Remember
when you were a kid, and you repeatedly heard the song, Billy Don't
Be A Hero,and you couldn't get it out of your head? It seemed as if
you heard that song everywhere you went, and for a while you did. Back
in the spring of 1974, the record sold over US$3.5 million, and was near
the top of the charts for many months. One of the singers of that famous
song is alive and well, and living here in Bangkok.
Danny Loveland,
who co-sang the famous hit with Mike Gibbons for the group Bo Donaldson
and the Heywoods, is running a Tex-Mex restaurant here in Bangkok called
Charley Brown's. Billy Don't Be a Hero was recorded in Europe
by the group Paper Lace, but Peter Callender and Mitch Murray wrote the
tune.
Bo Donaldson
and the Heywoods were the front band for the Osmond Brothers
for a number of years, but they became internationally recognized with
the song that will be associated with them for the rest of their lives.
Loveland,
a very fit fifty-two, hails from Wichita, Kansas. He says, "Our group
was promoted by Dick Clark, which was great because Clark was a tremendous
businessman, and he knew what hit the public's trigger, and what didn't.
For a while we were the highest paid act on the road. One of the main reasons
for our success was the work of Peggy Rogers, Clark's number one mover
and shaker. Many people don't hear about the people that make you a hit,
but she was the key to everything, and she made it all happen."
Loveland left
the band in 1975, to record on his own. He continued to have success with
hits like Black is Black, but he then made a decision to end his
singing career. "I always felt it was better to get out of something, then
to stay in it when you were no longer happy anymore. Singing wasn't hitting
my trigger, and I had done all that I planned to do so I decided to get
out. I usually do something until I am tired of it, then I get out."
Looking back
now, Loveland remarks, "It's kind of funny but I was really a drummer,
who was forced to learn how to sing, because all the lead vocalist were
so temperamental, and they kept quitting on us."
After he
quit singing for a career Dan Loveland opened up the biggest disco in the
Midwest, called the "Backstage," which held up to 1100 people.
He ran it for five years, then sold it after tiring of it. While running
the disco he had a successful TV program called "Carats Palladium Saturday
Night" which aired after Saturday Night Live.
When asked
about the fame he experienced Loveland replied, "Too much of anything
is bad, and it got to be very irritating at times.One time while I was
ridding on a cable car in Disneyland, some young girls spotted me, and
chased me all the way through the park. It got crazy at times."
When queried
about famous performers that he either played with or met during his music
career, Loveland responded,"There were many but ones that stood
out were Johnny Rivers, the Grassroots, the Association, and Neil Diamond,
who of course, is a hell of a nice guy.
Asked about
aging rock stars still on the road today, Loveland said, "You have to admire
people like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, and Paul McCartney. Guys like that
keep themselves in shape. Performers that let themselves go, look old,
and fat - well they look stupid. I think."
So why come
to Bangkok? Loveland pauses and says, "Six years ago everyone said
that Asia was the place to put your money, and specifically Thailand.
But they said
to do it quickly, because the opportunity wouldn't last. When I bought
this place we were the only ones out here. Now the development is just
booming, and soon there are going to be two more expressways passing right
by here, so I couldn't have asked for a better location.
Our clientele
is also much better behaved because we are far away from the Sukhumvit,
and the Patpong crowd."
Charley Brown's
caters to a yuppie Thai crowd of twenty-five and up, but the eatery also
has its share of regular farang customers (Dick Clark stopped in
when he was hosting the Miss Universe contest, in Bangkok, in 1992).
The collection
of memorabilia in the restaurant is second to none, and if Loveland ever
runs into any problems in the food business, he can always open up a museum
of American artifacts.
The collection
of baseball caps, beer cans, posters car accessories etc. (all of it shipped
from America) is simply amazing. Some people have been to known to stop
by the diner, just to browse at the walls.
Loveland has
spent a lot time and effort into decorating his establishment, and it has
paid off.
Loveland, the
entrepreneur, has also branched out into the food business as he has successfully
marketed three brands of tortilla chips here in Thailand (in nacho cheese,
regular tortilla, and soon chili barbecue flavors). The chips are on
sale at leading food chains throughout the country. Mr Loveland has a Thai
wife, Maliwan, who has a masters degree in industrial design. They have
two daughters, named Mary (nicknamed Flopper), and Dana (nicknamed Farang).
His chips, the "Danitas" are named after his youngest daughter.
When asked
about what future enterprises he would like to be involved in, Loveland
ponders and says, "I would like to produce comedy shorts. Twenty minute
funny movies." Once an entertainer, always an entertainer.
Dan Loveland
is happy with his business. "Not many people can go out and fill
a place every night, six or seven nights a week, but that's what we've
done here at Charley Brown's so yah I'm happy."
Loveland
thrives on a challenge, and his motto is,
"Everything will tend to work out if you do it right." He obviously taking
his own advice.
For further
info contact Dan Loveland c/o: Tel: (662)
530-3713
