This article, presented in 1982, has inaccuracies.
Dino was not fifteen when the Rascals played at the Choo Choo Club.
Felix didn't touch a Hammond B-3 for the first time when he walked onstage that night.
The group of Stereos to which Felix belonged were not the group mentioned in this article.
It is presented here as it was published.

The Young Rascals
Good Lovin'
No. 1 in 1966

Reprinted from "The Top Ten 1956-Present" by Bob Gilbert and Gary Theroux - 1982

Felix Cavaliere spent two years as a pre-med student before describing that "my heart was in a different place." A long-time Ray Charles fan, he realized that music was the most important thing in his life. He became the only white member of the Stereos, a soul group in his hometown of Pelham, New York. They had a top-thirty hit on Cub Records in October 1961: "I Really Love You." After that, he played with the Escorts, a band that included Mike Esposito (later of the Blue Magoos) and Neil Diamond. Finally he wound up as one of Joey Dee's Starlighters, performing at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. Also in the Starlighters were Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish, who were fed up with playing twist music. In 1964, the trio split from Dee and added drummer Dino Danelli, whom Felix had met in Las Vegas. They holed up at Felix's house over the winter, working up a repertoire of twenty-five songs. It was there that Felix came up with a "sound concept"; basing everything on his organ, as a blanket backdrop. Drums and guitar provided rhythm, with the organ and guitar completing the "orchestra." "I had to rethink my whole style of playing," said Gene. The boys also agreed on their name (adapted from the Little Rascals reruns on TV) and an early gimmick - dressing in Edwardian costumes. By January 1965, they were ready, and accepted a booking at the Choo Choo Club in Garfield, New Jersey (Eddie's hometown). They held one final rehearsal (for twenty-four hours straight).

The Choo Choo Club gig began early in February 1965. Dino was fifteen years old then, and the first time Felix had ever touched a big, professional Hammond B-3 organ was onstage. But he mastered it right away. Their second booking was more prestigious: at the Hamptons on Long Island sound. A real barge - cleverly called "The Barge" - had been refurbished into a chic floating discotheque for socialites. The Young Rascals thrilled the crowd with their raunchy renditions of R & B classics little known to the jet set. Their engagement was extended to two and a half months, and by the end of summer, the Young Rascals were the hottest new band in the New York area. Concert promoter Sid Bernstein came to see them, and amid many bids from a flurry of record companies, signed the group to Atlantic. Their first single "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore," was a regional hit, mainly on the east coast, in January 1966. And then came "Good Lovin'."

The boys had a habit of visiting Harlem, browsing through record shops, looking for tunes not found in the pop top ten. They were after basic rhythmic R & B - the kind of stuff they could rework and knock people out with onstage. On one trip, they discovered "Good Lovin'," a crudely made record that had bombed in the black market for the Olympics (and had died at number eighty-one on the pop charts in May 1965). The Young Rascals decided to cut their own version under the direction of Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd (who would later join Jerry Wexler in producing the hits of Aretha Franklin). "Good Lovin'" broke coast-to-coast in mid-March 1966, peaking at number one in April. It got heavy play in discotheques - both white and black - and remained a best seller for fourteen weeks. It was featured on the Young Rascals' first self-titled album, which made the national LP top fifteen. Later in 1966, the group went to England, where they impressed R & B loving bands such as the Animals, Stones, and Beatles. Back home again, they played for Madison Square Garden with James Brown, and reportedly did a soulful version of "Good Lovin'" in their Lord Fauntleroy suits.

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