City Surfers

A studio group that recorded two surf singles for Capitol Records in 1963, the City Surfers featured a young, pre-Byrds Roger McGuinn (he was still known as Jim McGuinn at this point) on guitar, Bobby Darin on drums, and songwriter Frank Gari on vocals. Darin had hired McGuinn a year earlier to play guitar and add some folk flair to his live act. After a few months, however, Darin lost his voice and was forced to temporarily rest it. He shifted McGuinn to his music publishing company, T.M. Music, as a songwriter, and McGuinn and Gari came up with some tunes to cash in on the then hot surf music craze. With Darin playing drums and a young Terry Melcher sitting in on piano, the newly christened City Surfers recorded two singles, "Beach Ball"/"Sun Tan Baby" and "Powder Puff"/"50 Miles to Go," neither of which ever even came close to the pop charts but have been rarities sought by surf-era record collectors ever since. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide