Pat Gwinn

From “Old Used To Be’s,” “Rock and Roll Heaven” to the monster hit of “What’s Going On” …Sammy O’Banion’s musical career has seen some great hits and a lot of work. Leader of the popular soul group Sammy O’Banion & Mardi Gras, he is one of the true class acts in Carolina Beach Music. O’Banion – a native of Augusta, Georgia who now lives in Warsaw, North Carolina – has recorded five albums in beach music with fifteen entries on compilations.

GWINN: "What is your earliest memory of being exposed to the music?"

O’BANION: "My earliest memories of being exposed to live music was a concert at The Bell Auditorium by James Brown and it was truly exciting beyond anything I could have ever imagined to an 11 year old boy."

GWINN: "Growing up in a racially tense Augusta, Georgia, in the 50s and 60s, Bell Auditorium saw its share of incredible acts. Who were some of your main influences?"

O’BANION: "My main influences were Jackie Wilson and Jerry Butler, Chuck Jackson and Soloman Burke, as well as Levi Stubbs. There were also some local guys like Leroy Lloyd and The Dukes and Leon Austin and The Buicks."

GWINN: What a different way people were treated back in the 50s and 60s.

O’BANION: "Actually I did see the way black people were treated and it was heart breaking and I didn't understand. When I was growing up our cultures were different between black and white folks mostly because of the difference in the way our society treated them different. I decided to decide for myself and discovered that we were not much different. If you treat a person respectful and fair, I think you'll get the same in return. If you trust what it is says in The Bible, God created all mankind equal and that pretty much sums up what I believe.

GWINN: "You sang about the legendary late Charley Byrd in the song "Rock and Roll Heaven" and Charley indeed played them all. For many a role model to all who ever played beach music. What type of guy was Charley Byrd?

O’BANION: Charlie Byrd was a serious guy about his convictions in music and life. Sometimes Charlie and I would talk for hours and agree and disagree and laugh at the end. In order to have a friendship with Charlie you first would have to have the courage to be yourself. Some of the moments we shared close to his death were sad and inspirational as Charlie was very brave about it all and loved life and was not in a hurry to leave....I miss Charlie a lot.

GWINN: Another great influence in beach music has been Steve Hardy. Hardy wrote one of my favorites…”Old Used To Be’s".

O’BANION: Steve Hardy has been a great influence on Beach Music listeners for a very long time. He has been involved with many things that were beginnings and has stood the test of time better than anyone I know of in Eastern North Carolina especially in radio. Steve showed me a story he'd written one day in his office in the form of prose and asked me if I would like to work on it and I thought it was a great story that would make a great song. With Steve's thoughts and feelings, I wrote a melody and made some arrangements to change the prose form it was written in to more the story form I felt it was intended and it became “Old Use To Be's.”

GWINN: "There are changes in many of the beach music bands throughout the industry with players and members moving to new bands. How do you adjust to new members so the transition is smooth on stage?"

O’BANION: “There will always be changes in peoples lives and that of course includes member changes in bands. For me keeping a format that works is the answer. I don't think there is much choice as to people wanting to look at pretty ladies or me. I happen to be very fortunate in having two lovely ladies that sing great as well. We have enjoyed working together for a long time. Change is never easy but it happens. It's very difficult to replace any person in your life that you are use to, whether it's your bass player or your gardener. Having a format makes it a little less confusing, but never easy.

GWINN: A hot new single has just been released by Sammy O’Banion and Mardi Gras. Tell me the reason you chose to remake this classic.

O’BANION: “Let It Be Me” is a song I have always loved and over the years I had thought about it as a remake many times, but after Jerry Goodman brought it to my attention a couple of years ago as a great idea I thought it was time. Linda and I had performed the song many times as a slow song a few years back, so I knew it would work vocalso I knew it would work vocally and then Fred Shaw and I decided to bring in real strings to keep the magic of the song.

GWINN: How do we take Beach Music out of the Carolinas and into the mass appeal markets around the US and the world?

O’BANION: If I knew any short cuts I'd speak up, but the truth is there are no national formatted radio stations that Beach Music perfectly fit. AC stations would be a great fit, but the stations that play AC have so many national artists to choose from that it's difficult to squeeze in someone nobody knows and leave out a known artist from an advertising stand. Promotion of a product would be easier than an entire industry. Promoting an industry that is not national would be like trying to get everyone who follows college football to support just one (Your Team) team.
If we ever get national exposure it will have to be in the form of promotion in a very big way.

GWINN: Should we refer to it as “Southern Soul”?"

O’BANION: Southern Soul is a good term, but so is Carolina Beach Music, as well as St. Louis Blues or Delta Blues or New Orleans Jazz. I'm not convinced that the name is the problem, because all of these respective genres of music are considered regional in their beginnings. Something caused each of them to catch on the same as beach music has caught on with so many. Promotion is still the shortest way to national attention.

GWINN: I have asked all of the artists I have interviewed recently this question. Are the bands and the DJs simply too close to one another? Are DJs objective enough or are they simply playing a friend’s CD?

O’BANION: There is no question that does happen and it also happens on national products as well. The difference is we are smaller in our industry and therefore it's easier to see. However, you have raised a good point. It's hard to promote something to a national level in the form of music if it doesn't measure up to national quality as far as performance and production let alone promotion. If we are to ever compete on a national scale, we have to record, produce and promote on that same level.

Pat Gwinn is a publisher based out of the Myrtle Beach area. He also hosts the syndicated radio show, Pat Gwinn At The Beach. Starting in radio at age 13, Pat produces golf magazines in the Myrtle Beach market as well.

Contact Pat at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .