This song didn't do much for me - Mr. Hammel's voice does a bit too much crooning for my taste. It's not really a rock voice.
Karl Hammel Jr. was from New Rochelle, New York and was a winning contestant on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, which appeared on television between 1948 and 1970. At the time, he was fronting a group called Karl and the K-Men; he eventually went solo.
"Summer Souvenirs" appears to have been a local hit in Toronto, as it only reached #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Hammel's only single release; his group disbanded in the late 1960s. The last.fm website has a short biography of him.
Created February 16, 2026.