By Michelle Delaney, Public Relations Intern
Their hair is no longer shaggy. There are wrinkles and laugh lines that were never noticeable before. And their clothes are more subdued than the bright colors of the sixties. Yes, members of The 7 Sons may have aged, but their music sounds the same as it did 40 years ago.
As they strike their first chord, it is as if not a year has passed. Their bright eyes and constant smiles show how they have truly missed jamming with each other. The 7 Sons played a reunion concert for Morningside College’s Homecoming at the Lewis Bowl Annex on Oct. 2. Rick Mellor, trumpet; Ed Wade, lead singer; Rick Knobe, bass player; Doug Dingel, lead guitar; Dan Horswell, saxophone; Allan “Ollie” Oliver, piano; and Larry Dixon, drums, were the original band members.
When they came to Morningside, none of the seven band members knew each other. “When I got out here, I felt kind of lost. I missed Chicago, my girlfriend, my parents. So, I walked around Roadman Hall, bumped into guys who knew how to play something and that’s how the band got together,” said Mellor, the band’s founder and group leader. Mellor found all seven of the band members. The group started out with only three players: Mellor, Knobe and Horswell, whose stage name was “Danny Wells.” It soon grew into a seven-person band.
After that, The 7 Sons took off. They started playing on Morningside’s campus and eventually began playing for nearby schools. Eddie Skeets, a band manager, picked them up and started booking them for opening gigs for other bands.
Soon they were traveling to Sioux Falls, Des Moines and Omaha. Next thing they knew, the booking group Variety Theater International out of Duluth, Minn., picked them up.
“We’d get on an airplane in the middle of a week, fly to a gig, and get back just in time to go to school the next morning,” Wells said.
By the end of their time together, they had traveled and played in at least 16 different states. They recorded one hit record that made it on the Billboard Top 100. “Baby Please Come Back” was the name of the song, and it made it to number 98.
During their career The 7 Sons opened for bands like Sonny and Cher, The Mamas and the Papas, Herman’s Hermits, The Hollies, and Gary Lewis and the Playboys. They even played at the legendary Roof Garden in Arnolds Park, Iowa; the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa; and the 1966 Miss Iowa Pageant.
After breaking up around 1968, the members went their separate ways until 2002. That was the year The 7 Sons were inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This gave the friends a chance to play together for what they thought was their last time.
One day Gene Ambroson, alumni relations director at Morningside, called Knobe and asked The 7 Sons to reunite for one more time. It took awhile for the band to get in contact with each other, but once that feat was accomplished, each member jumped on the opportunity to play together again.
"It is one of the greatest highs in the world. To be together with the guys and practice and talk, you can just sense it when we are together. There is a tremendous amount of love that we share. It’s like getting together again with your biological brother or sister,” Wells said.
Even though lead singer, Ed Wade, couldn’t make the show, the band clicked as if a day had not gone by.
“These guys are like brothers to me. We’re all considerably older but our basic personalities have not changed since 1966,” said Knobe.
Overall, every member of the band was overcome with emotion for the opportunity to spend a couple days together not only making music together but also reconnecting.
Not only was the band excited to jam with each other again; they were eager to see their old fans. Several fans from the glory days made the trip up to Sioux City to have the chance to see a favorite band from their past. |
