The Deepest Blue formed in Pomona, a town about halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernadino further inland. Members were Earl Shackelford on vocals, Russell Johnson on lead guitar and vocals, Ken Zabel organ, Rick Edwards rhythm guitar, Bruce Lavoie bass, and Russ 'Soupy' Morrow on drums. The band was actually known as the Doves, they only changed their name when releasing their 45, because they thought it sounded more commercial.

They played teen clubs in the area like the Oasis and Discoteen, and a couple shows on the Hollywood strip with the Leaves and the Seeds. Their repertoire was all covers, mostly influenced by the Stones and other English groups.

Russ Johnson and Earl Shackelford wrote two songs just for the recording session, the first originals the band had ever played. They recorded at 9th Street studio in LA in August of 1966, with Richard Delvy, drummer for the Challengers engineering. Vic Gargano financed the record - he also produced the Tomorrows' La Do Da Da / Need Only You on Condor. Without the band's knowledge Gargano had a studio musician add guitar parts to enliven the sound. Although this upset the group, the resulting single is fantastic.

Pretty Little Thing features Bruce's sliding bass line, precise drumming from Soupy, and a raging organ solo by Ken Zabel. Earl's vocal has elements of Jagger's inflections but his voice is stronger. Somebody's Girl is more subdued but also powerful. Despite the quality of the record, it received little airplay.

The band returned to the studio to record more tracks for an album which was never finished. Soupy Morrow had an acetate of the sessions, but it has not surfaced since. These tracks are probably more psychedelic in nature, reflecting the influence of Earl's friend Chris Darrow on his songwriting. Earl had met Chris at the Forum Club in Montclair when Chris was with the Floggs. Earl would write three fine songs for Chris Darrow's next band, Kaleidoscope: I Found Out, Egyptian Candy, and Love Games.

Lacking success and headed in different musical directions, the band split up. Soupy died in a motorcycle accident in 1967, and Rick Edwards was killed in a car crash the following year while on tour. Earl stayed in music, notably forming Wheels with Chris Darrow and Walter Egan, and arranging vocal harmonies on Iggy Pop's New Values album. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.