California Raisins

about

The California Raisins was a fictional rhythm and blues musical group composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles.[1] The concept was originally created for a 1987 commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board when one of the writers (Thomas Banks of the advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding) came up with an idea for the new raisin commercial, saying "We have tried everything but dancing raisins singing 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'" (the 1968 Marvin Gaye song). To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, spawning future commercials, two TV specials (Meet the Raisins in 1988 and Raisins: Sold Out! in 1990), four studio albums, and a Saturday morning cartoon series, aptly titled The California Raisin Show. The Raisins also appeared in A Claymation Christmas Celebration in 1987, singing the classic Christmas carol, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". The Raisins ultimately gained individual names: A.C., Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (piano). The California Raisins are normally Claymation designed by the Emmy-Award winning studio of Will Vinton, but their cartoon series was cel animated. The artist responsible for the original design was Michael Brunsfeld. The California Raisins reportedly grossed more in the year that was their heyday, 1988, than Californian farmers made selling raisins. This included a wide variety of merchandising, from toys to Raisins images on every conceivable medium: lun

top songs

albums

Sing The Hit Songs

Christmas With The California Raisins

Sweet, Delicious, & Marvelous

▥

Split 10"+ CD

▥

The California Raisins Sing The Hit Songs

▥

Meet The Raisins

▥

Cave/California Raisins Split 10''

▥

Permanent Records Sampler

▥

Split 10"

▥

The California Raisins

▥

California Raisins Sing the Hit Songs

▥

Music, Birds & Cereal IRP June 2010

similar artists