Steve Alaimo

Steve Alaimo cut multiple LPs during the first half of the 1960s yet remains best known for serving as host and co-producer of Dick Clark’s Where the Action Is television program toward the end of that decade. Born in Rochester, NY, he was enrolled at the University of Miami when he assembled the Redcoats, whose “I Want You to Love Me” became a regional success. Early in the decade he joined the Checker roster as a solo performer and issued the commercially disappointing albums Twist with Steve Alaimo and Mashed Potatoes. Although the title track of the second set had edged into the Top 100 in March 1962, Alaimo achieved his highest chart placement the next year when “Everyday I Have to Cry Some” reached number 46. He subsequently placed seven additional singles on the charts and released further albums before shifting focus to production work by the middle of the decade. At TK Records, the company he established with Henry Stone, he oversaw sessions for Sam & Dave and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. During the 1970s TK pivoted from soul and R&B toward disco, documenting KC & the Sunshine Band and issuing Peter Brown’s 1977 single “Do You Wanna Get Funky with Me,” the first 12-inch single to attain gold status. In 1987 Alaimo launched the Vision imprint alongside Ron and Howard Albert, signing Stephen Stills, Jimmy Cliff, Inner Circle and additional artists. He also took roles in several adventure pictures released in the early 1970s, among them Wild Rebels (1971), Alligator Alley (1972) and Stanley (1972).