Ohio Express

about

The Ohio Express was a bubblegum pop and garage rock band that fronted for Kasenetz and Katz's Super K Productions. The band is strongly associated with fellow upbeat pop group 1910 Fruitgum Company. Both groups were partially faceless studio assemblages and partially real groups undergoing genuine tours. The Kasenetz-Katz studio musicians working out of New York, including singer-songwriter Joey Levine, produced the iconic pop smash "Yummy Yummy Yummy". The real band behind the "Ohio Express" name was originally named "Sir Timothy & The Royals" and hailed from Mansfield, Ohio. They hooked up with the men of Super K in 1966 and were renamed the Ohio Express. They released their first single and LP on Cameo-Parkway Records of Philadelphia in the autumn of 1967. Unfortunately, the record label went into bankruptcy shortly after that and was purchased by music business mogul Allen Klein, who still owns the masters to this day. The group then moved to the home label of bubblegum pop, Buddah Records (purposely misspelled so as not to be sacrilegious), where they released four LPs and a multitude of singles. They became a major part of the sunshine-soaked vibe of 70s pop and were somewhat of a household name. They charted several singles in the Top 40, most featuring the vocals of Levine, though their albums sold less well and none never charted above #100 on the Billboard charts. The New York studio musicians were mostly heard on the tracks released as singles, while the five l