The Four Preps

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The Four Preps were a popular music quartet most popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

[edit] Original line-up

Bruce Belland (born 22 October 1936, Chicago, Illinois)
Ed Cobb
Marv Ingram (born "Marvin Inabnett")
Glen Larson (born 1937), who later become one of the most prolific creators and producers in the history of American television.

[edit] Career

The four were students at Hollywood High School and were signed to a long term contract by Capitol Records after one of Capitol's executives saw them at a talent show at that school in 1956.^{[citation needed]} They had a minor chart hit that year with "Dreamy Eyes" and between 1956 and 1964 reached the top 100 charts with 13 different songs. The following year they appeared with Lindsay Crosby on the top-rated television special, The Edsel Show.

Their biggest hit was "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," which was written by Belland and Larson and reached #2. Those two members of the group also wrote "Big Man" (which reached #3) and "Down by the Station", which reached number 13 in 1960 according to Billboard magazine. In 1959, the group appeared as themselves in the movie Gidget.^{[citation needed]}

For a short period, Don Clarke replaced Marv Ingram while Marv finished college at UCLA, but he rejoined the group in 1960.

In 1960 they also recorded a parody single, "More Money for You and Me," which included single parody verses of several popular songs by The Fleetwoods, The Hollywood Argyles, The Platters, The Four Freshmen, The Kingston Trio and Dion and the Belmonts. The title parody, sung to the tune of "Tom Dooley," went like this:

Hang down the Kingston Trio,
Hang 'em from a tall oak tree;
Eliminate the Kingston Trio;
More money for you and me.

In 1966, David Somerville, formerly of The Diamonds, joined the group replacing Cobb. In 1969, the group disbanded, as their type of music had become less popular; they last appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1964, when "A Letter to the Beatles" charted for a total of three weeks beginning March 21. It peaked on #85. [See Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990, Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls WI, 1991] Belland and Somerville occasionally performed as a duo after the breakup.

Belland continued writing songs for other singers, as well as writing television show scripts, eventually becoming a network executive. Cobb became a record producer and sound engineer. He wrote the song "Tainted Love" for Gloria Jones, which became a worldwide hit for Soft Cell in 1982^{[citation needed]}. Somerville went into TV acting and doing voice-overs.^{[citation needed]} Larson became one of the most influential television producers in history, creating Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider. Ingram became a commodities broker.^{[citation needed]} Clarke became a music teacher at Glendora High School.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1980s, Belland, Cobb, Somerville, and Jim Pike (formerly of The Lettermen) eventually formed a new "Four Preps" group, and went on to perform. Jim Yester, formerly of The Association, replaced Pike in 1993, and the group became the "New Four Preps."^{[citation needed]}

In 1999 Cobb died of leukemia in Honolulu, Hawaii and Ingram died of a heart attack.^{[citation needed]}

Yester, Belland, and Somerville continued performing as a trio, using their last names, doing songs that were associated with The Four Preps, The Diamonds, and The Association.

Belland's daughters, Tracey Bryn Belland and Melissa Brooke Belland, followed in their father's footsteps as singers, forming a group named Voice of the Beehive.