The Au Go Go Singers

Career

Stills and Furay first crossed paths in Greenwich Village folk clubs, where they performed with Furay’s old college friends Bob Harmelink and Nels Gustafson. Songwriter Ed E. Miller, who helped write the Serendipity Singers’ hit “Don’t Let the Rain Come Down,” noticed them. In early 1964, Miller was putting together a revue called America Sings, a show tracing the history of American folk music. He asked the four to join an existing group, the Bay Singers—Roy Michaels, Mike Scott, Fred Geiger, and Jean Gurney—along with Kathy King, to provide the music. The show lasted only two weeks, but Miller landed a recording contract with Roulette Records for all nine members. They cut an album with producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. After catching the show, club owner Howard Solomon booked the group for a regular gig at his Cafe au Go Go on Bleecker Street.

By the time the LP came out in late 1964, the ensemble was called the Au Go Go Singers. They played at the club, appeared on TV, and performed elsewhere. Their album, They Call Us Au Go-Go Singers, featured Stills singing lead on Billy Edd Wheeler’s “High Flying Bird” and Furay on Tom Paxton’s “Where I’m Bound.” It also included songs by Jesse Fuller, John Stewart, and Lee Hays. A single, “San Francisco Bay Blues” backed with “Pink Polemoniums,” was released from the album. After a falling-out with Solomon, Jim Friedman took over the group’s management, but their contract with Roulette’s Morris Levy made some venues reluctant to book them. The British Invasion also made their folk style feel outdated. A second album never happened; some members got draft notices, and Kathy King, who struggled with stage fright, left. In 1965, the group disbanded.

Stills then joined the four Bay Singers—Michaels, Scott, Geiger, and Gurney—and, renamed the Company, toured Ontario. During that tour, the Company shared a bill with Neil Young’s band, the Squires, and Stills met Young. The next year, Stills, Young, and Furay formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles.