Rod Lauren On Record
The list of recordings made by Rod Lauren professionally is not large, and only covers a period of less than five years during which two record companies – RCA Victor and Chancellor – released 28 of his songs on disc.
Those releases included only one long-playing (LP) album, “I’m Rod Lauren,” on RCA Victor, which contained twelve songs, including his only Billboard Top 40 hit, “If I Had A Girl,” which was also his debut single in 1959.
This list does not include any re-releases or repackaging of his songs – of which there were many – in the period after he stopped recording for RCA Victor and Chancellor. At this time, there are upwards of a dozen “Various Artists” compilations on which a song by Rod Lauren appears; in nearly all cases, the song is “If I Had A Girl.”
The following is a list of known recordings by Rod Lauren from 1959 through 1963. To listen to these recordings, please click here.
Rod Lauren Discography
The Rod Lauren Recordings
The Fresno Demo Recordings
Late 1958/Early 1959
Known at the time by a slight variation on the name he was born with, Rod Strunk (having put Roger in the rear-view mirror) recorded a demonstration disc as a favor to a fellow local musician in Fresno. The exact date and circumstances of the recording – including the location where the recording was made, and what songs were recorded – are unfortunately lost to time.
The tunes themselves were the handiwork of Don Gross, leader of Fresno’s popular singing group, The Buddies, which had enjoyed limited success with a few national releases on Decca, but remained a local favorite. An assumption can be made that Gross assembled a group of local musicians to perform on the demo, perhaps including the other Buddies, with Rod as the lead vocalist.
What is known is that the demo disc found its way into the hands of RCA Victor’s Dick Peirce, who was not necessarily impressed by Gross’ compositions, but heard something in the boy singer on the disc – enough so to offer him a chance at stardom.
No copy of these recordings is known to exist.1The tape box shown is for illustrative purposes only. It is not the actual box from this recording.
[A] If I Had A Girl/
[B] No Wonder
RCA Victor – 47-7645 [USA]
Late October/Early November 1959
No exact date is known for the release of the first 45 RPM single by Rod Lauren – “If I Had A Girl” b/w “No Wonder” – but Billboard made its first mention of him in its October 26, 1959, edition, noting that the label “last week presented its newest find” and “is releasing his first single.”
Two weeks later, in Billboard’s November 9, 1959, issue, RCA Victor ran a full-page ad offering 25 copies of the single to the first 1,000 dealers to return the coupon included with the advertisement; this builds on the assumption that Rod’s record had been unleashed on the public at or around this time.
After six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, “If I Had A Girl” peaked at #31 on January 25, 1960, spending two weeks there before dropping back down.2This would indicate that “If I Had A Girl” debuted on Billboard’s December 21, 1959, chart, but not necessarily indicate that was the release date. On The Cash Box Top 100 national music survey, “If I Had A Girl” made it a bit farther, reaching #28 on their January 16, 1960, chart. In both cases, it would mark the highest chart position attained by any of Rod’s single releases, and his only appearance in any national Top 40 survey.
International Releases:
“If I Had A Girl” b/w “No Wonder” was also released by RCA Victor as a 7-inch 45 RPM double-sided vinyl disc in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Canada, and Japan.
In South Africa, RCA released the record as a 10-inch 78 RPM double-sided shellac disc.
In Italy, song titles on the disc were printed in English; however, on the picture sleeve, RCA Italiana included the song titles with translation: “If I Had A Girl (Se Avessi Una Ragazza)” and “No Wonder (Nessuna Meraviglia).”
In Spain, the picture sleeve included the titles only in Spanish as “Si Tuviera Una Chica” and “No Te Extrañe.”
In Japan, the song titles were included in both English and Japanese on the picture sleeve, as “If I Had A Girl (もし私に女の子がいたら)” and “No Wonder (不思議ではない).”
4 responses to “Rod Lauren Discography”
I am a fan of Rod Lauren’s music. I wish he had recorded more. I have his album entitled “I’m Rod Lauren”. It is in stereo and in mint condition. One of his RCA records. I treasure it. I probably have only one of a few like that. He actually had a very good singing voice.
Rex,
I’m still on the lookout for any other of his recordings — I have everything from his RCA Victor era (he recorded just the one album) and the subsequent Chancellor era (a few songs, but no album).
The “Holy Grail” of Rod Lauren recordings are the Fresno demo that got him discovered by RCA, and a live recording of his act at Ron Perranoski’s Stadium Club in Southern California, both of which I keep searching for.
D.J.
D.J., why did Rod record only one album at RCA? Was he dropped for some reason? That album is quite good!
Rex,
As we’ll see as Roger’s (and Rod’s) story progresses, he just didn’t catch on – which happens more often than not in show business.
The album was, actually, quite good. Unfortunately, within a few years, musical tastes were going to dramatically change.
D.J.