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One very important
fact about Alan Merrill: He was the lead singer and songwriter
of the first and original 1975 version of "I Love Rock
N Roll" with his band, The Arrows. The song has
become an enduring international rock anthem, recorded by
Joan Jett, Britney Spears, and many others. Joan Jett
saw Merrill perform the song on a British television pop show
in '76, while on tour with her band, The Runaways, and
she was deeply inspired. Her 1982 version of the song was #1 for
8 weeks in the USA. Alan Merrill was literally born into the world of music. Named Allan Sachs at birth, his parents, Helen Merrill, and sax/clarinetist Aaron Sachs of Earl 'Fatha' Hines Band, are world-renowned musicians. After starting to play music in semi-pro bands in Greenwich Village, Alan eventually moved to Japan in his late teens. Starting his professional career in music with the RCA-Victor Tokyo-based recording group, The Lead, in 1968, Alan replaced Mark Elder as guitarist in the band. They had one hit single, titled "Blue Rose". It was also then that his management changed his professional name to Alan Merrill. When The Lead broke up, Merrill went solo, recording two albums: "Merrill 1" and "Alone In Tokyo" in 1970 -'71. He became the biggest foreign pop star in Japan's domestic market, hosting his own segment on the popular TV show, "Young 720", acting in the soap opera, "Ji Kan Desu-yo", and being featured in commercials, including major campaigns for Nissan cars and Jun clothing. He was signed to the most powerful agency in Japan, Watanabe Productions. Alan soon grew tired of being a "teen pop idol" and left the agency, forming the hard-edged glam rock group Vodka Collins (as lead singer and guitarist) in 1972, with Hiroshi Oguchi. The charismatic Oguchi was already a well-known drummer and media celbrity who had been with the chart hit popular band, The Tempters. Vodka Collins recorded one album, "Tokyo-New York", for EMI Records, and it's proved their most-enduring work. Now available on CD, it remains a consistent seller. Vodka Collins had three hit singles off of the album: "Sands Of Time", "Automatic Pilot", and "Billy Mars". The song, "Scratchin'", was used as the theme for a gangster TV show. All these songs were Merrill compositions, with Japanese lyrics added on a couple (which then became domestic market hits) by drummer Hiroshi Oguchi. After a dispute with their manager in 1974, Alan Merrill left Tokyo altogether.
When the new wave of punk rock swept the UK in '77, the Arrows became suddenly unfashionable, and disbanded. Merrill then set his sights on the USA, and formed the band Runner with British musicians Steve Gould (Rare Bird) on guitar, Mick Feat (Van Morrison Band) on bass, and Dave Dowle (Whitesnake) on drums. They recorded an album titled "Runner" for Island Records in late 1978, which charted in the USA. When the group broke up in 1980 (due to the legendary "musical differences"), Merrill moved back from the UK to New York. In 1980-83 1980-83, Merrill toured and recorded with Rick Derringer, contributing to his "Good Dirty Fun" and "Rick Derringer and Friends" albums, writing songs, singing, and playing guitar on these projects. This Derringer lineup also made a concert film for Sony, "The Rick Derringer Rock Spectacular", which featured all-star guests like Ted Nugent, Southside Johnny, and Edgar Winter. In 1985, Alan released a self-titled solo album for Polydor Records, a collection of all self-composed tracks. Some heavyweight friends contributing to this album were Steve Winwood, Mick Taylor, and Dallas Taylor. The album was a critical success with great reviews, but wasn't a chart hit. In 1986, Alan joined Meat Loaf for the remainder of the 1980's and recorded the "Live At Wembley" and "Prime Cuts" albums with the band. In 1990, Alan Merrill got a part in the HBO television series "Encyclopedia Brown" playing rocker Casey Sparks. He also wrote the theme song of the show, which was titled "Who Done It?". This was followed in the 1990's with his involvement as a vocalist in the Christmas album "Holiday Heroes", with producer Jon Tiven. Two albums by the Jon Tiven Group followed, "Blue Guru" and "Yes I Ram". Merrill did all the lead singing on these two discs, except for one vocal duet on each CD, with Arthur Alexander and Jim "Basketball Diaries" Carroll, respectively.
In this millennium, Alan has released a new 21-song solo album, titled "Cupid Deranged", for sale in early 2002. The CD is a recorded look-back-over-the-shoulder at his career repertoire, spanning the years, mixed in with some newer Merrill compositions as well. For those of you who missed this artist the first time around, this record will fill you in on a most interesting artist. More recently, in winter 2002, he has released the seasonal solo album, "A Merrilly Christmas". In the spring of 2003, his double-album tribute to songwriters Arthur Alexander and Otis Blackwell, "Double Shot Rocks", was released to fantastic reviews. In the year 2004 Alan Merrill is releasing two new albums, one solo and one band. The solo album is titled "Aleecat" on MEC Records, and the Vodka Collins reunion reissue is titled "Boys In The Band", a compilation of three albums. In September 2006 Alan Merrill released a new solo album titled "At The Candy Shop" and this follows a July reissue of his early career album, "Merrill 1." In the year 2008 Alan Merrill released two new albums, the solo albums titled "Alien In Tokyo," on MEC Records, and the live album titled "The Aleecat, Live In Japan. " Also in summer 2008 Alan Merrill released a new solo maxi single EP ttitled "Hard Road " to round up the releases for '08. Alan Merrill currently resides in his hometown of New York York City.
Some little known facts about Alan Merrill- As a composer, Alan Merrill has written songs recorded by such diverse artists as Lou Rawls, Rick Derringer, Chuck Jackson, Britney Spears, Runner, Freddie Scott, Felix Cavaliere, Queen Of Japan, Vodka Collins, Joan Jett, Five, Dan Penn, Mickey Curtis, The Arrows, Spooner Oldham, Reverend Run, Monsieur Kamayatsu, Phoenix, Catherine Howe, and Troy Turner. Alan was elected a New York Chapter Governor for NARAS, the Grammy Awards organization, for two terms in the 1980's. He was the first successful foreign pop star in Japan's domestic market, scoring a top 10 solo hit with the single "Namida" from the album "Alone In Tokyo on Atlantic Records Japan in 1969, singing the entire album in Japanese. Alan's composition, "When The Night Comes" (as recorded by R&B great Lou Rawls in 1983), was taken into space by the first black astronaut in history, Gulon Bluford. It was the first LP ever in outer space, and Alan Merrill wrote the title track! The album "When The Night Comes" by Rawls, also won two Beach Awards for best album, and the recording has a 5-star rating (full marks) in Rolling Stone magazine's album guide. Alan was featured in a Nissan car commercial as a model in 1970, for the Nissan Sunny Excellent 1200 and 1400 campaigns. It was the biggest ad campaign ever by Nissan at the time, and the commercial ran 200 times a day on Japanese TV on all channels! - Van Walker (Sept. 2006)
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