Rod Lauren On Record
The list of recordings made by Rod Lauren professionally is not large, and only covers a five-year period during which two record companies – RCA Victor and Chancellor – released slightly more than a dozen of his songs on disc.
Those releases included only one long-playing (LP) album, “I’m Rod Lauren,” on RCA Victor, which contained twelve songs, including his only Billboard Top 40 hit, “If I Had A Girl,” which was also his debut single in 1959.
The following is a list of known recordings by Rod Lauren from 1959 through 1964.
The Fresno Demo Recordings
Late 1958/Early 1959
Known at the time by a slight variation on the name he was born with, Rod Strunk (having put Roger in the rear-view mirror) recorded a demonstration disc as a favor to a fellow local musician in Fresno. The exact date and circumstances of the recording – including the location where the recording was made, and what songs were recorded – are unfortunately lost to time.
The tunes themselves were the handiwork of Don Gross, leader of Fresno’s popular singing group, The Buddies, which had enjoyed limited success with a few national releases on Decca, but remained a local favorite.
The demo disc (or tape) probably found its way into the hands of RCA Victor’s Dick Peirce at some point during his visit to Fresno in early March 1959 to attend Jesse Belvin’s shows at the Town & Country Lodge in Fresno, for which The Buddies – with Rod Strunk handling vocals – served as the opening act.
In the absence of knowing how it actually happened, one might presume that Don Gross approached Dick Peirce after the show, introduced himself, and handed him a copy of his demo.
Peirce was not impressed by Gross’ compositions, but heard something in the boy singer on the recordings – enough so to offer him a chance at stardom.
No copy of these recordings is known to exist.
[A] If I Had A Girl/
[B] No Wonder
RCA Victor – 47-7645 [USA]
Early November 1959
The exact date is not known for the release of the first 45 RPM single by Rod Lauren – “If I Had A Girl” b/w “No Wonder” – but Billboard made its first mention of him in its October 26, 1959, edition, noting that the label “last week presented its newest find” and “is releasing his first single.”
The November 2, 1959, edition of the Valley Times noted:
And today is the day for actual release of [Rod Lauren’s] first record, a single on the RCA-Victor label called “No Wonder” backed with “If I Had A Girl.” 1This, from the “Hi Fi By LP” column in the North Hollywood, Calif.,-based Valley Times, which also ran a photo of Rod Lauren, along with a glowing report on the young singer, concluding with “Mark my words (and remember where you read it first), Rod Lauren will soon be spelled THE VOICE.”
Note that the Valley Times, as well as several other sources, report that “No Wonder” is the A-side, backed with “If I Had A Girl,” rather than the other way around.
A week later, in Billboard‘s November 9, 1959, issue, RCA Victor ran a full-page ad offering 25 copies of the single to the first 1,000 dealers to return the coupon included with the advertisement; this builds on the assumption that Rod’s record had been unleashed on the public at or around this time.
International Releases:
“If I Had A Girl” b/w “No Wonder” was also released by RCA Victor as a 7-inch 45 RPM double-sided vinyl disc in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Canada, and Japan.
In South Africa, RCA released the record as a 10-inch 78 RPM double-sided shellac disc.
In Italy, song titles on the disc were printed in English; however, on the picture sleeve, RCA Italiana included the song titles with translation: “If I Had A Girl (Se Avessi Una Ragazza)” and “No Wonder (Nessuna Meraviglia).”
In Spain, the picture sleeve included the titles only in Spanish as “Si Tuviera Una Chica” and “No Te Extrañe.”
In Japan, Rod Lauren’s name (ロッド・ローラン, or Roddo Rōren) and the song titles were included in both English and Japanese on the picture sleeve, as “If I Had A Girl (女の子が恋しくって)” and “No Wonder (ノー・ワンダー).”
[A] This I Know/
[B] Listen My Love
“This I Know” info.
Rod Lauren Discography: A discography of recordings made by Rod Lauren (Roger Strunk, a/k/a Rod Strunk) during his musical career.
Footnotes
- 1This, from the “Hi Fi By LP” column in the North Hollywood, Calif.,-based Valley Times, which also ran a photo of Rod Lauren, along with a glowing report on the young singer, concluding with “Mark my words (and remember where you read it first), Rod Lauren will soon be spelled THE VOICE.”
Note that the Valley Times, as well as several other sources, report that “No Wonder” is the A-side, backed with “If I Had A Girl,” rather than the other way around.