Hello People


Hello People was a rock group that was created in New York City in late 1967 by producer Lou Futterman.

History

The idea for creating the group stemmed from Marcel Carné's 1945 film Children of Paradise. Etienne Decroux, the father of French mime, plays the part of Bapties's father in the film. During the sixties Decroux taught painting to a group of musicians. Since these musicians learned to paint so quickly, Decroux reasoned that musicians could also learn mime and apply it in some new way to create a new form. The manager of the musicians Decroux taught, Lou Futterman, decided he would implement this new concept, and put together a new group of musicians who would perform in mime makeup and do mime routines between songs, never speaking a word to the audience.
Two of the original group, Geddes and Blake, were recruited from the music school at Western Connecticut State University. They were later followed by replacement Peter Weston, also from W.C.S.U. Peter and Greg sang most of the lead vocals for the album Fusion. Greg also contributed as recording engineer for the group, a career he later followed after ending the touring with Todd Rundgren. The Hello People were considered part of the anti-war music groups and were featured on both the Tonight Show and the Smothers Brother's Comedy Hour. "Anthem", one of their most popular pieces, was banned in several cities due to the anti-war lyrics that had made it popular.
Hello People performed as Todd Rundgren's back-up band and background vocalists on some of his early tours in the 1970s. They also were part of his Back to the Bars tour, singing background vocals and doing mime routines. They also were the main focus for TEAC's "Homemade With TEAC" LP, being interviewed about, and demonstrating their process of home recording, including overdubs and track-syncing, teaching people how to make Home Recordings using 4-tracks. TEAC's album was released in 1974 just prior to their own album, "Handsome Devils" which charted in 1974 at #145 in Billboard Magazine. The 1975 single "Future Shock" charted at 71.

Lineup

The original Hello People were:

Studio albums