One very important fact about Mr. Merrill: He was The Lead singer and songwriter of the first and original 1975 version of "I Love Rock N Roll" with his band, The Arrows. The song has become an enduring international rock anthem, recorded by Joan Jett, Britney Spears, and many others. Joan Jett saw Merrill perform the song on a British television pop show in '76, while on tour with her band, The Runaways, and she was deeply inspired. Her 1982 version of the song was #1 for 8 weeks in the USA. He was literally born into the world of music. Named Allan Sachs at birth, his parents, Helen Merrill, and sax/clarinetist Aaron Sachs of Earl 'Fatha' Hines Band, are world-renowned musicians. After starting to play music in semi-pro bands in Greenwich Village, Merrill eventually moved to Japan in his late teens. Starting his professional career in music with the RCA-Victor Tokyo-based recording group, The Lead, in 1968, young Merrill replaced Mark Elder as guitarist in the band. They had one hit single, titled "Blue Rose." It was also then that his management changed his professional name to Allan Merrill. When The Lead broke up, Merrill went solo, recording two popular albums: "Merrill 1" and "Alone In Tokyo" in 1970 -'71. He became the biggest foreign pop star in Japan's domestic market, hosting his own segment on the popular TV show "Young 720," acting in the soap opera "Ji Kan Desu-yo," and being featured in commercials, including major campaigns for Nissan cars and Jun clothing. He was signed to the most powerful agency in Japan, Watanabe Productions. He soon grew tired of being a "teen pop idol" and left the agency, first doing studio work with many artist including Garo (Mushroom records) and Godzilla & Yellow Gypsy (King records), and later forming the hard-edged glam rock group Vodka Collins (as lead singer and guitarist) in 1972, with Hiroshi Oguchi, with Mr. Merrill mysteriously suddenly dropping one letter (L) from his surname. The charismatic Oguchi was already a well-known drummer and media celbrity who had been with the chart hit popular band, The Tempters. Vodka Collins recorded one album, "Tokyo-New York," for EMI Records, and it's proved their most-enduring work. Now available on CD, it remains a consistent seller. Vodka Collins had three hit singles off of the album: "Sands Of Time," "Automatic Pilot" and "Billy Mars." The song "Scratchin'" from the "Tokyo-New York" album was used as the theme for a gangster TV show. All these songs were Merrill compositions, with Japanese lyrics added on a couple (which then became domestic market hits) by drummer Hiroshi Oguchi. After a dispute with their manager in 1974, Merrill left Tokyo altogether. Relocated to London, he formed his next band, The Arrows. As lead singer/bassist of that group, he had hits with "Touch Too Much," "My Last Night With You" and "I Love Rock 'N Roll." He also hosted a weekly TV series in 1976-77 called "The Arrows Show," on ITV/Granada Television. A book was written about the Arrows by Liverpool legend Bill Harry, the former Merseybeat editor, on Everest Books. Famed hit-maker Mickie Most produced the Arrows on his RAK record label. There was even an Arrows cartoon strip which ran for over a year. When the new wave of punk rock swept the UK in '77, the Arrows became suddenly unfashionable, and disbanded. Merrill then set his sights on the USA, and formed the band Runner with British musicians Steve Gould (Rare Bird) on guitar, Mick Feat (Van Morrison Band) on bass, and Dave Dowle (Whitesnake) on drums. They recorded an album titled "Runner" for Island Records in late 1978, which charted in the USA. When the group broke up in 1980 (due to the legendary "musical differences"), Merrill moved back from the UK to New York. In 1980-83, Merrill toured and recorded with Rick Derringer, contributing to his "Good Dirty Fun" "Live At The Ritz" and "Rick Derringer and Friends" albums, writing songs, singing, and playing guitar on these projects. This Derringer lineup also made a concert film for Sony, "The Rick Derringer Rock Spectacular", which featured all-star guests like Ted Nugent, Southside Johnny, and Edgar Winter. In 1985, Merrill released a self-titled solo album for Polydor Records, a collection of all self-composed tracks. Some heavyweight friends contributing to this album were Steve Winwood, Mick Taylor, and Dallas Taylor. The album got great reviews, and the "Hard Hearted Woman" single from the album was well received, but the album wasn't a chart hit due to poor promotion. The album was later reissued in CD format as "Never Pet A Burning Dog" in 1998. In 1986, He joined Meat Loaf for the remainder of the 1980's and recorded the "Live At Wembley" and "Prime Cuts" albums with the band. In 1990, Merrill got a part in the Savage Steve Holland directed HBO television series "Encyclopedia Brown" playing rocker Casey Sparks. He also wrote the theme song of the show, which was titled "Who Done It?" The show was very popular. This was followed in the early 1990's with his involvement as a vocalist on the Christmas album "Holiday Heroes," with an ambitious New York producer. Two albums which were essentially Merrill solo recordings (but released under a band name) followed, "Blue Guru" and "Yes I Ram." Mr. Merrill doesn't approve these releases nor in any way condones or endorses the sale of these albums to his fans due to a serious contractual dispute. He did all The Lead singing on these two discs, except for one vocal duet on each CD with Arthur Alexander and Jim "Basketball Diaries" Carroll, respectively. Meanwhile on a more positive and lucrative note, public demand in Japan for a Vodka Collins reunion was overwhelming, and the band reformed in 1995 to record the album, "Chemical Reaction." The Tokyo based group also recorded and released two more albums, "Pink Soup" and "Boy's Life" in 1997-98, all featuring Mr. Merrill's lead vocals, guitar, and compositions. With the dawn of a new millennium, he recorded a new 21-song solo album, titled "Cupid Deranged," for sale in early 2002. The album is a recorded look-back-over-the-shoulder at his career repertoire, spanning the years, mixed in with some newer Merrill compositions as well. For those of you who missed this artist the first time around, this record will fill you in on a most interesting artist. More recently, in winter 2002, he has released the seasonal solo album, "A Merrilly Christmas." In the spring of 2003, his two for one album tribute to songwriters Arthur Alexander and Otis Blackwell, "DoubleShotRocks," was released to fantastic reviews. In the year 2004 Merrill released two new albums, one solo and one band. The solo album is titled "Aleecat" on MEC Records, and the Vodka Collins reunion reissue is titled "Boys In The Band," a compilation of three albums. In September 2006 Merrill released a new solo album titled "At The Candy Shop" and this follows a July reissue of his early career album, "Merrill 1." In the year 2007 he released a tribute to The Left Banke titled "Rive Gauche" and featuring his version of the classic "Walk Away Renee." In 2008 Merrill issued two new albums, solo albums titled "Alien In Tokyo," on MEC Records, and the live album titled "The Aleecat, Live In Japan. " Also in summer 2008 he released a new solo maxi single EP ttitled "Hard Road" to round up the releases for '08. A new solo album has been released in January 2010 titled "The Face Of 69." After living most of his adult life abroad, Mr. Merrill currently resides in his place of birth - New York City.
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