The Beau Brummels were from San Francisco. They made a conscious effort to sound like the bands that made up the British Invasion - so much so that some people believed that they were British.
"Laugh, Laugh" was the first song from a San Francisco band to make the charts in the 1960s and is considered a forerunner of the sound that emerged from the city later in the decade. It reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 nationally in Canada. The followup single, "Just A Little", which sounded even more like a British Invasion band, reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 nationally in Canada but didn't get any airplay in Toronto. The group had three other singles reach the Top 10 in Canada in 1965 but they didn't get airplay in Toronto either.
Between 1965 and 1968, the Beau Brummels were gradually winnowed down from five members to two, as two of the band were drafted into the United States Army and another left to join Harpers Bizarre, who were famous for releasing "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" in 1967. Four of the five members of the band reunited in 1974; they toured and produced an album, but split up again in 1975. Various permutations of the group toured through the mid-1990s and appeared at festivals early in the new millennium.
Created February 23, 2026.