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