Sugar, Sugar-Who is that?

The number one hit of the year in 1969 was "Sugar, Sugar", a catchy little tune by a group called The Archies. They released an album titled "Everythings Archie", but never toured. People wondered what happened to them. Turns out their cartoon show was cancelled. Yep, you read that right! The Archies were Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Jughat and of course Archie from the comics you were always reading. The song debut on the cartoon show in 1969. It was released to radio without a band name because the previous song that was released with The Archies name on it was not taken seriously by radio. "Sugar, Sugar" caught fire quickly topping the Billboard charts for 4 weeks in the US. It was number one in Canada for 3 weeks, and in the U.K. for an incredible 8 weeks. This was during the height of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis and others.

Here is the original video of the song from the 1969 television show:

"Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies

The people behind the song were Andy Kim, Toni Wine, Ron Dante and Ellie Greenwich. Ron sang lead, and the song was co-written by Andy Kim. It was redone in 1969 by Wilson Pickett, and even Tommy Roe put out a version on a Greatest Hits record. But the original is the one everyone wants to hear.

Here is a live performance of the song to put a face behind the voice:

Live Performance of "Sugar, Sugar"

One of my favorite singers stopped buy the studio while it was being recorded, and was clapping along to the song. Studio musicians on this song were Ron Frangipane - keyboard, Chuck Rainey - bass, Gary Chester - drums, Dave Appell - guitar, Harry Amanatian - guitar, Ray Stevens - handclaps. Yep, Ray Stevens did the hand claps.

So now you know why they were not selling out concert to support the song. "Sugar, Sugar" is still a fun favorite to sing along to whenever it comes on the radio!