ROSIE AND THE ORIGINALS
 
 
 
 

Its easily one of the greatest love songs ever written.  Hauntingly beautiful, innocent and wonderful.  Upon its release, it struck a cord with teenagers so much so that it was a smash hit.  "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals was an interesting record from a group with an equally interesting history - all centered around a very-talented, young lady with the voice of an angel - Rosie Hamlin.

Rosie was born in Oregon, lived in Alaska and eventually settled in Southern California in 1956.  She attended Granger Jr. High School in National City, California, and was active in the glee club.  Like most girls at the time, she loved to sing at home and dreamed of being a star.  Seems that there was always music or entertainment of some sort in the Hamlin household and Rosie was exposed to a variety of genres at an early age.  Her Dad played guitar and her grandfather played banjo and harmonica.  Her grandfather even had a "travelling medicine show" complete with "Hamlin's Snakebit Oil!"  Sometimes, Rosie would hide behind the couch so she could stay up and listen to them play, falling asleep to the sounds.  One of her earliest memories was at the age of 4 standing on a box in her back yard pretending it was a stage and putting on a show.

When she was just 13, Rosie's friend Alfred Barrett encouraged her to enter a talent show at their junior high school.  While babysitting with a friend, Rosie spotted an ad in the paper for a group looking for a singer.  She called them on the phone and they asked how old she was.  Rosie told them she was 16 and she proceeded to sing Dark Moon over the phone.  They liked what they heard and asked her to come to their rehearsal.  She had to sneak out of the house under the guise of going to a babysitting job.  When she got there, Rosie had the group thinking she was 16, partly because of some make-up she borrowed from her mother.  She performed with the group and was a regular with them for a while at gigs in the San Diego area including the famous Bostonia Ballroom in El Cajon, California, which was her professional debut.  "My legs were shaking," recalls Rosie.

That year, two important things happened that would change Rosie's life forever.  First, her mother bought her an old upright piano and her aunt began teaching her how to play it.  She would play by-ear music she would hear on the radio.  She learned old honky tonk, blues and boogie songs many of the "twelve-bar" variety.  Her uncle's girlfriend later invited some other musicians over to the house to "jam."  These guys were David Ponci (guitar), Noah Tafolla (guitar) and Tony Gomez (bass).  They would eventually become the Originals with two other guys joining in and Tafolla would later become her husband.

The other important thing that happened when Rosie was 14 was her putting down to paper the classic Angel Baby.  It started out as a poem about a boyfriend written in her school notebook.  Later, Rosie would add the melody for it.  Rosie says that the melody was not, as some have reported, based on the song Heart and Soul, although Rosie acknowledges that it was probably influenced by a number of songs that she learned to play on the piano of the "Heart and Soul" variety.  Anticipating that it could be a special song, Rosie recalls that she mailed herself a copy via certified mail to prove the date that she created it.  This would turn out to be an important decision later on when she needed to prove authorship.

After a few months of jamming together and playing some shows for friends at school, the Originals decided it was time to record.  But rather than drive all the way to Los Angeles, the group decided to try a local recording shop in the rural desert community of San Marcos, California - about an hour's drive away.  They arrived at the place which turned out to be an abandoned airplane hanger!  The owner was in the process of converting over from an airplane supply company and had airplane parts all over the place.  In one corner, was his small, makeshift two-track studio.  The group prepared to record.  Only one problem - their sax player - Alfred Barrett hadn't arrived.  After calling Barrett, they learned he wouldn't be joining them because he had to cut the grass at home!  The group improvised.  Noah taught the sax part to bass player Tony Gomez who had played some horn in school.  The group then set off to record Angel Baby.

In all fairness, the setting wasn't the greatest - an abandoned airplane hanger, a simple two-track machine, an inexperienced sax player and probably a nervous rest of the group.  It took "all day" recalls Rosie to get what the group thought was a decent version of the song.  To listen to it now, it certainly wouldn't win any awards for recording quality.  But the record is so simple and innocently-beautiful that it actually matches the lyrics and melody.  It actually works as-is.  Had it been taken into a studio, recorded with high quality equipment and a professional orchestra, it may not have been a hit.  It probably would have been "over produced" like many records of the time and may have been overlooked.  Instead, the record is so simple and sweet, it has a unique appeal.  It certainly appealed to teenagers of the day who must have sympathized with the author and singer when she sang:

    It's just like heaven being here with you
    You're like an angel too good to be true
    But after all, I love you, I do
    Angel Baby, my Angel Baby

    When you are near me my heart skips a beat
    I can hardly stand on my own two feet
    Because I love you, I love you, I do
    Angel Baby, my Angel Baby

    Oooh, I love you, ooooh I do
    No one could love you like I do

    Please never leave me blue and alone
    If you ever go I'm sure you'll come back home
    Because I love you, I love you, I do
    Angel Baby, my Angel Baby

    Oooooh, I love you, oooh I do
    No one could love you like I do.
 

Over the years, Rosie has heard from so many people who were touched by the record.  "Its really beautiful and I am thankful."  For the B side of the record (which was clearly an after-thought) the group improvised again and had a friend Blueford Wade sing an impromptu tune - Give Me Love.  Doesn't sound anything like the A side and if you didn't know any better you'd think it was a completely different group.
 

It took a lot of work to find a label that would produce and distribute Angel Baby.  The group repeatedly failed to get a label to take a chance on them - probably because of the simple recording quality of the record.  "Most of them thought it was not polished enough," recalls Rosie.  But teenagers had the ultimate say in this case.  The group took their master to Kresge's Department store in San Diego and asked the manager if they could play it in the listening booths the store had set up for kids to preview records before they bought them.  The response from the kids in the store that day was so promising that two guys from the distribution arm of Highland Records asked to meet with the group.  Later that night, the group met at Del Web's Highway House and actually handed over their master to them!  The guys promised that they would make them stars.  That partly turned out to be true.  But there were other lies and misrepresentations by Highland Record employees including one guy that managed to convince Rosie to let him put David Ponci's name down as author of Angel Baby.  It took years for Rosie to clear up that mess and obtain royalties for her composition.

It was several weeks before the group heard anything.  They kept calling Highland but didn't get any response.  One day, Rosie was visiting a friend at the beach and was hanging out in the morning drinking hot chocolate.  On the radio was Alan Freed's radio show on KDAY.  Much to Rosie's surprise, Freed played Angel Baby.  Rosie recalls that Freed said something to the effect that "this is a record by a 15 year girl from National City, California and if this isn't a hit, I'll eat my hat."  Rosie was floored! "Its hard to explain the excitement that created" says Rosie.  Highland had not only released the record it was now getting airplay!  Freed's hat was safe as the record soared into the tops of the charts!  A monster hit for Highland but sadly Rosie never received a penny from it!

The group performed for several months off the success of Highland but once again they made nothing.  A second record was released on Highland - Angel From Above b/w Why Did You Leave Me (Highland 1025) in 1962.  Rosie also recorded with Ron Holden during that time on Donna Records (1338) doing Bring Me Happiness b/w So Dearly.  However, the group was frustrated with the treatment from Highland, and Rosie cleverly managed to get out of her contract.  Highland wisely let her go rather than force the issue.
 

About the same time, Rosie had worked with Noah Tafolla at a show in the San Diego area with another set of musicians - marking the official break-up of the Originals.  They caught the attention of Jackie Wilson at United Artists theatre who liked what he saw and heard and asked Rosie and Noah to come to New York and record for Nat Tarnopol at Brunswick Records.  Rosie went along with her chaperones and was set to record a single for Brunswick.  However, Rosie and Noah got snowed in at New York.  At their first meeting with Tarnopol, they were offered an entire LP!  Tarnopol asked if they had enough original material to starting recording an LP the next day. Truth was - they didn't.  So Rosie and Noah spent the night in their hotel writing and arranging new songs to fill up the LP.

The result was the Brunswick LP "Lonely Blue Nights" which included the song by the same name which was the first single (Brunswick 55205) b/w We'll Have a Chance.  The LP and singles did moderately well but nothing on the level of Angel Baby.  Probably because of Brunswick' slow movement on promoting the record.  But they did solidify Rosie as a real voice of pop music.  This time around, the records were well produced and backed by a solid orchestra fronted by Dick Jacobs.  A huge difference as the records have all the feel of a solid 60's pop performance.

Off the success of the Brunswick releases, Rosie played many times at the Brooklyn Paramount working with such artists as Johnny Otis, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the Marcells, Ben E. King, Maxine Brown, Carla Thomas, the Isley Brothers, the Penguins, and the Olympics, many of whom became dear friends.  She even had to suffer through a "Win a Date with Rosie" contest!
 

In 1963, Rosie retired from the business to raise her family - 2 children she had with Noah.  But the performing bug bit and she recorded a bunch of her favorite rock and roll songs.  She then recorded My One and Only Love b/w Kinda Makes You Wonder (Globe 401 - 1969) and later You're No Good b/w I Don't Understand (Wax World 3265 - 1973).

She continued peforming through the 70's and 80's with various "Originals" groups taking only a brief time off to teach art in Colorado.

In 2000, Rosie worked with Ace Record to release the terrific Angel Baby Revisted CD.  The CD includes new versions of Angel Baby and other new delicious cuts along with some lost material from her career.  Its a terrific CD complete with never before seen pictures of Rosie at various stages of her career.
 
 

Currently, Rosie has a new CD with her new Originals entitled Steppin Out in Style, something she's been working on since 1996.  A terrific mix of original and cover material.  Her new backup musicians are terrific as is her voice which hasn't changed a bit - sweet and wonderful.

In 1995, Rosie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on their "One Hit Wonders Wall."  She's been an active part of the revival circuit performing regularly over the past few years.  We caught her at Madison Square Garden Theatre in October 2002 for Richard Nader's big Alan Freed tribute show.  She was terrific and every bit as wonderful as she has always been.  "Music is in my heart and as long as there are fans out there I will keep doing it," says Rosie.  Its clear from hearing her singing and talking to her that Rosie Hamlin is still everyone's "Angel Baby."

CURRENT INFO

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