Fountain Of Youth — Fountain Of Youth 2017 (USA, Psychedelic Pop)

In 1965, 4 teenage friends decided to start a band in Fredericksburg, Texas at the height of the British Invasion. They were not only influenced by The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Who, but also by the California sound of The Beach Boys and the guitar surf bands of the early 1960s. Gary Jenschke, Kenneth Molberg, Gary Itri and Jimmy Panza started their own surf band called The Fugitives and began playing around the Fredericksburg area.

They soon changed their name to The Crossfires after adding a new lead singer and soon began to broaden their fan base. After their singer decided to leave, Jimmy Panza stepped up to the mic to take over lead vocals as well as continuing to be the drummer. They soon caught the ear of Tower Records, a subsidiary label of Capitol, and were signed to a contract in 1966. They released one single, a cover of a song from another Texas group, Robb London and The Rogues’ «Who’ll Be The One».

When Colgems Records began bringing on other artists, along side The Monkees, another name change occurred (per the company) and the now called Fountain Of Youth were signed in 1967. Their first single was released in March 1968 with a full page b&w/color ad on page two of the March 23, 1968 edition of Billboard Magazine promoting their single «Livin’ Too Fast».

Two more singles were released by years-end before guitarist Kenneth Molberg called it a day and went home to Texas. At the beginning of 1969, now a threesome, one last single was recorded and released that summer before everyone called it a day. Gary Jenschke went home to Texas, Jimmy Panza moved back to Massachusetts and Gary Itri stayed in California as a studio musician and songwriter.

All total there were 10 songs (5 singles) that were released from 1966-1969.