Search - Chan Romero :: Hippy Hippy Shake

Chan Romero - interesting rock n roll footnote worth checkin

Lil Mike | San Francisco | 10/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Chan Romero was a teenage latin rocker in the late 50's, who found a brief spell of popularity with his best known track "Hippy Hippy Shake" on the Del-Fi label. Chan Romero's biggest tune was popular particularly in Australia and the UK, where many groups including The Beatles covered it. This CD contains that title track as well as his other singles for Del-Fi, some demos and one of the tracks he recorded for another label a few years later. He was born Robert Romero in Billings Montana in 1941, started a band in the late 50's, and at the urging of a local Montana DJ went to LA to meet with Del-Fi's Bob Keane. In the wake of fellow Del-Fi artist Richie Valens' death in that infamous plane crash with Buddy Holly, Romero was set up with Valens' backing band & pitched as the new hope for latin rock. Over the next few years he tried studio efforts with a variety of producers including notably Kim Fowley, Jeff Barry and Shadow Morton, but to no avail. Unfortunately, Romero's career was hit & miss, and after his Del-Fi contract lapsed in 1961 he attempted singles on labels like Living Legend, Challenge, and Phillips before becoming a devoted Christian artist on the Warrior label. He moved back to Billings, and his Del-Fi sessions were finally compiled into a full length album in 1995, securing him merch to sell on the oldies circuit."