Cruisin’ originated in Lawrence KS in the 1980s specializing in all the fun songs from the late ‘50s & all of the ‘60s. Being bass, keys and drums the guys focused on cool 3 part harmony with lots of medleys to keep folks on the dance floor.
The band started out mostly playing the Topeka clubs eventually drawing huge crowds at places like the Green Parrot 5 days a week. Gov Carlin used to come see Cruisin’ at the Parrot & hired the guys to play for his birthday party one year.
While expanding their playing area to Central Kansas, Cruisin’ also “headlined” Governors Joan Finney & Mike Hayden’s Inaugaral Balls.
Cruisin’ relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986 but returned ‘home’ to Kansas twice a year to wonderfully large crowds well into the ‘90s, doing gigs like the big Friday night dance at the Smoky Hill River Festival several years running and returning to play it one more time for the Festival’s 25th Year Anniversary in 2001.
Besides playing large Knights of Columbus dances & so on, Cruisin’ broke or set several attendance records in Topeka clubs & played for large dances in Hutchinson, Salina and other Kansas cities.
The group recorded three great selling albums between 1987 and 1993 & were hired to record the Chucky Cheese ‘Beach Bowzers’ soundtrack of nine Beach Boys songs and one Jan & Dean tune which played for several years (maybe still in some;-) Chucky Cheese Parlors.
The group which featured Bruce Brown (Manhattan) on bass & vocals, Bill Jones (Salina) on drums & vocals and Dana Messing (Hutchinson) on keys & vocals continued to flourish in California, known there as The Fabulous CruiseTones playing festivals, concerts, events & clubs up & down the California coast but will always think of Kansas as “home”.
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