Dennis Yost RIP (RR)
funky16corners
7,175 Posts
Great blue eyed soul/pop from Atlanta, and I think that some members of the band had backed up Mighty Hannibal on some of his Shurfine sides (Agent45???)b, 21b, 21b, 21b, 21b, 21Dennis Yost, 65, Singer for the Classics IV, Is Dead b, 21By DOUGLAS MARTINb, 21Dennis Yost, the lead singer with the rock group the Classics IV, which in the late 1960s and early ???70s challenged the then-ascendant music of drugs and protest with a more laid-back, softer sound in Top 10 hits like ???Spooky,??? ???Stormy??? and ???Traces of Love,??? died on Sunday in Hamilton, Ohio. He was 65.b, 21b, 21The Classics IV Web site (crystalhorizon.com/Classics_IV) announced the death. Mr. Yost had been hospitalized since suffering a brain injury in a fall in 2006. The cause was respiratory failure, a hospital spokesman told The Associated Press. b, 21b, 21The music of the Classics IV has been called hard to define, because of its changing lineup. Unquestionably, it lacked the hard edge that characterized much of rock during the years of the group???s success, 1968 to 1974. Later singles, like ???Everyday With You Girl,??? placed higher on easy-listening charts than on rock charts.b, 21b, 21In an interview with The Tennessean newspaper in 2002, Mr. Yost called the Classics IV ???the first soft-rock band.??? But this did not mean the band specialized in cheery up-tempo pop: ???Stormy,??? which reached No. 5 in 1968, and ???Traces,??? which hit No. 2 in 1969, were downright melancholy.b, 21b, 21Mr. Yost???s throaty, resonant baritone defined the sound. Buddy Buie, who with guitarist J. R. Cobb wrote many of the group???s songs, said in an interview with Mix magazine in April that Mr. Yost drew passion from his youthful devotion to R&B and doo-wop and had been a James Brown imitator. b, 21b, 21???Dennis had one great voice,??? Mr. Buie told Mix, ???a voice that filled up the whole spectrum. It was so round, so full.???b, 21b, 21Mr. Yost moved to Jacksonville, Fla., from Detroit when he was 7, and in high school played drums for a group called the Echoes. He sometimes sang as he played the drums.b, 21b, 21After the Echoes broke up, he joined a band called Leroy and the Moments in the mid-1960s. With his arrival, that group changed its name, inspired by Mr. Yost???s Classic drum kit. It became the Classics and specialized in cover versions, mostly of Top 40 hits.b, 21b, 21The group was signed to Capitol Records in 1966 and made its debut with a song called ???Pollyanna.??? The Four Seasons resented the song, finding it too close to their style, according to the online All Music Guide (allmusic.com), and successfully sought to have its airplay reduced in New York. Around the same time, a Brooklyn group called the Classics had a single on the charts and fought vigorously for the name.b, 21b, 21So Mr. Yost???s group became the Classics IV and moved to Atlanta, appearing often in bars with its Top 40 repertory. By this time, Mr. Yost had stopped playing the drums and just sang.b, 21b, 21Moving to Imperial Records, then part of Liberty Records, the group recorded ???Spooky,??? originally an instrumental number for which Mr. Buie and Mr. Cobb later wrote lyrics. b, 21b, 21In a realization of perhaps the biggest dream in rock ???n??? roll, a bar band got lucky. The song was popular on a Louisville radio station, then became a national hit in the winter of 1967-68. The group changed its name again, to Dennis Yost & the Classics IV.b, 21b, 21Some members left in 1970 to work in recording sessions and form what became the Atlanta Rhythm Section. The popularity of the Classics IV waned. Mr. Yost became a solo act without great success, and then pursued other business interests. b, 21b, 21In the 1980s, he became a hit on the rock nostalgia circuit. He had to fight a protracted legal battle to get the Classics IV name back after a former manager sold it to another group.b, 21b, 21Mr. Yost is survived by his wife, Linda Yost, and five children.
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