*Gary Sabourin, Ronnie & the Satellites Historian*
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Papa Joe's POP DooWop Pit Stop ...
Remembering the classic hits and the misses of
popular music of the 50's, 60's and beyond.
Remembering the classic hits and the misses of
popular music of the 50's, 60's and beyond.
© Copyright 2010 JHF-webSITE.com
Early Fall, 1958, two guys named Ron were singing a'capella on the front steps of one of their
Pawtucket, R.I. homes and thought it would be good idea to get together with some friends and form a vocal
group. Ron Deighan, Ron Grenier, George Tootell, Gary Sabourin, and Joe Fiske combined
their vocal talents to become “Ronnie and the Satellites”.
Their favorite practice place was in the “Gazebo” in the middle of Pawtucket's Slater Park. (The zoo was
nearby and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” had a totally different meaning than what, I'm sure, the “Tokens” sang
about in '61!)
Within just a few weeks, the group was performing at various venues in the tri-state, R.I., Mass. and Ct,,
area.
May 1959, “Last Night I Dreamed” backed by “Dream Of You” was released on the Rose record
label. It topped the charts at #1 (in Turkey)! A year later, a second record, “Bunny Lee” backed by
“Blue Moon”, was released on the Dolly record label.
FIFTY YEARS LATER … We're BACK!
We're together again, meeting regularly at our favorite 50's retro diner and rehearsing every week. As
George likes to say, “We're still smiling after all these years”! AND we're ready and willing to bring back the
Doo Wop harmonies we loved to perform “back in the day”!
Pawtucket, R.I. homes and thought it would be good idea to get together with some friends and form a vocal
group. Ron Deighan, Ron Grenier, George Tootell, Gary Sabourin, and Joe Fiske combined
their vocal talents to become “Ronnie and the Satellites”.
Their favorite practice place was in the “Gazebo” in the middle of Pawtucket's Slater Park. (The zoo was
nearby and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” had a totally different meaning than what, I'm sure, the “Tokens” sang
about in '61!)
Within just a few weeks, the group was performing at various venues in the tri-state, R.I., Mass. and Ct,,
area.
May 1959, “Last Night I Dreamed” backed by “Dream Of You” was released on the Rose record
label. It topped the charts at #1 (in Turkey)! A year later, a second record, “Bunny Lee” backed by
“Blue Moon”, was released on the Dolly record label.
FIFTY YEARS LATER … We're BACK!
We're together again, meeting regularly at our favorite 50's retro diner and rehearsing every week. As
George likes to say, “We're still smiling after all these years”! AND we're ready and willing to bring back the
Doo Wop harmonies we loved to perform “back in the day”!
Gary Remembers ...
Ronnie and the Satellites
Ronnie and the Satellites
She lived in Cumberland, a nearby town, but I soon found out that she went to school at Sacred Heart High School, an all girls
school in Pawtucket. I was going to Pawtucket Vocational High, an all boys school. The schools were about 200 yards apart on
the same street. We would meet often at Tom's Diner, a small diner long since gone, located about midway between our schools, and
soon started dating.
Pat’s father, Ed Rose, heard us rehearsing one day. He liked what he heard and decided to finance our first recording. Rose
Records was formed, and after our first recording session at Ace Recording Studios in Boston, MA, our first record, “Last
Night I Dreamed” with “Dream Of You” on the b-side, became a reality.”
"It’s Time for record promotion."
Once the record is out, it’s the job of the group to promote the record. No one did this any better than us. We went everywhere we could.
Putnam Sports Arena, Putnam, CT
There was no other venue like this one in the three state area. After we would perform, we would go into the crowd and meet the
people. It’s was a long while before we could do this in Putnam. The stage was very low there and not very big. As we sang, the girls
would take the laces out of our shoes. We would tie the laces in double knots to no avail. They still would remove them. One time, when
we dared to go into the crowd, I lost a tie. It was tied in a windsor knot but it sill went. After singing there 8 or 10 times, the crowd got
much calmer.
Some of the people that sang on the same card were, Dion, the Tuneweavers, Link Wray, Brian Hyland, and Bobby Vee,
just to name a few. After the show, we all would stop somewhere for a burger. Bobby Vee traveled with his mother. I remember
Bobby wanted a second burger --- Mom said, "No."
All in all it turned out to be a great venue to perform in.
"Lincoln Park Ballroom, North Dartmouth, MA"
There was no place where Ronnie & The Satellites were a bigger hit than Lincoln Park. Every Friday night for quite awhile, often
after performing at the Putnam Sports Arena, we would make our way down Route 6 through Fall River, MA, up President Avenue to
the Ballroom at Lincoln Park. (Ronnie Dee lost the hood of his car on one trip … but that's another story.)
We were the kings of “the Ballroom”! We were always greeted warmly. No matter who else was singing on the card, we were number
#1. That audience loved us and we always made sure they knew we loved them right back!
I remember one night in particular when Dion & The Belmonts came in the back door with 6 police officers holding hands so no one
could get near them. The crowd was not very happy with them. Our dressing rooms were back to back just in back of the stage. We
went on before them and sang three or four of their songs. I don’t think that made them very happy. When they left they had the same 6
police around them.
In addition to Dion and the Belmonts, we shared the stage with Charlie Rich, Paul Evans, Bryan Hyland, The Mystics,
Bobby Vee, the Tunweavers, and many other star acts "back in the day" at “The Park”.
"Jack Spector"
I don’t know if it was just luck or we were smart, but we got ourselves hooked up with a popular local disk jockey named Jack Spector.
He had a Top-40 radio show on WPRO AM 630 and also hosted the "Saturday Dance Party" TV show on channel 12 in
Providence. This show was Rhode Island’s answer to "American Bandstand". He very actively promoted "Ronnie and The
Satellites" and we were more than happy to follow him to any record hop or show he hosted. These were the times when we
performed with some of the top acts of the day at places like the Putnam Sports Arena and Lincoln Park Ballroom. At the time,
Putnam and the Ballroom were two of the most popular rock and roll show places in the area.
Jack was a very good friend to us. Ronnie and I had spent a lot of time in the radio studio when his show was on the air. We were also
invited to his home in nearby Garden City several times.
It was a sad day when, after the dance party show was over, everyone was asked to stay in the studio. It was then that they
announced that Jack was no longer hosting the show and that Paul James, another popular DJ on WPRO, would be taking over the
host spot. Jack was sorry for not telling us ahead of time, but he had promised the station management to wait for the formal
announcement in the studio.
Jack went on to work at many New York City radio stations. He was born on Sept 17th, 1928 and passed away March 8th, 1994 while
on-the-air during his show at WHLI, Garden City, Long Island, New York.
"Lonsdale Drive-In"
I don’t remember if it was a Friday or a Saturday night back in the summer of 1959, but we did sing at the Lonsdale Drive-In in
Cumberland, Rhode Island. There was no room to set-up there with one exception, ... up on the roof. It wasn’t easy to get all the
band equipment up there, not much more than a ladder through a hole in the ceiling, but somehow we did it.
Our appearance was advertised in all the local newspapers. We didn’t know what to expect. I have no idea what movie was featured
that night, but it was a sellout. They had to close the gate 2 hours before the movie time. The manager told us that they had not sold out
in the previous two years.
.
I smile every time I think of that night. We were singing up on the rooftop and Ed Rose, our producer and manager at the time, was
down in the crowd selling "Last Night I Dreamed"/"Dream Of You" for $1.00 each. Not bad considering that the minimum wage in
1959 was $1.00 per hour!
After our show, we came down and started autographing the records. The Drive-In Manager asked if we would come back the following
week. We didn’t even get a free drink. We didn’t go back there.
That was one of the many performances that I remember when the people made us feel very special!
"The State Theater"
In late 1959, we were a “stand by” act for a Rock and Roll show at the State Theater in Hartford, CT. If one of the lesser-known
scheduled acts had been a “no show”, or unable to perform, we would have filled in.
Connie Francis, “The little girl with a very big voice.”, was the headliner. Billy Bland ( “Let The little Girl Dance” ) and The Crests (
“16 Candles” and “Step By Step” ) were also on the card, among others. Of interest, that was before Johnny Mastrangelo, lead singer
of the Crests, changed his name to Johnny Maestro … but that's another story.
The invitation to the show was arranged by a friend of Pat Rose that Pat had met on the Jack Specter “Dance Party” show. That friend
happened to be an aide to Connie Francis.
I remember that Connie Francis performed for nearly an hour and then came back for another 20 minute encore. She was fantastic!
The other acts were pretty good, too!
Although we didn't get a chance to perform on stage, we did somehow manage to get back stage to meet Connie and some of the other
acts. We were like kids in a candy store! Well, come to think of it, we were only young teens at the time!
"You CAN Go Home Again",
It has been said, "You can never go home again." On Thursday, October 22, Ronnie and The Satellites did go home again. 50
years ago it was teenagers that were jumping up and down when we performed. On 10/22/2009 most of the fans were north of 55 years
old. We had set aside 4 songs for the show. We even had a 5th song if they wanted more. We wound up doing 9 and they still wanted
more. It was more than we had hoped for.
There was standing room only. Attending were Guests of Honor Abie of Abie’s Doo Wop Taxi, his gal Sue, Don Robinson of the
Inspirations and his wife Carol. DJs; Bob Spicer, Jack Rivers, Dale Abbott, Bill Bruno. Fellow recording artists, in addition to Don
Robinson; Leslie Anderson of the Dubs, Cal Raye, George Smith and Del Padget of The Castaleers, and also some of the members of
Reminisce. I just know I'm forgetting someone. Sorry, if I missed you.
In attendance were my sister, Naomi, who never saw us sing before, and my son, Scott, who had been trying to get me to sing with him
when we would go out. He has an excellent voice. He loves to do the karaoke thing. My only regret is my wife only got to hear me sing
once, “back in the day”, at her high school dance. She didn’t know who I was then. She passed away last December.
That night all of us, Ronnie Dee, Ron G, George, me, and Joe, … Ronnie & The Satellites ... got to go home again. It STILL feels
very good!
Coming Back.
In February of 2009, I started to join Ronnie Dee and Ron Grenier for lunch on Wednesdays. At one of these meetings, Ron Grenier
mentioned that they wanted to get the original members of Ronnie and the Satellites back together as a group.
After fifty years, my first thought was that they were kidding. My response was that I have been retired from singing for fifty years and
was going to stay that way. It was never talked about the rest of the lunch.
A few weeks later Ronnie Grenier called me at home to tell me that they were not kidding. That this was a reality. He had contacted
George Tootell and Joe Fiske who had shown an interest in getting back together. My reaction was, "let’s give it a try."
Ronnie Dee had already started to put together a reunion party for August, 2009. That was 50 years after we recorded our first record.
In June, we began to meet twice a week, initially, to sing along with our records. We just wanted to see if we could gel as a group again
after such a long layoff. Surprisingly, we fit very well.
The first reunion "show" was at the "50th Anniversary Party" hosted by Ronnie Dee in his back yard. People we had not seen in
several years, some as long as fifty years, were in attendance. It turned out to be a huge success.
The group did fit and for the most part we were very happy with the show we put on. But there was a lot of work to be done if we were to
get out in the public.
We're Back!!
We had all of our backing music pre -recorded on a CD. At first we had 10 songs on the disk. We met twice a week for rehearsals
Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. After a while we went to 3 days. Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Ronnie Dee’s wife, Judy, was having a get together in their back yard with people that she had worked with at the Ferland Corp. She
asked if we would do a short show. Of course, we accepted. We needed to get out and sing in public. That show was the last time we
sang with the old music cuts. It went very well.
We continued to rehearse and the harmonies got tighter and tighter.
Elaine Thibodeau, our Fan Club President, asked if we could do a show at a nursing home where her aunt lived. We accepted and that
show went well. In spite of Ron G. having a very bad chest cold. We just turned off his microphone and no one was the wiser. After that
we all went out for weiners and coffee milk. That brought back many memories.
There’s one thing I have to mention. We would be a little lost without Dave Kane. He has been at every show we have done. He has
showed up many times at our rehearsals and pointed out the little things we were doing wrong. He has balanced our microphones. He
introduced us at the Star Diner and the show at the nursing home. If he had not put in a good word for us, I don’t think we would have
been booked into the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket, RI. On the 26th of February.
by Gary Sabourin
school in Pawtucket. I was going to Pawtucket Vocational High, an all boys school. The schools were about 200 yards apart on
the same street. We would meet often at Tom's Diner, a small diner long since gone, located about midway between our schools, and
soon started dating.
Pat’s father, Ed Rose, heard us rehearsing one day. He liked what he heard and decided to finance our first recording. Rose
Records was formed, and after our first recording session at Ace Recording Studios in Boston, MA, our first record, “Last
Night I Dreamed” with “Dream Of You” on the b-side, became a reality.”
"It’s Time for record promotion."
Once the record is out, it’s the job of the group to promote the record. No one did this any better than us. We went everywhere we could.
Putnam Sports Arena, Putnam, CT
There was no other venue like this one in the three state area. After we would perform, we would go into the crowd and meet the
people. It’s was a long while before we could do this in Putnam. The stage was very low there and not very big. As we sang, the girls
would take the laces out of our shoes. We would tie the laces in double knots to no avail. They still would remove them. One time, when
we dared to go into the crowd, I lost a tie. It was tied in a windsor knot but it sill went. After singing there 8 or 10 times, the crowd got
much calmer.
Some of the people that sang on the same card were, Dion, the Tuneweavers, Link Wray, Brian Hyland, and Bobby Vee,
just to name a few. After the show, we all would stop somewhere for a burger. Bobby Vee traveled with his mother. I remember
Bobby wanted a second burger --- Mom said, "No."
All in all it turned out to be a great venue to perform in.
"Lincoln Park Ballroom, North Dartmouth, MA"
There was no place where Ronnie & The Satellites were a bigger hit than Lincoln Park. Every Friday night for quite awhile, often
after performing at the Putnam Sports Arena, we would make our way down Route 6 through Fall River, MA, up President Avenue to
the Ballroom at Lincoln Park. (Ronnie Dee lost the hood of his car on one trip … but that's another story.)
We were the kings of “the Ballroom”! We were always greeted warmly. No matter who else was singing on the card, we were number
#1. That audience loved us and we always made sure they knew we loved them right back!
I remember one night in particular when Dion & The Belmonts came in the back door with 6 police officers holding hands so no one
could get near them. The crowd was not very happy with them. Our dressing rooms were back to back just in back of the stage. We
went on before them and sang three or four of their songs. I don’t think that made them very happy. When they left they had the same 6
police around them.
In addition to Dion and the Belmonts, we shared the stage with Charlie Rich, Paul Evans, Bryan Hyland, The Mystics,
Bobby Vee, the Tunweavers, and many other star acts "back in the day" at “The Park”.
"Jack Spector"
I don’t know if it was just luck or we were smart, but we got ourselves hooked up with a popular local disk jockey named Jack Spector.
He had a Top-40 radio show on WPRO AM 630 and also hosted the "Saturday Dance Party" TV show on channel 12 in
Providence. This show was Rhode Island’s answer to "American Bandstand". He very actively promoted "Ronnie and The
Satellites" and we were more than happy to follow him to any record hop or show he hosted. These were the times when we
performed with some of the top acts of the day at places like the Putnam Sports Arena and Lincoln Park Ballroom. At the time,
Putnam and the Ballroom were two of the most popular rock and roll show places in the area.
Jack was a very good friend to us. Ronnie and I had spent a lot of time in the radio studio when his show was on the air. We were also
invited to his home in nearby Garden City several times.
It was a sad day when, after the dance party show was over, everyone was asked to stay in the studio. It was then that they
announced that Jack was no longer hosting the show and that Paul James, another popular DJ on WPRO, would be taking over the
host spot. Jack was sorry for not telling us ahead of time, but he had promised the station management to wait for the formal
announcement in the studio.
Jack went on to work at many New York City radio stations. He was born on Sept 17th, 1928 and passed away March 8th, 1994 while
on-the-air during his show at WHLI, Garden City, Long Island, New York.
"Lonsdale Drive-In"
I don’t remember if it was a Friday or a Saturday night back in the summer of 1959, but we did sing at the Lonsdale Drive-In in
Cumberland, Rhode Island. There was no room to set-up there with one exception, ... up on the roof. It wasn’t easy to get all the
band equipment up there, not much more than a ladder through a hole in the ceiling, but somehow we did it.
Our appearance was advertised in all the local newspapers. We didn’t know what to expect. I have no idea what movie was featured
that night, but it was a sellout. They had to close the gate 2 hours before the movie time. The manager told us that they had not sold out
in the previous two years.
.
I smile every time I think of that night. We were singing up on the rooftop and Ed Rose, our producer and manager at the time, was
down in the crowd selling "Last Night I Dreamed"/"Dream Of You" for $1.00 each. Not bad considering that the minimum wage in
1959 was $1.00 per hour!
After our show, we came down and started autographing the records. The Drive-In Manager asked if we would come back the following
week. We didn’t even get a free drink. We didn’t go back there.
That was one of the many performances that I remember when the people made us feel very special!
"The State Theater"
In late 1959, we were a “stand by” act for a Rock and Roll show at the State Theater in Hartford, CT. If one of the lesser-known
scheduled acts had been a “no show”, or unable to perform, we would have filled in.
Connie Francis, “The little girl with a very big voice.”, was the headliner. Billy Bland ( “Let The little Girl Dance” ) and The Crests (
“16 Candles” and “Step By Step” ) were also on the card, among others. Of interest, that was before Johnny Mastrangelo, lead singer
of the Crests, changed his name to Johnny Maestro … but that's another story.
The invitation to the show was arranged by a friend of Pat Rose that Pat had met on the Jack Specter “Dance Party” show. That friend
happened to be an aide to Connie Francis.
I remember that Connie Francis performed for nearly an hour and then came back for another 20 minute encore. She was fantastic!
The other acts were pretty good, too!
Although we didn't get a chance to perform on stage, we did somehow manage to get back stage to meet Connie and some of the other
acts. We were like kids in a candy store! Well, come to think of it, we were only young teens at the time!
"You CAN Go Home Again",
It has been said, "You can never go home again." On Thursday, October 22, Ronnie and The Satellites did go home again. 50
years ago it was teenagers that were jumping up and down when we performed. On 10/22/2009 most of the fans were north of 55 years
old. We had set aside 4 songs for the show. We even had a 5th song if they wanted more. We wound up doing 9 and they still wanted
more. It was more than we had hoped for.
There was standing room only. Attending were Guests of Honor Abie of Abie’s Doo Wop Taxi, his gal Sue, Don Robinson of the
Inspirations and his wife Carol. DJs; Bob Spicer, Jack Rivers, Dale Abbott, Bill Bruno. Fellow recording artists, in addition to Don
Robinson; Leslie Anderson of the Dubs, Cal Raye, George Smith and Del Padget of The Castaleers, and also some of the members of
Reminisce. I just know I'm forgetting someone. Sorry, if I missed you.
In attendance were my sister, Naomi, who never saw us sing before, and my son, Scott, who had been trying to get me to sing with him
when we would go out. He has an excellent voice. He loves to do the karaoke thing. My only regret is my wife only got to hear me sing
once, “back in the day”, at her high school dance. She didn’t know who I was then. She passed away last December.
That night all of us, Ronnie Dee, Ron G, George, me, and Joe, … Ronnie & The Satellites ... got to go home again. It STILL feels
very good!
Coming Back.
In February of 2009, I started to join Ronnie Dee and Ron Grenier for lunch on Wednesdays. At one of these meetings, Ron Grenier
mentioned that they wanted to get the original members of Ronnie and the Satellites back together as a group.
After fifty years, my first thought was that they were kidding. My response was that I have been retired from singing for fifty years and
was going to stay that way. It was never talked about the rest of the lunch.
A few weeks later Ronnie Grenier called me at home to tell me that they were not kidding. That this was a reality. He had contacted
George Tootell and Joe Fiske who had shown an interest in getting back together. My reaction was, "let’s give it a try."
Ronnie Dee had already started to put together a reunion party for August, 2009. That was 50 years after we recorded our first record.
In June, we began to meet twice a week, initially, to sing along with our records. We just wanted to see if we could gel as a group again
after such a long layoff. Surprisingly, we fit very well.
The first reunion "show" was at the "50th Anniversary Party" hosted by Ronnie Dee in his back yard. People we had not seen in
several years, some as long as fifty years, were in attendance. It turned out to be a huge success.
The group did fit and for the most part we were very happy with the show we put on. But there was a lot of work to be done if we were to
get out in the public.
We're Back!!
We had all of our backing music pre -recorded on a CD. At first we had 10 songs on the disk. We met twice a week for rehearsals
Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. After a while we went to 3 days. Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Ronnie Dee’s wife, Judy, was having a get together in their back yard with people that she had worked with at the Ferland Corp. She
asked if we would do a short show. Of course, we accepted. We needed to get out and sing in public. That show was the last time we
sang with the old music cuts. It went very well.
We continued to rehearse and the harmonies got tighter and tighter.
Elaine Thibodeau, our Fan Club President, asked if we could do a show at a nursing home where her aunt lived. We accepted and that
show went well. In spite of Ron G. having a very bad chest cold. We just turned off his microphone and no one was the wiser. After that
we all went out for weiners and coffee milk. That brought back many memories.
There’s one thing I have to mention. We would be a little lost without Dave Kane. He has been at every show we have done. He has
showed up many times at our rehearsals and pointed out the little things we were doing wrong. He has balanced our microphones. He
introduced us at the Star Diner and the show at the nursing home. If he had not put in a good word for us, I don’t think we would have
been booked into the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket, RI. On the 26th of February.
by Gary Sabourin
"TV Appearances Begin"
"In 1959, we were singing throughout the New England area. But every Friday night it seemed we were at
the old Lincoln Park Ballroom with Jack Spector. Jack at the time was doing the Dance Party
(Rhode Island’s version of American Bandstand) Saturday afternoons on Channel 12. Ronnie and I asked
Jack if we could get on the show. The next day we were on as part of the show’s regular dancers. We
appeared on the show twelve times as Ronnie and The Satellites."
"We Go On Record"
“One of the first people I met on the Saturday Dance Party show was a girl named Pat Rose. We started
dancing together on the show every week.
"In 1959, we were singing throughout the New England area. But every Friday night it seemed we were at
the old Lincoln Park Ballroom with Jack Spector. Jack at the time was doing the Dance Party
(Rhode Island’s version of American Bandstand) Saturday afternoons on Channel 12. Ronnie and I asked
Jack if we could get on the show. The next day we were on as part of the show’s regular dancers. We
appeared on the show twelve times as Ronnie and The Satellites."
"We Go On Record"
“One of the first people I met on the Saturday Dance Party show was a girl named Pat Rose. We started
dancing together on the show every week.
Read all about Ronnie and the Satellites "back in the day" AND TODAY!!