Gunhill Road

Gunhill Road is an American band based in Mount Vernon, New York, consisting of Glenn Leopold, Steven Goldrich, and Gil Roman, that was active primarily in the early 1970s. Paul Reisch replaced Gil Roman in 1973. They are best known as one-hit wonders for their lone pop hit, "Back When My Hair Was Short", which peaked at number 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in June 1973. On the Cash Box Top 100, the song reached number 25, and spent 15 weeks on the chart.[1] It reached number 37 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[2] In Canada, the song reached number 53.[3]

For other uses, see Gun Hill Road.

Career

The band released a trio of albums in the 1970s. Their first release, on Mercury Records, was 1971's First Stop, credited to "Gun Hill Road." The second album, Gunhill Road, was released in 1972 and record producer produced by Kenny Rogers. In 1973, three songs were re-recorded and the album was re-released, after which "Back When My Hair was Short" became a national hit. The 1972 versions of "Back When My Hair was Short" and "42nd Street" had some drug references, while the 1973 re-recordings had some lyric changes and a more up-tempo feel. The album received great reviews, and was often featured on many FM broadcasting FM and college radio stations . According to Billboard, "Back When My Hair Was Short" had the distinction in 1973 of being top 10 in more different markets at more different times than any other record of that year.

They were long sought after as performers working with George Carlin, Robert Klein, Poco, Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, John Sebastian, Lily Tomlin, Cheech & Chong, Gordon Lightfoot, Soupy Sales and Bette Midler to name a few. In addition, they appeared on American Bandstand, Midnight Special and other TV programs.

On October 24, 2011, the Wounded Bird label reissued the 1973 version of the "Gunhill Road" album on CD with five bonus tracks: The non-LP tracks "Ford Desoto Cadillac" and "We Can't Ride The Roller Coaster Anymore," and the original 1972 versions of "Sailing," "42nd Street" and "Back When My Hair Was Short."

On November 4, 2011, Glenn Leopold, Paul Reisch and Steven Goldrich reunited for the first time since 1976 to perform at a benefit in Montclair, N.J. to feed the homeless, and honor their former manager and longtime Bitter End owner Paul Colby.

In October 2014, they returned to the Bitter End to perform for the first time in 40 years. The overflow crowd was joined by a multi camera crew, who recorded the entire performance for a documentary to be released in 2015-16. Also in 2014, the group recorded their first album since 1973, aptly titled Every 40 Years, which will be self-released.

Starting in 2019, they started recording for their 4th album. The expected release date was scheduled for the early spring, however with the pandemic, the date has been moved up to the summer of 2020.

In 2020, Michael Harrison, ( Publisher, Talkers.Com, and a legendary radio personality ), and Brian Koonin, ( a major force both as a Broadway musician, as well as studio session player, and concert performer ), joined Gunhill Road. Their talents, energy, and vision, are making their new album, ( now due out in early spring, 2021 ) a milestone, in their storied career.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2018-10-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 103.
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