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The band's name was chosen as a tribute to the
group's first manager, Dr. Buzzard, who was from the south and told the young
musicians stories about his own band days in the 1940's in places like Savannah.
"This is the
craziest group I've ever seen,"
said Andy Hernandez.
"When I auditioned to join the group, they didn't
even ask me to play any music. They gave me a questionnaire to fill out instead."
The questionnaire asked for information like: What is your political affiliation?
What type of women do you go out with? Would you be willing not to wear tight
pants? Do you consider yourself straight or a brat? Andy scored 48 out of a
possible 100 points---higher than dozens of others that applied and he was
invited to join the group. The group consisted of lead singer, and the only
female, Cory Daye, guitarist/pianist Stony Browder Jr. bass player August
Darnell and drummer Mickey Sevilla.
The origins of the group date back to the early 1970's when Stony and August
began playing together in a South Bronx band called
The Strangers.
The pair cut a very forgettable record for Roulette Records. In 1972 Cory joined
forces with August & Stony after launching her own career at age 17 at a
Halloween party
"after a life of crime proved unrewarding."
Mickey, a former teacher at The Manhattan School Of Music, joined in 1974 and
Andy gave up social work in 1975 to round out the group as it's vibe player.
In the early days the quintet played gigs wherever they could be found,
mainly in upstate New York. Their big break came when they were offered a
contract with RCA Records. But it wasn't without it's problems.
"RCA gave us 30 days to make our first album"
recalled Stony.
"And we just don't create well under that kind of pressure. After 30 days, we
didn't have anything finished. Finally, when the album was four months overdue,
RCA threatened to call the whole thing off. We finally finished the album almost
seven months after we had started it. We spent 620 hours in the studio on that
album!."
Once the album was released, no one bothered to tell the group about it. They
heard the news from friends who had seen it in the record stores.
 RCA initially gave
the album very little promotion, and it received a minimal amount
of airplay. The disc seemed destined for a rapid trip into oblivion.
But the few people who initially bought it, (I
being one of them),
began playing it for friends who played it for their friends and so on and the
rest is history.
"Actually we never thought of ourselves as a disco
act in the beginning"
remarked Stony.
"But the album really got
it's start in the disco (read GAY) community. We were unknown artists,
and if the
record hadn't caught on in the discos, it might never have gotten
anywhere."
Ironically despite the lack of a 12" single release and poor promotion the album
went on to Gold status and even merited a re-release on compact disc in 1988.
However their follow-up releases didn't fair as well. 1978's "Dr Buzzard's Original
Savannah Band Meets King Penett"
had the full support of RCA but lacked the luster
of it's predecessor. A label change brought their third and final album, 1979's
"Dr.
Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes To Washington,"
a somewhat higher quality product with disappointing sales.
After the groups break up Cory went on to record her only solo album 1979's
"Cory & Me."
Highly successful, spawning the hits
"Green Light"
and "Pow
Wow." She
also resurface in 1986 and 1987 on Profile Records with a few 12" singles that
didn't set the world on fire.
Stony Browder reformulated the band and dropped the
"Original"
from it's moniker. This incarnation, with Cory at the vocal helm,
released an album on Passport Records in 1984. "Calling All Beatniks"
also featured
"Original"
band member Mickey Sevilla on drums.
 August Darnell and Andy Hernandez found the most success after the
"Savannah Band"
with their creation of
Kid Creole & The Coconuts.
Releasing 17 albums since 1980 with 2001's "Too Cool To Conga" being their
latest. August Darnell was also prolific as a writer for others, most notably
Machine's 1979 hit
"There But For The Grace Of
God Go I."
Cory Daye can also be heard on the early Kid Creole albums as a guest vocalist.
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