Biography
Don & the Goodtimes emerged in 1965 as a Pacific Northwest outfit founded by keyboardist Don Gallucci and drummer Bobby Holden, both already seasoned players from Portland’s club circuit and nearby venues. Early singles appeared on Wand, the subsidiary imprint of Scepter Records, as well as on Jerden, where regional airplay brought modest hometown traction yet left the band unknown beyond the Northwest. National visibility arrived only after Dick Clark selected the group as the resident act for his 1967 ABC daytime series Where the Action Is. Relocating to Los Angeles, they signed with Epic Records that same year and delivered both a debut single and an accompanying album. The opening 45, “I Could Be So Good to You,” peaked at number 56 on the national chart, though it climbed to number 15 in Los Angeles and cracked the Top 40 in New York, underscoring stronger coastal reception than inland response. Three additional singles followed over the next twelve months, none matching prior regional impact. In 1968 drummer Holden and bassist-vocalist Ron “Buzz” Overman departed; Gallucci then joined forces with vocalist Jeff Hawks and guitarist Joey Newman to assemble a fresh lineup called Touch, completed by bassist-vocalist Bruce Hauser and drummer-vocalist John Bordonaro. The resulting psychedelic ensemble issued one self-titled album in 1969 and disbanded shortly thereafter.
Albums
