{"id":5014,"date":"2012-03-01T17:03:15","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T22:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=5014"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:10:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:10:20","slug":"from-elvis-to-elvira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=5014","title":{"rendered":"From Elvis to \u201cElvira\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Richard Sterban of The Oak Ridge Boys performing in April 2009 at the 44th annual Academy Of Country Music Awards All-Star Jam. (C) Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To hear Richard Sterban<\/strong> tell it, he was consistently outperformed by other voice majors at TCNJ, then named Trenton State College. \u201cSometimes I wondered, \u2018Why am I in this class? Listen to the way these other guys are singing.\u2019\u201d Even Sterban\u2019s favorite college memory, going from dorm to dorm singing Christmas carols with his classmates, has him playing a marginal role. He admits, without hesitation, that he was the worst singer of the bunch.<\/p>\n

Sterban now possesses a reverberating bass voice recognized by countless country music fans. Even over the telephone, those pipes sound downright biblical. He is still not entirely confident in his abilities. That\u2019s understandable when you\u2019re 18 and unproven, still refining a gift bestowed by the puberty gods five years earlier. But when you\u2019ve sung backup for Elvis Presley? After you served as a legendary country band\u2019s soulful backbone for nearly 40 years? As the source of the memorable chorus\u2014\u201cGiddy up, oom papa oom papa mow mow\u201d\u2014in \u201cElvira,\u201d 1981\u2019s twangy crossover smash?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a person that\u2019s been kind of tough on myself, I don\u2019t know why,\u201d says Sterban, 69, who attended TCNJ from 1961 to 1962. \u201cSometimes, when it comes to singing, self-confidence is a little bit of a problem for me. If you ask me today, I think I\u2019m the worst singer in the Oak Ridge Boys. That\u2019s just the way I am. But, obviously, I can\u2019t be that bad or I wouldn\u2019t have had the career that I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

An education interrupted<\/h3>\n

Whatever his flaws, real or imaginary, Sterban always wanted to perform. The Collingswood (NJ) High School graduate was advised by his guidance counselor and music teacher there that TCNJ had excellent music programs. \u201cI was trying to be realistic at the time: that being successful as a young kid coming out of New Jersey, that it was going to be a long shot at best,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt if I never did make it as a singer, the fact that I could teach music would be a good career for me. It\u2019s something I feel I could have been good at and thrived at.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sterban's picture from the 1962 Seal yearbook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One desirable option emerged as a freshman. At a gospel show in Philadelphia, Sterban hit it off with some guys from Bristol, PA. They formed a gospel group, the Keystone Quartet, that was in such demand that Sterban decided to hit the road instead of the books.<\/p>\n

Sterban says telling his parents that he was leaving TCNJ was one of the hardest things he\u2019s had to do. The logic behind staying is appropriately self-deprecating: College could have made him a better singer. What he learned in a year\u2014the proper way to breathe, harmony, music theory\u2014still help him today. (The 8 A.M. beginners violin class, where a roomful of novices produced unnatural, unholy sounds? Not so much.) \u201cAs I\u2019ve gotten older and reflected on that, I wish I could have stayed longer,\u201d Sterban says. \u201cIt would have been a benefit to me if I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Sterban\u2019s voice had improved, Ken Tucker, the managing editor of Country Weekly<\/em> magazine, might be dead. \u201cIn the late \u201980s, I went to one of [the Oaks\u2019] concerts at Ponderosa Park near Salem, Ohio,\u201d recalls Tucker, who sat on the venue\u2019s lawn. \u201cWhen he sang, my chest vibrated with that bass voice. I\u2019ve never experienced that before or since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker says he was between 50 and 75 yards away from the stage.<\/p>\n

From Elvis to \u201cElvira\u201d<\/h3>\n

After a lengthy stay with the Keystone Quartet, Sterban moved to the Stamps Quartet, where he performed with Presley for a little over a year. When the Oak Ridge Boys invited Sterban to join their lineup in 1972, the group was nowhere near superstar status. Presley, at one point, even asked him to come back. Though flattered, Sterban declined. \u201cI felt that the Oak Ridge Boys had a great deal of potential,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Still, Sterban didn\u2019t think the band would become so successful. Enter \u201cElvira.\u201d Other artists had recorded the song, but the Oaks made it their own, selling more than 2 million records and getting a nation to sing along. The group was established at the time, thanks to 12number one singles. But the \u201cElvira\u201d phenomenon\u2014an Alaska radio station played the song 72 hours straight\u2014turned the band into \u201ca major name in the music business,\u201d according to Sterban.<\/p>\n

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The Oak Ridge Boys, circa 1970s (L\u2013R): Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban \u201962. Photo (c) The Brokaw Company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI can picture the recording session in my mind,\u201d he says. \u201cThe looks on the musicians\u2019 faces\u2014we used regular Nashville session musicians\u2014they were all smiling, laughing, having a good time. The song went down really easy. We did it in just a couple of takes. It wasn\u2019t hard. We felt pretty good about it.\u201d The band then went on tour. \u201cIt was in Spokane, Washington,\u201d Sterban recalls. \u201cRight in the middle of the show, after we had done several of our regular songs and our hits, we just threw it in there. We wanted to try it out. And the reaction of the crowd was unbelievable. I lost track of how many times we had to encore it, but I know it was at least three or four times. Right in the middle of the show, we had to do it over and over again. Then we had to encore it again at the end of the show. The crowd went wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scene repeated itself until the Oaks urged their record label to immediately release \u201cElvira\u201d as a single. \u201cIt\u2019s still our signature song,\u201d says Sterban, who insists the band has not grown tired of it. Neither have audiences. \u201cWhen we do that song, even after all these years, people still go crazy,\u201d Sterban says. The song is so popular that the Oak Ridge Boys incorporated it into their beloved Christmas concerts. A few months back, the band appeared on a special hosted by Bill Gaither, the gospel music icon. The event was held on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC. Billy\u2019s son, Franklin, sat in the front row. The Oaks, fresh off recording a gospel album, had appropriate songs at the ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get out there and everyone is yelling, \u2018Do \u201cElvira!\u201d\u2019 in the middle of this gospel show,\u201d Sterban says. The crowd got what it wanted. \u201cI got up there and did my usual ‘oom papa mow mows,’\u201d he adds. \u201cI just hoped Franklin Graham liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down the road<\/h3>\n

The Oak Ridge Boys have no immediate plans to stop performing. Everyone feels good and still loves what they\u2019re doing. And the demand is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey remain a favorite that can go out on tour and work hard and be relevant,\u201d says Country Weekly<\/em>\u2019s Tucker. (In March 2011, Entertainment Weekly<\/em> reported that the band was still \u201csinging good.\u201d) After so much time together, Sterban says the Oaks know it takes four men to create that enduring sound. \u201cWe travel on the same bus,\u201d Sterban observes. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how many acts refuse to even ride on the same bus or won\u2019t share the same dressing room. That\u2019s never been the case with us.\u201d He and bandmates Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden, and Duane Allen have formed \u201ca friendship for each other, a love for each other in a lot of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterban would like any post-Oak Ridge Boys plans to involve baseball, which he consumes in all forms. He raves about The Yankee Years<\/em>, Joe Torre\u2019s memoir of his time managing the Yankees, and famed sports author John Feinstein\u2019s Living on the Black<\/em>. He owns both the major and minor league cable packages, so he can watch the Nashville Sounds, the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate that he was once part owner of, while on tour. \u201cI always spend a lot of time paying attention, especially to what the color [commentators] are saying,\u201d Sterban says. \u201cI feel like I have a knack of before they say something, I\u2019m usually thinking it. I\u2019ve been to enough baseball games, I\u2019ve hung out with enough scouts, and I think I\u2019ve learned about the finer aspects,\u201d like why a player isn\u2019t hitting or what\u2019s wrong with a pitcher\u2019s delivery. \u201cI recognize a lot of that stuff. I think I could be good at it. That\u2019s for down the road someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, color commentary is a hobby, and Vanderbilt University\u2019s nonconference games provide an outlet. \u201cHe\u2019s got a love and a passion for the sport, and that\u2019s the first thing that you need,\u201d says broadcast partner Eric Jones, who is also the university\u2019s ticket manager. \u201cHe is respectful of the way that the game is moving, and he will always kind of defer to my play-by-play.\u201d Jones would like Sterban to get more comfortable. \u201cI\u2019m trying to encourage him to talk more,\u201d he adds. \u201cI don\u2019t have a voice like he does\u2026Sometimes, I look over and my voice is so bad compared to this guy. It is amazing to sit there and listen to him talk in normal conversation. I feel myself staring at him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such praise would have floored the unsure freshman singer who looked at his performing classmates with resigned admiration. Why am I in this class? Listen to the way these other guys are singing. Richard Sterban was right. He didn\u2019t belong at TCNJ. Turns out he\u2019s always belonged behind a microphone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Sterban \u201962 has shared the stage with \u201cthe King\u201d and topped the country charts with his band the Oak Ridge Boys, but one of his favorite music memories took place on campus 50 years ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":5016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-march-2012"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}