Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, The Lovin’ Spoonful were honored for their brilliant influence on the music industry.
At the height of their fame, The Lovin’ Spoonful were often referred to as “America’s Beatles,” challenging the British Invasion with an astonishing and unrivaled string of hits. Their first seven singles landed on Billboard’s Top 10 charts virtually overnight.
The band, led by John Sebastian, Steve Boone, Joe Butler and Zal Yanovsky, exploded onto the music scene after their early appearances at the Night Owl Café in New York’s Greenwich Village. They were signed to Kama Sutra Records and the hits started pouring out.
Their first single, Do You Believe in Magic, flew to the top of the charts. It was soon followed by Daydream, Summer in the City, Darling Be Home Soon, Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind, You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice, Nashville Cats,Coconut Grove, Younger Girl and many more.
They appeared on every major TV show of the era including The Ed Sullivan Show, Hullabaloo and Shindig.
The band was so influential that music legends Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson cited them as forces of inspiration, as did so many others. John Lennon called them “tunesmiths!”
Today the Lovin’ Spoonful tours with founding member, Steve Boone, with Jeff Alan Ross, Bill Cinque, Rob Bonfiglio and Mike Auturi.
Together they faithfully celebrate the rich, good-time catalog of hits that made them one of the world’s most beloved groups of the 1960s.
Built-in 1925, in the grand architectural style of Beaux-Arts Classical Revival, the Simon Theatre provided a splendid setting for many theatrical performances, film screenings and ballroom dances. The James Simon family commissioned Houston architect Alfred C. Finn, whose career included designing a number of prominent Houston buildings as well as the San Jacinto Monument, to design the theatre for the community of Brenham. Today, after a meticulous million-plus dollar renovation, the glamour and grand style lives on for future generations in the newly named Barnhill Center at Historic Simon Theatre.
