Clockwise from top left: Paul Jensen, Lynn Williams, Lee Craft, John Wilken, Thomas Raney
Ronny and the Daytonas were a surf group of the early 60s. 1964's "Little GTO" was the groups first big hit
Ronny and the
Daytonas
Clockwise from top left: Paul Jensen, Lynn Williams, Lee Craft, John Wilken, Thomas
Raney
Ronny and the Daytonas were a surf group of the early 60s. 1964's "Little GTO"
was the groups first big hit
Members:
John "Bucky" Wilkin aka Ronny Daytona - guitar/vocals
Paul Jenson, - guitar/vocals
Thomas Ramey - bass guitar
Lynn Williams - drums
Lee Craft - guitar
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The Daytonas were formed in Nashville, Tennessee
in 1964 when Bill Justis became their manager and formed Buckhorn Music with the help of Wilkin's mother, Marijohn Wilkin, a country music music writer.
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Signed to Mala Records, a sublabel of Bell Records, their primary contribution to popular music was in injecting country-sounds into the burgeoning surf rock scene. Their 1964 debut single "G.T.O." reached No. 4 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.
It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc A subsequent single, "Bucket T" reached No. 54 on the Billboard chart that same year. |
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After an album
and tour in 1964, Ronny & The Daytonas had another hit in 1965 with a ballad, "Sandy", and an album that reflected a similar country-inflected surfer sound. In 1966 Ronny and The Daytonas switched to RCA Records and released a romantic ballad called "Diane, Diane" and the upbeat "All American Girl", both of which had some success on the charts. The band toured for a short time after this before disbanding.
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In 1965, Buzz Cason and John "Bucky" Wilkin recorded the single "Bay City" / "Tiger A-Go-Go" as
Buzz and Bucky. The single did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
In 1967 they changed the bands name to The Hombres, recording in Phillips
Studio. Later hits were "Let it All Hang Out" in 1967, and "It's A
Gas", in 1968, before the group's breakup the following year.
The mid-1980s saw some interest in re-uniting various band members for a few engagements. The last known appearances of The Daytonas were at a concert in upstate New York
on July 4, 1995, at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Michigan in 2000 and 2002, and at The Baby Boomer Legends concert at "The Factory" in Franklin, Tennessee on April 24, 2015.
