The Five Americans

The Five Americans originated in 1962 at Southeastern State College in Durant, Oklahoma, when singer-guitarist Mike Rabon assembled the Mutineers with keyboardist John Durrill, bassist Jim Grant, drummer Johnny Coble, and guitarist Norman Ezell.

Rabon was born on April 16, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas, and grew up in rural Oklahoma. He took up guitar at eight and led the Rhythm Rebels during high school. At Southeastern, he studied art and met Durrill, an English major who played fraternity dances. Grant initially played maracas before switching to bass.

The Mutineers performed Duane Eddy and Bo Diddley covers at campus dances and held a Monday-night residency at the student union. Robert “Smiley” Rabon, a schoolteacher and father of the guitarist, financed a 1963 Dallas session for the instrumental “Jackin’ Around,” which received college-radio airplay. He also bought Durrill a Wurlitzer electric piano, which the keyboardist eventually traded for a Vox organ. The musicians added Beatles covers to their repertoire and placed greater emphasis on vocal arrangements.

In summer 1964, Coble declined a proposed trip to Dallas, prompting Rabon to recruit drummer Jimmy Wright at short notice. The revised quintet secured a residency at the Pirate’s Nook and played further engagements at Lou Ann’s. John Abdnor Jr., son of a wealthy Dallas insurance executive, encountered the musicians and arranged their introduction to the family record enterprise. John Abdnor Sr. signed the group and proposed the Five Americans name amid the British beat invasion.

Early Singles

The musicians debuted on the Jetstar subsidiary with the September 1964 single “It’s You Girl” (b/w “I’m Gonna Leave Ya”). They followed with “I’m Feeling O.K.” (b/w “Slippin’ and Slidin’”) and moved to Abnak for “Say That You Love Me” (b/w “Without You”). In June 1965, ABC-Paramount issued their version of “Love, Love, Love” (b/w “Show Me”), a Fifties R&B number popularized by the Clovers.

Abnak enlisted singer-guitarist Dale Hawkins as producer, and the Five Americans cut the original “I See the Light” (b/w “The Outcast”) for a November 1965 release. Hanna-Barbera licensed the single to its HBR label, which carried the song to No. 26 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 1966. The musicians promoted the record with Los Angeles appearances on Shivaree and The Woody Woodbury Show. They completed the 1966 HBR debut I See the Light and followed with “Evol–Not Love,” a No. 52 hit. After the June single “Good Times,” they returned to Abnak for the autumn releases “Reality” and “If I Could.”

“Western Union” 

Rabon and fellow songwriters Durrill and Ezell conceived “Western Union” around a breakup message delivered by telegram. During a tour through Oregon, the musicians had noticed a Western Union office. They developed the song further at Robin Hood Brians Studio in Tyler, Texas, where Hawkins supervised the session. The January 1967 Abnak single reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The Five Americans toured nationally with the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars and appeared on American Bandstand, Where the Action Is, and the Dallas television program Sump’n Else. They performed “Western Union” live on The Steve Allen Show. Meanwhile, the musicians shifted from club residencies to short concert appearances and traveled between engagements in an eight-seat Beechcraft aircraft.

In 1967, the group followed with “Sound of Love” and “Zip Code,” both No. 36 US hits, and issued the Abnak albums Western Union / Sound of Love and Progressions. Abdnor pressed for another communications-themed single after “Western Union,” prompting the musicians to devise “Zip Code.” They continued with “Stop Light” and the December 1967 single “7:30 Guided Tour,” which reached No. 96 on the Hot 100. Further Abnak releases included the 1968 singles “No Communication,” “Lovin’ Is Livin’,” and “Generation Gap.”

Later Lineup

Durrill and Ezell departed in 1968 amid disagreements with Abdnor over studio location and musical direction. The remaining members recruited keyboardist-vocalist Lenny Lee Goldsmith and guitarist Bobby Rambo. Rabon led the revised group through the 1969 Abnak singles “Virginia Girl,” “Ignert Woman,” and a remake titled “I See the Light ’69.”

The musicians broadened their repertoire with extended rock arrangements, reflected on the double album Now and Then, which Abnak issued under the Michael Rabon & the Five Americans name. They closed their original recording history with the September 1969 single “She’s Too Good to Me” (b/w “Molly Black”). Rabon later recalled a formal breakup around the turn of the following decade.

Postlude

Rabon retained Wright for Michael Rabon & Choctaw, a 1971 Uni album produced at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler. He then joined Gladstone, a Texas group whose 1972 ABC single “A Piece of Paper” reached No. 45 on the US chart. Durrill joined the Ventures and co-wrote the instrumental “Kyoto Doll.” He subsequently composed the 1974 US No. 1 “Dark Lady” for Cher and “Misery and Gin” for Merle Haggard. Goldsmith joined Sweathog, whose 1971 Columbia single “Hallelujah” reached the US Top 40.

Ezell became a teacher and minister in northern California, while Grant pursued graphic design in Dallas and Wright worked as a photographer. Rabon returned to Oklahoma, earned a master’s degree in school administration, and entered public education. He published the 2011 memoir High Strung: The Five Americans.

Sundazed revived the original catalogue with the 1989 anthology Western Union and subsequent CD reissues of the three Sixties studio albums. Grant died in December 2004, followed by Ezell in May 2010 and Wright in January 2012. Rabon died on February 11, 2022, at age seventy-eight.