock. The common denominator of ‘the sounds of the beach’ was that it was always fun music with plenty of love thrown in and more brass than the average music form. It would eventually be called ‘Beach Music’ by its fans, who also developed their own dance steps, that seemed to compliment, perfectly, the easy shuffle and low keyed sensuality of the music, a variation of the earlier Lindy called The Shag and in the early years, also The Bop.
No doubt that Ocean Drive in the City of North Myrtle Beach popularized the shag but Beach Music and Shag Music is not the same thing. Some Shag Music tends to be a lot on the blues side and is a subculture of the whole Beach Music scene. In fact, much of Beach Music is not shaggable and some shag music is not beach music. Shaggers will dance to some country, swing, big band, disco, gospel, jazz, blues, and even Latin. They’ll even dance with a door knob. As a rule shaggers would rather dance to a record than a band, partly because the beat is always the same and is a must for shag contests. That does not diminish Myrtle Beach’s significance to Beach Music. Myrtle Beach, along with Virginia Beach, showcased many Beach Music bands because they had the most clubs. Though just about every beach resort had at least one Beach Club like the Casino in Nags Head. It was infamous during its hey day.
Beach Music started simultaneously along all the Virginia/Carolina/Georgia beaches. The larger metropolitan areas that were along the coast such as Hampton Roads bred more Beach Music Artists because of their bigger population and also the fact that it wasn’t as seasonal. Norfolk’s Ocean View area (home of Ammon Tharp of Bill Deal and the Rhondels) for example did not roll up the sidewalks after the summer season as did most Carolina/Georgia Beach resorts. No one knows for sure exactly when, how, who, and where the term ‘Beach Music’ originated and became, rightfully so, its own music form.
Today there are many groups throughout the mid-southeastern region of our country that not only perform Beach Music but advertise and market themselves as Beach Music Acts. The most prolific of these groups would be General Johnson and the Chairman of the Board Beach Fever, formerly of the Showman 39, 21, 46 and originally from Norfolk, Bill Deal’s Rhondels May I, originally from Portsmouth, The Tams Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy, Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts Hot Nuts, Bill Pickney and the original Drifters Gonna Move Across the River, Billy Scott Beach Trip, Clifford Curry Let’s Have a Party, O’Kaysons I’m A Girl Watcher, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs Stay, Fantastic Shakers’ Shakin’ the Shack, The Catalinas Summertime’s Calling Me, The Clovers Don’t Play That Song, The Impressions It’s All Right, Sonny Turner With This Ring of the Platter’s fame, Archie Bell Tightin Up, The Swinging Medallions Double Shot of My Baby’s Love, Embers’ I Love Beach Music, and others.
Later on other Beach Music groups such as Fat Ammons’ Band Catfish ( a spin-off from Bill Deal and the Rhondels), The Entertainers Beach Music, My Music, J. D. Cash Strollin’ on the Boardwalk, Bridgette Daniele Beach Music Girl, The Breeze Band Trickle Trickle, Northtower Paula, Ernie Lebeau and the Beach Blasters from Virginia Beach Everybody’s Shaggin ‘, Ron Moody and the Centaurs from Richmond, Southeast Corner of the USA, Steve Jarrell and the Sons of the Beach I’ve Still Got Sand in my Shoes, Buddy Skipper Boggie the Joint, The Band of Oz Ocean Boulevard, Poor Souls Just A Gigolo, Shagtime Mr. Beach, Part Time Party Time Band Party Time Party Man, Sammy O’Banyon It’s About Time, Gary Bass Soothe Me, and countless others came onto the scene. And even a younger generation of artists and bands.
Then there are the artists such as Billy Davis, Jr.,Look What You’ve Done to My Heart, Jerry Butler Only the Strong Survive, Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches, Cuba Gooding Sr. and the Main Ingredient Everybody Plays the Fool, Chuck Jackson Any Day Now, George Benson Love of my Life that have had many Beach Music hits and are very much aware of the Beach Music Phenomena but do not necessarily advertise themselves as Beach Music Acts nor perform that often in Beach Music Country. Then too, there was R & B Crooner and Portsmouth native Ruth Brown Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean who had a number of Beach Music and shag hits as well as Richmond natives Steve Bassett and Robbin Thompson Sweet Virginia Breeze. Norfolk native Gary “U.S.” Bonds song Quarter to Three, might not be shaggable but still falls under the Beach Music genre because it has the right sound and makes you feel good. The same applies for Norfolk native Keely Smith with Lois Prima in That Old Black Magic.
There are also artists such as Rod Stewart Hot Legs, Mariah Carey Dream Lover, Rick Astley It Takes a Strong Strong Man, Cher It Started With a Kiss, John Mellencamp Cherry Bomb, Phil Collins Two Hearts, and Glen Frey True Love, who have had Beach Music hits and may not even know what Beach Music is! One of the biggest misconceptions is that Beach Music is primarily old music sung by old artists primarily because younger artists and new songs are not identified as Beach Music inasmuch as there is no national chart. So Beach Music songs usually wind up in the adult contemporary category and elsewhere. One of the biggest hit songs of the 1990s decade was even a Latin song. That song certainly showed worldwide appeal, diversity, and charm of the music.
Today, interest in Beach Music is growing significantly, and growing farther and farther from the mid-southeast beaches with no significant promotion. The reason is simple. After unrelenting bombardment with negative news of the day from television and newspapers, and the discontentment with today’s radio and most current music, people, more and more, are embracing those things that celebrate the joys of life. Enter Beach Music and just what every American is praying for to happen. They just don’t know what music, when, and where it will take place. Enter the marriage of Hampton Roads and the Beach Music Industry, one made in heaven and the eternal bliss of both. God saved Beach Music’s specific place and precise time in history and true purpose for when America needs it most.
