Steed Album DiscographyThe first single on the label was "And I Don't Want Your Love"/"My Babe" (Steed 701) by the Keepers of the Light. Other early artists included the Rich Kids (Steed 702, 706), Jacqueline Carol and Louis St. Louis (Steed 703), Hank Shifter (Steed 704, 708), and Alzo & Uddin (Steed 705).
Andy Kim was the first hit artist for the label, with his "How'd We Ever Get This Way" (Steed 707), which
charted at #21 in the spring of 1968. Kim had ten chart hits altogether for Steed, but the only two to
make the top 20 were remakes of old Ronettes' hits, "Baby I Love You" (Steed 716, #9, 1969) and "Be
My Baby" (Steed 729, #17, 1970). Ellie Greenwich sang background vocals on most of the Andy Kim
releases on Steed. Ron Dante (lead singer of The Archies) appears as backing vocalist on Andy's
single "Rainbow Ride." Ronnie Spector is rumored to be the guest vocalist on Andy's final Steed single,
"I Been Moved", but she has never acknowledged this.
Kim later complained that to give his voice the young "bubble gum" sound so popular in the 1968-69 era, Barry sped up his records to make his voice sound higher (and younger!). This caused Kim's hits to be out of his vocal range in concert! A listen to Kim's 1974 #1 hit "Rock Me Gently" (Capitol 3895) bears out that his voice is much lower than it appeared to have been on his Steed hits.
The second hit act for Steed was a Long Island, NY, quintet, the Illusion. The group was John Vinci
(vocals), Richie Cerniglia (guitar), Mike Maniscalo (keyboards), Chuck Alder (bass), and Mike
Ricciardella (drums). Barry released an edit of "Did You See Her Eyes" from a longer tape as Steed 712
in late 1968, but nothing happened. Believing that the song was a hit, and certainly one of the best
dance numbers of the time, Barry reworked the song a bit and gave it another try a few months later
(Steed 718), and this time it made #32 on the national charts. The group managed a couple more songs
scraping the bottom of the charts, but was essentially a one-hit act. The album version of "Did You See
Her Eyes" clocks in at just under 7 minutes playing time.
Robin McNamara, who had been putting out singles on Steed since 1968, finally got a hit with "Lay a
Little Lovin' on Me" in 1970 (Steed 724, #11). McNamara had been one of the original cast members of
the smash Broadway play Hair. La La Brooks (of the Crystals) was in the cast of Hair at
the same time as Robin McNamara, using the name Sakinah. Along with other members of the cast, she
sang background on both the album and single "Lay A Little Lovin' On Me." McNamara also charted with
his followup, "Got to Believe in Love" (Steed 728), making #80. His last two singles didn't chart, leaving
him with the dubious distinction of closing out the label with his single "Mary, Janey & Me"/"Beer Drinkin'
Man" in 1971.
Of the eight albums issued on Steed, all were by these three artists, all who had chart hits. The first album was issued in both mono and stereo, while the others were stereo only. Steed closed down in 1971. Jeff Barry closed the label in order to move to Los Angeles and take a job with Paramount Pictures' music division (ABC Paramount Records distributed the final Steed product). That job didn't work out, and he ended up as a staff producer at A & M Records. Robin McNamara accompanied Jeff to Los Angeles, and cut a version of "Chapel Of Love" for A & M with Jeff producing.
