Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1971 Cymarron – Rings

1971 Cymarron – Rings

The early seventies had a profusion of different kinds of music getting airplay. One genre that had a resurgence was soft rock. A perfect example of that was the song Rings by Cymarron.

Rick Yancey got a job as a studio musician at American Recording Studios in Memphis. Sherrill Parks also worked there, and the two decided to start working together. Sherrill brought Richard Mainegra into the group. They chose the name Cymarron for the group, using a strange spelling that they derived from the 1967 television show Cimarron Strip.

Alex Harvey wrote the song Reuben James, which had been a hit for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition in 1969. Eddie Reeves had written several songs that Ray Charles recorded beginning in 1970. In 1971, Alex and Eddie worked together and wrote the song Rings. Cymarron recorded and released the single, which reached #17 on the Hot 100 and #6 on the Adult Contemporary (AC) chart in 1971.

The song was recorded by several other artists. In 1974, Lobo’s version of the song peaked at #43 on the Hot 100 but managed to reach the top ten on the AC chart. The most unusual release of the song came from Twiggy in 1977. I had no idea the former model could even sing, but between 1971 and 2011, she released nine albums and had at least one top twenty single in the UK. While she never graced the US charts, her version of Rings reached #35 in the UK.

Cymmaron released a second single that only reached #96 in 1971, after which the group an album and a few more singles without much success.

Jimmy Griffin had been a founding member of Bread and written soft rock songs other artists recorded. In 1988, Rick and Richard joined up with Jimmy and the trio formed the Country group, The Remingtons. The group had a top ten Country hit with A Long Time Ago in 1991. They followed that with a few less successful singles. That group fell apart and  Jimmy and Rick joined with Ronnie Guilbeau to form the band GYG in 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymarron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Remingtons

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