Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at thejewishnews.com

54 | SEPTEMBER 5 • 2024 
J
N

One-Hit Wonders
R

ecently, Thea Glicksman wrote to our intrepid JN 
reporter Danny Schwartz with an intriguing story. 
Thea is Danny’s cousin, by the way.
Thea wrote, “When I graduated from Farmington High 
School in 1966, several parents of the graduating class got 
together to plan the annual post-graduation 
night party. When it came to finding the 
band, I suggested to my parents that I could 
try to get the ‘Shy Guys’ to play, a band made 
up of several young men from Oak Park. At 
the time, they had a hit song that became 
popular nationally. 
“I have not thought about that band in 
decades!” she wrote. “I know the group was 
a topic in a conversation many years ago 
when, at one of my class reunions, a classmate reminded 
me that I found a good band for that party!
“It might be interesting to do a story about some young 
Jewish rock musicians from Oak Park almost 60 years 
later,” she continued. “I would think the JN archives would 
contain a story or two from that year when they were 
popular.” 
It is indeed a good idea for a story. The Shy Guys 
were a garage band from Oak Park, who performed 
regionally, 1964-1968. Band members were Ron 
Nelson (lead guitar, vocals); Stu “Hirshfield” 
Howard (guitar, vocals); Marty Lewis (bass); and 
Mark Finn (drums). One of their songs, “We Gotta 
Go,” became a top 10 hit in Southeastern Michigan 
and Buffalo, New York. Before DJs arrived, the Shy 
Guys was the bar/bat mitzvah band in Detroit. They 
also opened for nationally known acts such as the 
Dave Clark Five, the Four Tops, the Supremes and 
the Who. 
The William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish 
Detroit History did have a “story or two” about the 
Shy Guys. First, somebody at the JN had a question 
related to Thea’s story, and the JN ran an ad in 
the Nov. 13, 1987, issue posing: “Where Are ‘Shy 
Guys?’”
This led to a feature story in the March 25, 1988, 
issue of the JN with the same title: “Where are the 
‘Shy Guys?’” Twenty years after they last performed, 
this article located members of the band and found 
that they had all moved on and “pursued interests — 
and residences — far and wide.”
Another related JN article that year was about 
radio personality Scott Regan. He held the night-
time slot at WKNR radio from 1965-1968. For many 
years, WKNR was one of the mega-rock stations in 

Detroit. Regan gave “We Gotta Go” its first airing (Aug 4, 
1988). It soon made the top of WKNR’s play list in June 
1966. “We Gotta Go” was also aired on other prominent 
local radio stations such as CKLW and WXYZ.
JN’s Elizabeth Applebaum begins her article about the 
JCC musical festival in 2021 with: “In the 1960s, you could 
not get any cooler than the Shy Guys. Man, these cats were 
happening.” She also notes that the band inspired young 
Don Fagenson (now known as the famous musician Don 
Was), who said, “When I was growing up in Oak Park, my 
loftiest ambition was to be the bass player in a local band 
called the Shy Guys.” (March 8, 2012)
I’ll be frank. I had never heard of the Shy Guys until 
Danny mentioned the band and Thea’s note. Wish I had 
seen them perform. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at 
thejewishnews.com.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

that they had all moved on and “pursued interests — 

time slot at WKNR radio from 1965-1968. For many 

