What happens when the son of a famous comedian and movie star teams up with the guy who played the organ part on \u201cLike A Rolling Stone\u201d? It\u2019s not a rhetorical question but rather what actually occurred to produce the surprising No. 1 single \u201cThis Diamond Ring\u201d.<\/p>\n
Technically, there were plenty of others involved, and the \u201cLike A Rolling Stone\u201d part was played a few months after \u201cThis Diamond Ring\u201d turned into a runaway success. Nonetheless, unlikely collaborators certainly helped Gary Lewis & The Playboys to a monster hit in 1965.<\/p>\n
Gary, Not Jerry<\/p>\n
Gary Lewis probably knew that getting into show business in the world of television and film would only invite unfair comparisons to his father, the legendary Jerry Lewis. Instead, Lewis chose the path of a professional musician, playing drums and singing with a band he dubbed the Playboys.<\/p>\n
The group snagged an early gig playing at Disneyland. Eventually, they were discovered there by producer Snuff Garrett, who encouraged Lewis to include his surname in the band name to attract some attention. Garrett started looking for material for the group.<\/p>\n
A song called \u201cThis Diamond Ring\u201d landed on Garrett\u2019s desk. The three writers had penned it in the hopes of an R&B act getting a hold of it. They weren\u2019t all that pleased with the somewhat chirpy, teeny-bopper arrangement delivered by Gary Lewis & The Playboys. One of those writers was an up-and-coming musician named Al Kooper.<\/p>\n
\u201cRing\u201d True<\/p>\n
Kooper was just starting out his career and had landed a gig writing songs for a publishing outfit out of New York City. He penned \u201cThis Diamond Ring\u201d with Irwin Levine and Bob Brass, thinking that a group like The Drifters would be the ideal act to bring it to life. Their complaints about Lewis and company\u2019s take faded a bit when the royalty checks for a No. 1 single started rolling in for them.<\/p>\n
To make that happen, Lewis\u2019 mother financed the recording. Gary Lewis has always contended that his backing band played on those sessions. But it\u2019s very possible that the snappy track benefited from the participation of members of The Wrecking Crew, the elite session players found on the West Coast.<\/p>\n