THE RIP CHORDS

 The Rip Chords were known for their 1964 million-seller smash hit "Hey Little Cobra" written by Carol Connors,and their chart hits "Three Window Coupe," "Here I Stand," "Gone," "409" and "Red Hot Roadster" from the Beach Movie "A Swingin' Summer." Produced by the team of Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston,who also performed on the recordings. As a matter of fact, it was Bruce and Terry's voices that propelled "Hey Little Cobra" to the top of the charts! The 60's Rip Chords started out with Phil Stewart and Ernie Bringas,who originally called themselves,"The Opposites", soon to be changed to "The Rip Chords". Their first hit as The Rip Chords, "Here I Stand" was a chart success and laid the ground work for more hits to come. Richie Rotkin and Arnie Marcus were brought into the band from the Group "The Upper Classmen" who had a minor hit in the late 50's/early 60's with "Cha Cha With The Zombies". Ernie was preparing to go to Seminary School, and took a leave of absence from the The Rip Chords. Although Phil, Ernie, Richie and Arnie were photographed together,and spent some time together in the studio,all personal appearances were done by Phil, Rich and Arnie, who performed their hits thousands of times in front of millions of fans across the country on Dick Clark's Caravan Of Stars Tour in 1964. Ernie did return to the band to record,but did not take to the road, as a condition of his seminary studies. The original band disbanded in 1965 after touring the country, recording two albums for Columbia Records, and achieving 4 chart hits.

THE RE-FORMED RIP CHORDS

In 1996. Bob Rush, Mitch Schecter and Freddy Brog started a band called "Applejax".   At the time, Bob was planning to write a "Where Are They Now" book, and met original Rip Chords member Richie Rotkin through a friend of his. With Bob's planning, the new band reformed with Richie Rotkin, Arnie Marcus, utilizing the "Applejax band", Bob Rush, (Music Director 1996-2006) Mitch Schecter, Freddy Brog and Larry Branca. Thanks to Bob, The Rip Chords were re-born!

The re-formed band performed on the PBS show "At The Drive In", performed all over the country with countless 60's stars, and played multiple shows with Al Jardine and the Endless Summer Band, highlighted by a performance with Al Jardine in 2014 at Town Hall in NYC.

All told, the new band performed from 1996 to 2020...all thanks to the meeting between Richie and Bob Rush in 1996, and Bob's efforts to get the band back on the map. Bob was Music Director from 1996 to 2006, and turned over that role to Mitch Schecter who remained in that role until 2020.

The new band also recorded 4 new albums, and in 2016 were inducted into the "Mid America Music Hall Of Fame" in Iowa. What a great journey it was!