Their second effort though was to be their breakthrough. "She Cried" gained national attention when a West coast D.J. locked himself in the booth a played the song for four straight hours. The wire services picked up on the story and the song and the group gained national attention. The record rose to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 during an eleven week stay in the Top 40. After their first hit, the band went through some changes. Singer Howie Kane, also working as a mortician, couldn't work on Sundays, when Murray The K had his Coney Island shows, so he dropped out, as did Jay Traynor. Marty Sanders from The Empires joined the group and introduced the others to a powerful singer named David Blatt, who agreed to use the stage name Jay Black.
While rehearsing one day in the studio, Kenny Vance brought a song to other's attention. It was a tune recorded by The Drifters called "Only In America". Given the group's name, he suggested they record it too. Atlantic Records had vetoed The Drifter's version because, believe it or not, in the early sixties a Black group was discouraged from singing about becoming President. The Americans changed some of the offending lyrics like, "Only in America, do they make you sit in the back of the bus..." and released it in August of 1963. The song made it into the Top 40, peaking at #25 in the Fall of 1963.
In 1964, they recorded a tune which had been written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. "Come A Little Bit Closer" climbed all the way to #3 on the national charts and solidified the group's reputation as one that was capable of producing hits. Further success followed in 1965: "Let's Lock The Door" [And Throw Away The Key], (#11) "Some Enchanted Evening", (#13) and a song that was Neil Diamond's first big hit as a songwriter, "Sunday and Me" (#18). That catchy 'Mexican feel' reappeared on their next hit, "Cara Mia", which was a rather astonishing exercise in sheer top-range vocal power by Black. The record raced up the Billboard chart and peaked at #4, staying in the Top 40 for eleven weeks.
Everything about the group was clean-cut, from their alpaca sweaters to their well choreographed stage act. Then, The Beatles introduced teens to the rebellious mop haired look, and suddenly,Jay And The Americans were yesterday's news. Songs like "Living Above Your Head" and "French Provincial" couldn't crack the charts. The group found themselves playing smaller and smaller venues until they teamed up with producer, Tommy Kaye to do an album of oldies. A song originally recorded by their old friends, The Drifters, called "This Magic Moment" took off like a rocket and went to #6 on the Billboard Pop chart, selling over two million copies in 1968. The group stayed with the oldies and released one final hit, "Walkin' In The Rain", which reached #19 in early 1970.
When the seventies came, Jay And The American's music once again went out of style and in 1974, Kenny, Sandy and Marty all quit, leaving Jay Black to the oldies revival tours. He also did some solo recording, placing "Love Is In The Air" on the European charts in 1975. Several members of the band stayed in show business in later years. Two members of Jay And The Americans' backup group during the 1970's, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, moved to the West Coast and formed Steely Dan. Marty Sanders pursued writing and Sandy Deane went into producing. Kenny Vance recorded some solo albums and became a musical director for TV's Saturday Night Live as well as several Hollywood movies. As an actor, Kenny appeared in Hurly Burly, Billy Bathgate, American Hot Wax, Eddie and The Cruisers, and also appeared in several Woody Allen films.
Original lead singer Jay Traynor formed two other groups, Great Jones and Friends, and recorded some singles for various labels over the years, but none caught on. He also toured the oldies circuit for a while as Jay Traynor And The Americans and by the Summer of 2001, was singing with The Joey Thomas Band, a Jazz / Big Band group that recorded a Grammy nominated album called "The Sinatra Show". In 2006, Jay Black filed for bankruptcy and his ownership of the name Jay And The Americans was sold to Sandy Deanne (Yaguda), Black's former band mate, for $100,000. With the name purchase, former members Deanne, Howard Kane, and Marty Sanders reunited and recruited John Reincke, a sound-alike singer from Chicago. Reincke became the third 'Jay' and the band returned to playing both national and international music venues. David Blatt continued to tour under his stage name, Jay Black, but his website did not list any shows after 2014. Kenny Vance went on to become the lead singer of Kenny Vance And The Planotones, a neo-Doo Wop band that he formed in the 1970s. Jay Traynor toured with Jay Siegel's Tokens until shortly before his death on January 2nd, 2014.
Fans were saddened to learn that Jay Black had died of complications from pneumonia on October 22nd, 2021 at the age of 82. A statement on the band's Facebook page read: "We shared both wonderful and very contentious times, and much like an ex-wife, we are so proud of the beautiful children we created. We'll always remember The Voice."
For more, be sure to read Gary James' Interview With Kenny Vance
