Al.Burnett1966
Ikon Class
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2024
- Location
- France
This post of Bolt 24 raised my curiosity so I made some research on John Covert and found some info on some of his collaborators as well.
(Could do a good post if a garage blog is interested)
John Douglas Covert Jr. seemed active from the early 60s on the Stockton, CA scene, though he may have hailed from Los Angeles before that. What is sure is that he had family ties around San Francisco. He played in several bands and gave music lessons throughout the 60s, including at Fuhrman Music Co in Stockton in 1964-65 and was introduced as "former Bassist of the Pendletons, Lancers, Standels, etc." I doubt the Standels were the L.A. group but who knows. John played with a Standels band again in 1965 in Stockton.
(Oct 1, 1964)
(February 26, 1965)
His first recording credit seems to be songwriting for the collaborative single of Shades Of Sound & The Tempos in 1966 on Sky. Bolt24 pointed out The Tempos here was Little Steve & The Tempos and the Shades Of Sound was really a group called the Dynamics. John also worked on a second Shades Of Sound single in 1967. It's difficult to say if he did play as a musician on them or rather acted as a producer.
An ad for the 1966 single show John sold it through Fuhrman's Freitas Miracle Music Stores (not sure if he owned the place or just worked there) and got a little airplay. CMC Production on the label could stand for Covert - McLendon - Covello, all names found as songwriter and arrangers on the second Shades Of Sound single.
Ron McLendon (misspelled McClendon on the first single) worked on both Shades singles and also co-wrote songs with John for a Kris Carpenter single in 1982.
In 1967 John Covert worked at Jerry Lee's music store on 1720 Pacific Ave where a recording studio was also equiped. He set up his own Modern Music Studio at the end of 1968 and put out the first Crystal Image single. John's site states the band was formed that year in San Joaquin, CA. The A side was co-arranged by Peggy Pullum and Skip Frazier, two people who were teaching music with John at Modern Music and who also collaborated with him on the Mother's Worry single in 1969. Frazier also co-arranged Crystal Image's "You Got The Power" in 1976.
I wonder if some of John's singles could be studio projects he would make with his music students? Most of his projects were issued on the Dream label, which he probably owned.
It looks a bit like the Crystal Image band was more of a general name for John Covert's projects. Different arrangers are credited on each sides of the singles as if they were session musicians, or maybe there was just a lot of turnover in the members. A more constant lineup seems to solidify by the mid-70s though.
In 1969 John put out the single by Mother's Worry, to which he wrote both sides and on which plenty of usual arrangers are credited, and is in fact Crystal Image under another name.
But they did play live. The first mention of a Crystal Image gig I found was in Oct 1970 at the Shady Acres Inn in Ripon, CA. They played regularly until December and came back in 1972.
Seems John Covert also owned a Tomato plant that burned in '65. He was also an active golfer.
John went on to put out eleven Crystal Image singles and three LPs between 1968 and 1984. They are also credited as backing band on two 1988 singles of the Wall Family (family band from Canada). Several singles mention the band was Grand prize winner et the Nashville music city song festival, and multi finalist American song festival.
The band still performed as of 2025 as seen on their site and John's instagram page.
The band's site: https://crystalimageband.weebly.com/
(Could do a good post if a garage blog is interested)
John Douglas Covert Jr. seemed active from the early 60s on the Stockton, CA scene, though he may have hailed from Los Angeles before that. What is sure is that he had family ties around San Francisco. He played in several bands and gave music lessons throughout the 60s, including at Fuhrman Music Co in Stockton in 1964-65 and was introduced as "former Bassist of the Pendletons, Lancers, Standels, etc." I doubt the Standels were the L.A. group but who knows. John played with a Standels band again in 1965 in Stockton.
(Oct 1, 1964)
(February 26, 1965)
His first recording credit seems to be songwriting for the collaborative single of Shades Of Sound & The Tempos in 1966 on Sky. Bolt24 pointed out The Tempos here was Little Steve & The Tempos and the Shades Of Sound was really a group called the Dynamics. John also worked on a second Shades Of Sound single in 1967. It's difficult to say if he did play as a musician on them or rather acted as a producer.
An ad for the 1966 single show John sold it through Fuhrman's Freitas Miracle Music Stores (not sure if he owned the place or just worked there) and got a little airplay. CMC Production on the label could stand for Covert - McLendon - Covello, all names found as songwriter and arrangers on the second Shades Of Sound single.
Ron McLendon (misspelled McClendon on the first single) worked on both Shades singles and also co-wrote songs with John for a Kris Carpenter single in 1982.
In 1967 John Covert worked at Jerry Lee's music store on 1720 Pacific Ave where a recording studio was also equiped. He set up his own Modern Music Studio at the end of 1968 and put out the first Crystal Image single. John's site states the band was formed that year in San Joaquin, CA. The A side was co-arranged by Peggy Pullum and Skip Frazier, two people who were teaching music with John at Modern Music and who also collaborated with him on the Mother's Worry single in 1969. Frazier also co-arranged Crystal Image's "You Got The Power" in 1976.
I wonder if some of John's singles could be studio projects he would make with his music students? Most of his projects were issued on the Dream label, which he probably owned.
It looks a bit like the Crystal Image band was more of a general name for John Covert's projects. Different arrangers are credited on each sides of the singles as if they were session musicians, or maybe there was just a lot of turnover in the members. A more constant lineup seems to solidify by the mid-70s though.
In 1969 John put out the single by Mother's Worry, to which he wrote both sides and on which plenty of usual arrangers are credited, and is in fact Crystal Image under another name.
But they did play live. The first mention of a Crystal Image gig I found was in Oct 1970 at the Shady Acres Inn in Ripon, CA. They played regularly until December and came back in 1972.
Seems John Covert also owned a Tomato plant that burned in '65. He was also an active golfer.
John went on to put out eleven Crystal Image singles and three LPs between 1968 and 1984. They are also credited as backing band on two 1988 singles of the Wall Family (family band from Canada). Several singles mention the band was Grand prize winner et the Nashville music city song festival, and multi finalist American song festival.
The band still performed as of 2025 as seen on their site and John's instagram page.
The band's site: https://crystalimageband.weebly.com/
