Jingle creator, musician dead at 64

[Dr. Whiplash]

By Alison Peterson, The New York Times
NEW YORK—Thomas W. Dawes, a rock musician and composer who wrote music for some of advertising's best-known commercial jingles, including Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz for Alka-Seltzer and 7Up, the Uncola, died on Oct. 13 in Manhattan. He was 64. The cause was a stroke after carotid artery surgery, said his wife, Ginny Redington Dawes.

Dawes was a co-founder of the Cyrkle, a folk-pop group with a brief career that is best known for its 1966 hit single "Red Rubber Ball," written by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley. When Dawes left the band, he turned to the jingle business. He wrote 30 to 40 in the 1970s and '80s, his wife estimated, a number of them immortalized in pop culture. Aside from his work for Alka-Seltzer and 7Up, some of his catchier tunes were on campaigns for L'eggs hosiery (Our L'eggs Fit Your Legs) and American Airlines (We're American Airlines, Doing What We Do Best). The 7Up jingle, which he wrote, was recorded by his band and submitted as a demo in a company jingle contest for rock groups.

When Dawes met his wife, she was a competitor in the jingle business. They later collaborated on a number of advertising tunes, including music for the familiar Coke Is It, the McDonald's catchphrase You, You're the One and, for American Airlines, Something Special in the Air.

Originally named the Rhondells, the Cyrkle was discovered by Nat Weiss, a lawyer who was a partner of Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager. According to Dawes, John Lennon suggested the Cyrkle's name and distinctive spelling.

In 1966 the Cyrkle opened for the Beatles on their final U.S. tour and released their second, and last, successful single, Turn Down Day. In the mid-'70s Dawes also worked with the band Foghat and produced two of its albums, "Rock & Roll" and "Energized."

Thomas Dawes was born in Albany, N.Y., on July 25, 1943. He graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where he met Don Dannemann, another founding member of the Cyrkle. In addition to his wife, Dawes is survived by his sister, Robin Ducey.

Dawes and his wife also wrote the book, music and lyrics for "Talk of the Town," a musical about members of the Algonquin Round Table. The show, first produced in 2004, had a nearly two-year run at the Bank Street Theater in New York before it moved as a cabaret show to the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel.

[jag]

Thanks for posting this, Dr. Whiplash.

I had heard that he had had some other successes following Cyrkle, but it seems that he was, in terms of talent, clearly not a flash in the pan.

I always liked the sound of Cyrkle, and, of course, "Red Rubber Ball" was probably one of the most acerbic "break-up" songs of the era. Dawes clearly had a talent in his endeavors for being able to connect with his audience. There's a lot of talent lost with his passing.