Wannabe Week: The Brady Bunch

Okay, okay, they weren't a real music group. They weren't even a real family. But the fact that the Brady Bunch actually cut albums, even though none of them could sing, just goes to show how everyone -- I mean everyone -- thought they could be the next Jackson 5. The Brady Bunch even had their own musical variety show in the mid 1970s, even though none of them could sing -- or dance.

Check out these lame dance moves in their first televised appearance that showed them pretending to be a musical group. Seriously, this should have led to a disclaimer from Motown on all Jackson 5 albums: Do not try this at home. These kids are such awkward dancers that they make the DeFranco family look graceful.

I'd be tempted to tell these kids not to quit their day job -- except this was their day job.

Wannabe Week: The Finger 5

I must confess that my all-time favorite wannabe group is a Japanese family act who called themselves The Finger 5. The group started out in 1967 with the three oldest brothers of the Tamamoto family, Kazuo, Mitsuo and Masao. Originally they performed at the bar owned by their parents in Okinawa as the "All Brothers" and later changed their name to the Baby Brothers in 1970 when they signed with King records and released three singles which did not sell well.

In 1972, they added their younger brother Akira and little sister Taeko to the group and were rechristened Finger 5. Borrowing heavily from the Jackson 5's look and style, they unabashedly released several cover versions of Jackson 5 songs, including "I Want You Back," "The Love You Save," "I'll Be There" -- all in Japanese. They were pop sensations in Japan, where they had several hit singles, made countless concert and television appearances, and even made their own movies. Their music, like that of the Jackson 5 in their early Motown days, consisted mostly of bubblegum songs about puppy love and school-yard affairs. Here they are singing one of their early hits, "Love Call 6700." Akira, the smallest brother here, wearing the gigantic glasses, sings lead vocals, with little sister Taeko joining in for an extra dose of cute.

Unfortunately, fame took its toll on the young pop stars, and in 1975 the oldest brother Kazuo dropped out of the act. After a goodbye tour in Japan that year, they relocated to the United States and sank into obscurity -- otherwise known as adulthood.

Tomorrow: The Brady Bunch

Wannabe Week: The DeFranco Family

The DeFranco Family was comprised of five siblings from Ontario, Canada, fronted by 13-year-old Tony DeFranco, the youngest member of the group. The DeFrancos had an interesting path to fame: rather than laboring for years in the industry as the Jacksons, Osmonds, and Sylvers did, they simply cut to the chase and sent their demo (and photos, I'm sure) directly to George Laufer, the publisher of Tiger Beat magazine. Laufer was so impressed with their marketability singing talent that he arranged for them to sign with Capitol Records, where they released their first hit single "Heartbeat, It's a Love Beat." [Warning: this song contains one of the most painful and persistent ear worms ever. If you listen to it now, you will be hearing it your head next week.]

Tony was the clear star of the group, and his face dominated the covers of Tiger Beat magazine for the next two years until Laufer told the family he was only interested in working with Tony and no longer wanted the other four siblings. To their credit, the family refused to let him drop the other kids: it was all or nothing. Laufer chose nothing, and that was the end of the DeFranco Family's singing career.



Tomorrow: The Finger 5

Wannabe Week: The Sylvers

The Sylvers were another family group who saw a rise in their visibility and popularity after the success of the Jackson 5. Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, they started out in the 1960s with the four oldest siblings, Olympia, Leon, Charmaine, and James, as the Little Angels and they worked as an opening act for artists such as Ray Charles and Johnny Mathis. In 1972 they added the next two brothers, Edmund and Ricky, to their line up and changed their group name and their sound.

Of all the imitators, the Sylvers came closest to giving the Jackson 5 a run for their money. Their talent and good looks (not to mention their amazing afros) helped them push the Jackson 5 from their regular spot on the cover of Right On! magazine, and there were countless stories with titles like "Will the Sylvers Replace the Jackson 5?" And a couple of things made them distinct as a teen group: they were all equally talented on lead vocals and they also wrote a lot of their own music. Here they are singing "I Wish I Could Talk to You," on their first Soul Train appearance, where you can hear Leon, Ricky, and Edmund on lead vocals.

Other than being another young and talented Black family group, there were a couple of other connections between the Jackson 5 and the Sylvers. In the early '70s Edmund Sylvers provided Marlon's speaking voice in the Jackson 5ive cartoon series on Saturday morning television. And their biggest hit, "Boogie Fever," was written and produced by Freddie Perren who had been a member of the J5's early production and song-writing team, The Corporation. By the time The Sylvers recorded it, they had added three more siblings to the group: sisters Pat and Angie, and little brother, Foster, who had had his own solo hit, "Misdemeanor," in 1973, sounding very much like a young Michael Jackson. In this live performance of of "Boogie Fever" from a 1976 Midnight Special, Foster comes in with the counter lead to Edmund's lead vocals.

Check out the bow at the end of this performance. I'll think you'll find it familiar.

Tomorrow: The DeFranco Family

Wannabe Week: The Osmonds

The Jackson 5's popularity in the early 1970s spawned dozens of imitators, as record companies tried to apply the Jackson 5's formula for success to other teen groups. This week, we'll take a look at some of the family groups that tried for the J5's sound, look, and style, starting with the most notorious wannabes, The Osmonds.


There is no denying that the Osmond brothers -- Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, and Donny -- were talented performers. They had been in the business professionally since they were small, and had been regulars on the Andy Williams Show for years, as well as having a recurring role on a dramatic series The Travels of Jamie McPheeters.

But it was only after the Jackson 5 hit it big that the Osmonds began to hit the pop charts with their songs that borrowed heavily from the J5's sound. In fact, their first hit, "One Bad Apple," had actually been written with the Jackson 5 in mind, but Berry Gordy turned it down. Here is one of the better renditions of it, with the Osmond Brothers singing it live in about 1971:

I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio. I knew immediately that it wasn't the Jackson 5 because neither Merrill nor Donny sang as well as Jermaine or Michael -- they both have to strain to reach the higher notes. But I knew that it was someone trying to sound like the Jackson 5. And, of course, I was incensed that they were stealing the Jackson 5's sound. The Osmonds began to get all the space in the teen magazines that I thought the Jacksons should have had instead.

But before long, the similarities between the two groups got almost comical: Donny went solo / Michael went solo. Jacksons had a little brother waiting to join the group / Osmonds had a little brother waiting to join the group. They were even scheduled to tour England during the same week in 1972. Check out the slide show I put together a while back for more eerie similarities between the two groups.

Of all the groups that imitated the Jackson 5, no other evokes the ire among hardcore J5 fans that the Osmonds did. Maybe that's, in part, because they came closest to capitalizing on the group's success.

Tomorrow: The Sylvers