The Youngbloods
Formed in 1965 in Boston, Massachusetts, the Youngbloods evolved from the city's thriving traditional music circuit. The group was formed by folk-singers Jesse Colin Young (b. Perry Miller, 11 November 1944, New York City, New York, USA) and Jerry Corbitt (b. Tifton, Georgia, USA) who together completed a single, My Babe, prior to the arrival of aspiring jazz drummer Joe Bauer (b. 26 September 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, USA) and guitarist/pianist Lowell Levinger III, better-known simply as Banana (b. 1946, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA). Jesse began playing bass when several candidates, including Felix Pappalardi and Harvey Brooks, proved incompatible, and the quartet took the name Youngbloods from the singer's second solo album. Having secured a residency at New York's famed Cafe Au Go Go, the group established itself as a leading folk-rock cum good-time attraction. Their debut THE YOUNGBLOODS, captures this formative era and mixes excellent original songs, including the ebullient Grizzly Bear, with several choice cover versions. The group's reading of Dino Valenti's Get Together subsequently became a hit in California where it was adopted as a counter-culture anthem. The lyric ‘Come on now people, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try and love one another right now’, perfectly captured the mood of late-60s Californian rock music. 
The Youngbloods then settled on the west coast. ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN, their most popular album, reflected a new-found peace of mind and included several of the group's best-known songs, including Darkness Darkness and Sunlight. Jerry Corbitt had left the line-up during the early stages of recording allowing Bauer and Banana space to indulge in improvisational interludes. The Youngbloods gained complete artistic freedom with their own label, Racoon. However releases by Bauer, Banana and Young dissipated the strengths of the parent unit whose final releases were marred by inconsistency. A friend from the Boston days, Michael Kane, joined the band in the spring of 1971, but they split the following year when Jesse resumed his solo career. Banana, Bauer and Kane continued as Banana And The Bunch, but this occasional venture subsequently folded. In 1984 Levinger reappeared in the Bandits, before retiring from music to run a hang-gliding shop.