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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.

Danny Loveland This article by Scott Murray about Danny Loveland is just one of the many fine articles by Scott -  Scott Murray is a Canadian journalist living in Bangkok, Thailand. Currently he is the managing editor of Siam Trade, Thailand's leading English language business magazine. He has  also been a regular contributer to the Bangkok Post, one of the best newspapers in  Asia, and Metro magazine, Thailand's leading English entertainment monthly.

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