The Gentrys were an American band of the 1960s and early 1970s, best known for their 1965 hit "Keep on Dancing". A cover by the Bay City Rollers charted No. 9 in the UK in 1971. Follow-up singles charted outside of the Top 40: "Every Day I Have to Cry" (1966), "Spread It on Thick" (1966), "Cinnamon Girl" (1970), "Why Should I Cry" (1970), "Wild World" (1971), and a 'Bubbling Under' Billboard chart entry, "Brown Paper Sack" (#101, 1966). Career The seven-member group of Treadwell High School (Memphis, Tennessee) alumni included Bruce Bowles (vocals), Bobby Fisher (saxophone, keyboards), Jimmy Hart (vocals), Jimmy Johnson (trumpet), Pat Neal (bass guitar), Larry Raspberry (guitar, lead vocalist), and drummer Larry Wall (replaced by Rob Straube) and also with another member, Larry Butler (keyboards). The youths formed the Gentrys in May 1963 as a rock 'n' roll group for local dances, and were very successful playing for high school dates. In September 1964 they won third place in the Mid-South Fair Talent Competition and auditioned for the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. They soon became the most popular teenage band in the mid-South and in 1964 won the Memphis Battle of the Bands. In December 1964 the group was given a contract by local record label Youngstown Records, and made their first record of "Sometimes", which was very popular locally in early 1965. After bubbling under the Billboard chart for a week, the Gentrys scored with the million-selling "Keep on Dancing" which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. Success led to appearances on Hullabaloo, Shindig!, and Where the Action Is, and they toured with The Beach Boys and Sonny and Cher, as well as playing on Dick Clark bills. However, five follow-up singles failed to break into the Top 40; several months after appearing in the 1967 movie It's a Bikini World, the group disbanded. Other notable band members during the 1963–1966 years were Claude Wayne Whitehead (rhythm guitar), Ronnie Moore (bass), Sonny Pitman (bass), and engineer/producer Terry Manning (keyboards). "Keep on Dancing" is notable for being a song played twice, to stretch the record out to the length of the typical pop single of its day. The second half of the song, after the false fade, beginning with Wall's drum fill, is the same as the first. Though the group had Hart and Bowles as singers, their biggest hit was sung