We Five - Where are they now?

[coss...@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz‏]

We Five was a group in the 1960s? which sang a song called
"You were on my mind" which I believe was written by either
Ian or Sylvia Tyson. Sylvia also sings this song but her
rendition is quite different from We Five's version.

Can anyone tell me who the members of We Five were and
what they are doing now?

Thanks.

Dave

[OldFrat‏]

My wife bumped into one of the men from this group in Los Altos,
California a couple of years ago. He was doing some kind of mission work
for the needy which brought him to the Episcopal Church there.

[StaciH1959‏]

I'd like to know the answer to that q, too!! My parents still have the
"You Were on My Mind" LP somewhere....I'll find it and get names of group
members if someone does not beat me to it. I know the lead's name was
Beverly something because my sister and I idolized her and lip synched to
that song many, many times.....we were quite young then.
Staci

[Bev Herzog‏]

In message 23 Jan 1996 22:34:50 -0500, staci...@aol.com (StaciH1959) writes:

> I'd like to know the answer to that q, too!! My parents still have the
> "You Were on My Mind" LP somewhere....I'll find it and get names of group
> members if someone does not beat me to it. I know the lead's name was
> Beverly something

The lead singer was Beverly Bivens. I don't recall the names of the four
men, but I also have the album and could look them up.

Bev

[Donald Marcus‏]

If I am not mistaken, one of the members of this group was John Stewart's
(of the Kingston Trio) brother, Mike.

[Stewa1‏]

Wonder why they're not represented on CD? I found their "You Were on My
Mind" on an A&M CD out of Japan and it brings back some great memories.
There were constant staffing changes in the group, and the blend was
different from album to album. I use to have them all...but have lost
track of them. I always preferred the group on this one album.

[Crypto‏]

The five original members of the group were (the aforementioned) Bev
Bivens, Pete Fullerton, Bob Jones, Jerry Burgan and Mike Stewart. Mike
Stewart is the brother of John Stewart, of the second configuration of
the Kingston Trio and who is still a popular solo artist (John that
is). As to what happened to this group, they probably just broke up
and went their ways. Too bad too. They released two albums of some
very good music. They had a unique sound, and their version of You
Were On My Mind is one of those rare commodities... a folk song from
the Sixties that you can still hear on oldies stations.

Rick in CT

:::---oO ::---O ::--oO

There is no present or future - only the past,
happening over and over again - now.

[RSandvik‏]

One male member was Mikael Stewart, younger brother of John Stewart,
K-Trio star. I, too, am curious about the members' whereabouts.

[K. Crum‏]

>rsan...@aol.com (RSandvik) wrote:
>One male member was Mikael Stewart, younger brother of John Stewart,
>K-Trio star. I, too, am curious about the members' whereabouts.

The original group consisted of Mike Stewart, Pete Fullerton, Bob Jones,
Jerry Burgan(responsible for most of the best arranging and guitar work)
and the incredible Bev Bivens, who's range in vocals was equal to, if not
better than Ronstadt, it my opinion!). This group produced two albums for
A&M Records, "You were on my mind" (on of the best and earliest examples
of folk-rock), and "Make Someone Happy", both circa 65-66. The group
eventually did a third album for A&M records, "The Return of the We Five",
however, Bev, Mike and Bob were replaced by Frank Denson and Jerry
Burgan's wife, Debbie and Bob Garcia. I also possess a fourth album,
demo, which the group produced in the early 70s which reunited the core
three- Pete, Jerry and Debbie with Mike.

I too would like to know what happened to these artist, particularly Bev
Bivens. Needless to say, I was, and still am, a huge fan of the We Five's
music--which was very eclectic, imaginative and warm. The harmonies and
arrangements were always creative (check out their version of "My favorite
things" from sound of music)...if anything, this group was one of the
founders/creaters/purveyors of folk rock, in my opinion. I just wish that
A&M records would re-release their music on CD format....

[Jeremy Wilson‏]

I'm sure nobody needs to be reminded, but just in case, I'm surprised
that no-one on this thread had mentioned that "You were on my mind"
was written by Sylvia Tyson and believe it or not, the first song she
ever wrote. In the neat new book she and Tom Russell have just edited,
"And then I wrote: The songwriter speaks", she relates how she wrote it
in the bathtub of a room in the Earle Hotel in Greenwich Village in 1962.
She and Ian recorded it, and then in 1989 or 1990 she did another
fantastic version of the song on her album, "Novelettes from the Heart".
If you don't have that album, track it down -- it is on my all-time top
20 list.

[Peter Lunt‏]

From the back of the "we five >> you were on my mind" album:

Mike Stewart, Born Riverside Ca; Leader and arranger, played guitar and
banjo, sang baritone-Bass, Univ. Of San Francisco

Pete Fullerton, Born Claremont, Ca; Played Bass, sang tenor, Mt San Antonio
College

Beverly Bivens, Born Santa Ana, Ca; Lead singer, Low tenor to high soprano,
Orange Coast Junior College

Bob Jones, Born Honolulu, Hi; SIngs Baritone-Tenor, 6 string Jazz guitar, 12
String electric, Univ. of San Frnacisco

Jerry Burgan, Born Kansas City, KA,; Tenor, played 6 string acoustic, U of SF

Pete "another fan" Lunt

[Christopher Newton‏]

Mike Stewart, of "We Five," is the younger brother of folk
singer-songwriter John Stewart, formerly of The Kingston Trio.

I suggest you write John, care of Homecoming Records, at P.O. Box 2050,
Malibu,Ca. 90265. He wrote some of the songs on "We Five's" first
album -- one of my favorites. I wish they'd reissue it in CD, as my old
35 rpm is scratched at covered with glass rings.

Best of luck.

[John Hilvert‏]

Richard David Glueck <glue...@spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov> wrote:

>I know that the We-Five was managed by the same guy as The Kingston Trio,
>Frank Werber. Did the Trio bank roll the We-Five as an effort to stay in
>the poular music scene?

Actually the connection with The Kingston Trio goes deeper than that.
Michael Stewart, John Stewart's younger brother was the leader of We
Five.

Mike Stewart later split from We Five and formed a country/rock band
called West for Epic records. One was self-titled and the other was
called "Bridges".

I can't comment on the Trio's motivation for the group.

I recall the Trio did a great double act concert with them back in
December 1965 in San Francisco with We Five being the warm-up act.

John Hilvert
Journalist at Large
"The shallower you are, the more ground you cover."
Try http://www.edutainment.com.au/ for the best site on educational software reviews

[slthom...@gmail.com‏]

Where is Beverly Bivens now?

[hub...@ccanoemail.ca‏]

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:29:19 -0700 (PDT), slthom...@gmail.com
wrote:

>Where is Beverly Bivens now?

in 2013, she was living in "a warehouse district"
between Berkeley and Richmond

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Bivens

[lee.b...@gmail.com‏]

By my listening there were some good takes and not so good takes. Much of the arranging was creative, as was the scope of their repertoire. (Be it noted that the Beatles included "Till There Was You" on one of their very early albums.)

But the real sleeper in the two albums is "Small World", which they play in...wait for it...5/4 time. And it works! There must be other popular tunes in 5/4, but the only two I know of are this arrangement and "Take Five" by Brubeck & co. This one observation is the tipoff that we have some innovative and schooled musicians at work here.

[kanneng...@gmail.com‏]

On Monday, January 22, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-8, coss...@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz wrote:
> We Five was a group in the 1960s? which sang a song called
> "You were on my mind" which I believe was written by either
> Ian or Sylvia Tyson. Sylvia also sings this song but her
> rendition is quite different from We Five's version.
>
> Can anyone tell me who the members of We Five were and
> what they are doing now?
>

> Thanks.
>
>
> Dave

Pete Fullerton was the bass player. I taught his five children (all great kids) and worked with he and his wife Sue doing outreach in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. He once told me that after their version of "You Were On My Mind" hit the charts, they went on tour for 3 months and when they came back home discovered that their manager had spent all their money. What else is new ?

[Still Bud‏]

On Fri, 14 Feb 2020 20:06:26 -0800 (PST), kanneng...@gmail.com
wrote:

They went away because Beverly Bivens quit the group, and she WAS
their sound. She not ONLY quit the group, she pretty much quit
singing, until 2009, when she did a charity performance in San Fran..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Five

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Bivens

[norwe...@gmail.com‏]

I went to Ganesha HS in Pomona, and went to a concert at a swim club in or near Claremont, CA. The band was We Five. This was in 1962. Were they not performing as a band then?
Thanks,
Erik