Brillo & The Firebirds (Macomb)

Dennis Albee of Macomb, Illinois started performing at a very young age.  His parents had a square and round dance band and young Dennis was on stage playing music with them before he was ten.  Along with his older sister Dina, Albee was also part of a twirling act where he would perform with flaming batons, spinning them high into the air.  By age 12, Albee had started his own rock band, the Fire Birds.  

The earliest group included Dennis on guitar, Dina on bass and a drummer from Iowa.  At a talent show in Cuba, Illinois in the summer of 1965 the Albees performed both their baton act and played "Henry The Eighth" and "What'd I Say" as the Fire Birds.  Later that summer the band was performing all over western Illinois. 

By 1966, the group was a quartet: Dennis on guitar, Dina now on rhythm guitar and organ, Rob Nelson on bass and Mike Golliher on drums.  Nelson was from Bowen, Illinois and Golliher was from Warsaw, Illinois.   Most of them were still in high school at the time.  It was actually a high school teacher that would tease Dennis about his curly hair, giving him the nickname Brillo.  The band soon became known as Brillo & The Firebirds.

At the 1966 Young America Fair (a division of the Illinois State Fair) the Firebirds were finalists in the statewide Combo Clash.  The Knight Beats of Centralia took the top honor that year.  Earlier in the summer, the Firebirds had participated in the World Teenage Show held at Navy Pier in Chicago.  In September 1966, they opened for Beau Brummels at the Fort Madison, Iowa Rodeo Arena.

  

One of their biggest performances came the next summer when Brillo & The Firebirds won the International Battle of the Bands at the 1967 World Teenage Show in Chicago.  The competition was sponsored by WLS and the Ludwig Drum Company.  According to an article in the Burlington, Iowa newspaper, "The group was awarded recording contracts, booking contracts, an engraved trophy for each member, $25,000 in equipment and a 3-week tour of Europe."

Unfortunately, none of this came to pass.  Instead, Brillo & The Firebirds would continue to perform at county fairs, high school dances and teen centers across western Illinois and eastern Iowa for the next several years.  It would be almost two years before the band would produce their only commercial recording; a self-released single recorded at Golden Voice Recording Co. in South Pekin, Illinois.  The 45 was released in 1969 and contained two original tunes: 

"Some Place To Hide"  /  "Calling Red Rover"

 

Brillo and the Firebirds increasingly performed on the Iowa side of the river and were regulars at the Sunday night dances at the American Legion in West Point.  In April 1969, they opened for the New Colony Six at the Keokuk College fieldhouse.  On several occasions they shared a bill with Gonn from Keokuk.  Before the end of the year however the Firebirds had called it quits.

By May of 1970 a band called Tom, Dick and Harry was performing in Iowa.  They were billed as "formerly Brillo & The Firebirds."  Dennis Albee eventually moved to Iowa where he played in a number of bands and continues to play to this day.  In 2010, Albee was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Questioning his own credentials as an Iowan despite having lived there for quite some time, he told the Burlington, Iowa newspaper, "I'm an Illinois guy."

In October 2023, Brillo participated in a celebration of the Golden Voice Recording Co at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.  Albee performed both songs from his 1969 single along with Craig Moore (of Gonn) on bass, Chris Delbridge on keyboards and Matthew Warren on drums.

 

Beck Brothers on Mid West Records (Colchester)

The Beck Brothers Band from Western Illinois has to be one of the longest-lasting musical acts in the state.  Spanning multi-generations and lasting nearly eight decades, the group is still active today in the Macomb area.  

Here we are going to focus strictly on the two singles the original brothers released in 1959 and 1960 on Mid West Records. 

Melvin and Ralph Beck from Colchester, Illinois began playing music at a very young age.  Along with their father Cecil and other relatives, the boys started out by performing on Sunday afternoons in their hometown.

By the late 1950s the brothers were performing at dance halls, supper clubs, county fairs and taverns across western Illinois and eastern Iowa.  They even performed on local television   The group would sometimes be billed in those days as the Beck Brothers Orchestra or Beck Bros Quartet.

Other than Ralph and Melvin, additional band members from this era have not been identified.  Although, at least one advertisement from 1961 mentions the group being joined by "Swinging" Tommy Rogers on the sax.  A few years later, according to ads, live shows featured Tom Powers on the saxophone.

Both of the group's early singles were part of the Starday Custom Series.   There is no information as to where the recordings were made but it is likely that the brothers had them done locally and sent them off to Starday Records.   In exchange for all the publishing rights and few hundred dollars, Starday would press a few hundred copies for the Beck Brothers to sell or give away as promotion.  

While Starday's custom pressed records generally featured country and rockabilly music, the Beck Brothers' singles do not fit nicely into either category.  

The label name, Mid West Records, was likely chosen by the Beck Brothers.   Their hometown was misspelled as Colechester on the label of their first single.

"Screamin' Mamie" was written by Melvin Beck.  The flipside, "I'll Love You For A Lifetime," was written by Ralph Beck.  The single was pressed in 1959.

 

The second single, "Just Like You," was written by Melvin and released in 1960.  The song was backed with an instrumental, "Big Rocker," credited to both brothers.

 

Melvin Beck passed away in 1996.  His obituary mentions that he worked for Leo Fender and Fender Guitars in California around the time the company was founded.

Ralph Beck passed away in 2018.   He had been a member of the Beck Brothers Band for 70 years.

If you have any more info, photos or memories of this early incarnation of the Beck Brothers Band please reach out to us at: downstatesounds@gmail.com