Gigi On The Beach - Gigi On The Beach (1989)

Sorry I've been so lax in posting lately, but I've been quite busy, especially now with Christmas on the horizon. But as an early Christmas gift to you all I just had to pop in and offer you this gem. I have never heard of Gigi On The Beach before, but I noticed a brief entry on them on the Rare And Obscure Music blog and fell in love with the cover alone! I HAD to have the CD, and magically the album was available on Amazon for 17 cents!! It just arrived yesterday and I had to take a moment out of my busy schedule to share it with y'all because I know you'll adore it. The only details that the CD itself offers is that it consists of three members: Terri Smith Young, Paula Gallo and Beth Barrett (the cover is misleading as it features two pics of each lady. ;) It was produced by brothers Ed and John Palermo, whose biggest claim to fame was co-producing and co-writing the minor 1984 dance hit "Summer In The Street" for Carrie Lucas (which Gigi On The Beach remake here, and was also one of Isle postee Kim Esty's bigger 'hits'.) Two singles were released from the album to little fanfare: the upbeat "Friday Night In The U.S.A." and the freestylish "Bitch Me Out". The rest of the album is pure dance pop and even includes a remake of the Beatles' "Please Please Me". Anyone who likes any of the other dance pop albums circa 1989 featured on this blog should love this! A search for this group on the internet yields next to nothing (like where that odd group name comes from!) and though there are various women with the same name as this group's members, it's hard to determine if they are indeed the same ladies. As D-Listed would say, this is a case for Detective La Toya! LOL!

UPDATE: Member Paula Gallo found this post and wrote! Here's what she had to say. Thanks for visiting and writing Paula! We're honoured and glad you approve!!!

"I happen to google my group "Gigi on the Beach" to see what would come up and I find this blog. I recently had the record framed for memories to hang on my wall. Yes, we do indeed exist. I am Paula Gallo, the one featured on top of the cover with the pink hat on. The name was thought of by John and Ed Palermo. No reason, but the funny thing is, Gigi was my Mother's nick name (Gloria Gallo). I dedicate that album to her memory. Thanks for bringing our Gigi on the Beach back for people to enjoy. Paula Gallo"

UPDATE #2:  As we await memories from member Terri, who also wrote earlier this year, producer John Palermo just wrote to fill us in on the origins of Gigi On The Beach!  Thanks so much, John!  Glad you visitied us and helped solve the mystery! :)

"Hi everyone. John Palermo here and I'll fill you in on the origin of Gigi on the Beach. My brother Ed and I had written songs for numerous artists, from Graham Nash to Menudo. I came up with the idea to create a fictitious girl group and try to get a record deal. So the name was just pulled out of the air and I sent tapes and bios to a lot of record labels. One of the tapes somehow fell into the hands of Casey Kasim, who called me to say he loved the 'group' and was going to give it to the president of CBS/Scotti Bros. Records. The president (Johnny Musso - super nice guy) called and I fessed up that there wasn't a group, but that I could put one together. Fortunately, he laughed. And he gave me a budget. We auditioned about 75 girls and decided on three. The record was recorded in my NYC apartment. As I understand it, this was CBS' final record with Scotti Bros. and we got caught in that gap where CBS was on their way out and didn't want to put any cash into promotion for Scotti. The girls were great to work with and it was a lot of fun. Terri and Paula are incredibly talented and just a pleasure to know. Ed Palermo has a 20-piece band known for playing the music of Frank Zappa, and I own a CD/DVD duplication business in NYC called DupeCoop - located in the apartment where we recorded Gigi on the Beach. Ed & I have also written for movies (Amelia and The Mummy: Tomb of the Emperor Dragon) and TV since Gigi."

UPDATE #3:   Terri has finally wrote back with her recollections.  Thanks a ton, Terri!!!

"Hi! it is Terri! I just spoke to John actually. We actually live close to each other! My introduction to the group was funny because I was doing a wedding band at the time. The bass player and I were talking and he thought I would be good for Gigi. He recorded my vocal on a cassette player at the wedding. I spoke to John and they actually had a blonde singer they chose. I called back and said that I would love to do some back ups if they needed it because I had never recorded before. I got a call later that week and they said the other girl refused the contract and they wanted me to do it. I was very excited and was ready to go. My biggest challenge was that I had an 8 month old baby and needed to get back in shape. (he is now 25) so I worked my ass off for that cover shoot! My hair was longer when I went in to shoot the cover and they actually cut it right there on the spot! They wanted it to be more Gidget like. Our make up artist was Debbie Mazar, the now actress! We had a ball! More stories to come...getting frisked at the clubs with our outfits sewn together!! Hailing a cab with those outfits!!! lol"

Download Gigi On The Beach

1		Friday Night In The U.S.A.
2		Bitch Me Out
3		Will You Marry Me?
4		Summer In The Street
5		Johnny
6		Please Please Me
7		You're My Kind
8		Modern Jitterbug
9		Treasured Love
10		Crying In The Rain