Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Founding Member of The Four Preps, Bruce Belland
Bruce Belland, is a founding member of one of America’s most popular and beloved vocal groups, commonly referred to as America’s First Boy Band, The Four Preps.
As young teenage students at Hollywood High in 1954, our guest, along with singing partners Glen Larson, Ed Cobb and Marv Ingram, entered a high school talent show, and they kept on performing at high schools until that fateful day in 1956, when they were signed to a recording contract at Capitol Records, making them the youngest vocal group in history to ever sign with a major record label.
They recorded dozens of classic songs and produced 8 gold singles and 3 gold albums featuring their signature tunes, “Dreamy Eyes”, “26 Miles (Santa Catalina),” “Big Man,” “Lazy Summer Night,” “Down By the Station”, “More Money for You and Me”, and many more. In 1957, Cashbox Magazine named The Four Preps the Most Promising Newcomer of the Year. They made numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand and many other TV variety shows, in addition to singing backup for Ricky Nelson for 4 years on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”. And of course, they appeared with Sandra Dee in the 1959 movie, “Gidget”. And they sang the theme song from the 1957 Clark Gable movie, “Band of Angels”.
The Four Preps headlined at nightclubs, concert halls and college campuses across the country, and toured with everyone from Tennessee Ernie Ford, George Burns and Carol Channing to Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Buddy Rich and Glen Campbell. They received an official commendation from the Air Force for their extraordinary contribution to National Guard Recruitment. And in 2007, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
And now, Bruce Belland has released a fascinating and highly entertaining memoir entitled, “Icons, Idols and Idiots of Hollywood: My Adventures in America’s First Boy Band.” This delightful book details Bruce Belland’s remarkable show business journey, full of great anecdotes, many colorful adventures, and poignant memories of pop culture history. By the way, the chapter about his hilarious experience filming a TV commercial with Annette Funicello at Disneyland is easily worth ten times the price of the book.
Harvey Brownstone is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He is also the bestselling author of “Tug of War: A Judge’s Verdict on Separation, Custody Battles and the Bitter Realities of Family Court” and hosted “Family Matters with Justice Harvey Brownstone,” a television talk show on matters involving the family justice system.
After a distinguished legal career, Harvey was appointed a judge at the age of 38 in 1995. He has presided in family and criminal courts. He has been a trailblazer in several ways. He was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He was the first sitting judge in the world to write a national best seller and to host a TV talk show.
Harvey has been a role model and icon in the LGBTQ community. When same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2003, he was the only judge to make himself publicly available to officiate at weddings for lesbian and gay couples travelling to Toronto from all over the world to get married. In 2007, he officiated at the wedding of Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, the American couple whose marriage triggered the 2013 United States Supreme Court decision overturning the definition of “spouse” in the federal Defence of Marriage Act.
In February 2021, Harvey launched his online talk show “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” on his own YouTube channel. He saw this as an interesting hobby. Within several months, the show attracted hundreds of thousands – and then eventually, millions – of viewers. Because of the overwhelming success of the show, Harvey decided to retire from the judiciary on December 31, 2021 after having presided as a full-time judge for 26 1/2 years. Free from the constraints imposed upon judges regarding the expression of opinions and the endorsement of private enterprise, Harvey now happily devotes his full-time attention to hosting “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” as a regular member of the public – albeit one with a rather illustrious and unique career history.
Watch Bruce Belland of The Four Preps on Harvey Brownstone Interviews on Youtube here:
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