Chad Mitchell

Back in the early '60s, the Chad Mitchell Trio was one of the top singing attractions on the campus and club folk circuit, rivaling for a time their somewhat more well established competitors the Kingston Trio and 1960s newcomers Peter, Paul and Mary. And but for a mistake in judgment by their record label, they might have been one of the most enduring 1960s folk trios. Although the Chad Mitchell Trio was closely associated during their best years with New York City, where they recorded three live albums in as many years, they actually hailed from the other end of the United States. Chad Mitchell (b. 1936), from Portland, Oregon, was a student at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, on a choral scholarship, when he met Mike Kobluk (b. 1937), from British Columbia. Together with a third student, Mike Pugh, they formed a trio in 1958, a three-way partnership that was named the Chad Mitchell Trio because his name sounded best. The next year, with the folk music revival just taking off, they headed for New York City and secured a gig at the Blue Angel nightclub in Greenwich Village, initially for four weeks but soon extended for 12 weeks, billed with South African singer Miriam Makeba and comedian Shelley Berman. Both Makeba and the Chad Mitchell Trio were subsequently selected by Harry Belafonte to appear with him at the Carnegie Hall show that was recorded and released by RCA. The group was signed to Colpix Records in 1960 and released one album, The Chad Mitchell Trio Arrives, which passed by the public largely without notice. The trio did pick up as musical advisor from that effort Milt Okun, who helped direct them to the songs best suited to their abilities and assisted in helping them avoid sounding too much like the Kingston Trio. Mike Pugh dropped out of the...