Girl Group Chronicles: The Honeys

Within the girl group sound, there are several distinct sub-genres. The Motown sound, the wall of sound, the nonsense lyric, and others have found their way into the melee called the girl group sound. But surf music? Yes, in fact, a group known as the Honeys were actively competing with the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and the rest of those surfers, albeit with slightly less success.

Barbara, Marilyn, and Diane Rovell formed a group known as the Rovell Sisters in 1961. They played some amateur shows and small clubs, but things really took off when Barrbara left and Sandra Glantz, better known as Ginger Blake, took over, and the group became the Honeys. Mutual friend Gary Usher introduced the gals to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who decided to produce a couple of songs for them.

Wilson, who had worked with Phil Spector groups like the Blossoms, Ronettes, and Crystals, wrote, arranged, and produced several excellent sides on the Honeys. "From Jimmy With Tears," "Pray For Surf," and "The One You Can't Have," were wonderful recordings, but apparrently not appealing to a comercial audience. The same cannot be said for "Surfing Down The Swanee River," an updated cover of the Stephen Foster standard. It soared to number 1 in Denmark, but still did not do much anywhere else.

The best was yet to come for the three surfer girls. A switch to the Warner label had the Honeys singing one of the best girl group records, "He's A Doll." 1964 kept them busy doing back-up work for other surf bands, and the marriage of Brian and Marilyn.   During the mid 60s the group also recorded under the name Ginger and the Snaps ("Growing Up Is Hard To Do") with Blake featured on lead.

By 1969, the music world had changed significantly, and the Honeys had also metamophized. "Goodnight My Love" was followed by the departure of Blake, who went on to pursue a solo career and then began a publishing company, and a name change to American Spring.

In 1983 the Honeys reunited and released their first LP. Ecstasy did not have the familiar "Honey" sound, and was considered disappointing by critics. Although the group had no hits Stateside, Capitol has issued a Best Of The Honeys album collecting their songbook.