ERNIE BRINGAS
In actuality, the Rip Chords – not related to a doo wop band from the 1950’s called the Rip-Chords (with a hyphen) – were founded by Ernie Bringas and Phil Stewart, who began singing together in 1957.
According to Bringas, despite personnel changes over the years, only he and Stewart are signed with Columbia Records, and they collect all of the royalties.
On the next single by the Rip Chords, “Gone”, Bruce Johnston (who later became a member of the Beach Boys) was brought in as a secondary vocalist, though Ernie Bringas still sang lead. Terry Melcher’s role was strictly as producer on both of these records. This single was not widely promoted but performed well where they received airplay; for instance, in the week of August 1, 1963, “Gone” made it to #2 in San Antonio, TX.
Meanwhile, Ernie Bringas had graduated from college and was about to go into United Theological Seminary for training as a minister. (Bringas did become a “Rev.” and served as a minister in the United Methodist Church for almost 20 years; presently, he is a college professor teaching religious studies). He would be able to go back to the recording studio in Hollywood, but his ability to tour would be limited, so two additional members were brought in to tour with the band: Rich Rotkin and Arnie Marcus. They were never involved in any of their recordings, but – together with Phil Stewart – they were the public face of the Rip Chords, since Ernie Bringas was unavailable, and Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher were much too involved in record production to tour with a band.
There was one other little problem that readers who remember the era could well envision: The conservative Christian denomination that was affiliated with the seminary was averse to his continuing to record and perform with the Rip Chords, and one bishop flatly told Ernie Bringas to leave the band. However, and somewhat surprisingly, that pronouncement was over-ruled; and Bringas was able to rejoin the band after only three months’ separation. Again, this is not well known; most sources, including Allmusic state that Bringas left the band for keeps.
Most sources believe that Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher basically took over vocal duties for almost all of the recordings by the Rip Chords thereafter. Allmusic claims that Phil Stewart (who has a distinctive bass/baritone voice) was the vocalist on only two songs on Three Window Coupe, the band’s second album – “Bonneville Bonnie” and “Old Car Made in ’52” – and that Ernie Bringas didn’t perform at all on the album. However, Bringas insists that all four vocalists collaborated as to who would handle the singing, and that the hit song “Hey Little Cobra” is about the only song where neither he nor Stewart sang at all. For instance, both he and Bruce Johnston were singing the falsetto part on the Top 30 follow-up to their big hit, “Three Window Coupe” (co-written by Jan Berry of Jan & Dean). (The full list of vocalists and their parts on various songs is provided on Ernie Bringas’s website, www.ripchords.info).
(July 2011)
