The Beau Havens had one record, the fantastic “Elizabeth” / “Feel So Good” on Gama Records 45-705 from September, 1966. The photos seen here were taken about a year earlier, in 1965.
I’m trying to decipher the hand-writing on this card, so members’ names may not be spelled correctly. Any help would be appreciated:
John Colgan – drums, vocals on “Feel So Good”
Kerry Miller – lead guitar
Jim Whelan – lead vocal on “Elizabeth”
Allan Hurdle (or is it Allen Hurdle?) – guitar
Tom Whelan – piano
Kevin Miller – manager
The group were all young teenagers in ’65.
Belle Haven, VA has been listed as their town of origin, however that eastern shore town is nearly four hours drive from the Springfield, Virginia American Legion Hall where these photos were taken.
The Beau Havens were actually from the Belle Haven subdivision south of Alexandria, VA, in Fairfax County (tip of the hat to Chris Farrell for pointing out the correct Belle Haven).
A neighborhood newsletter, the Belle Haven Tribune, from May 7, 1965 featured the group. The newsletter spells the brothers names as Tom Whealen and Jim Whealen.
A Pi Alpha Gamma banner appears behind the group, and it’s likely the Beau Havens shared the bill with the Londoners and the Roaches.
Jim Whelan wrote and, I think, sang lead on “Elizabeth”.
Rick Fulton wrote “Feel So Good”. I’m not sure if Rick was a later member of the band or simply a friend. Johnny Colgan appears to have sang lead on this side.
Both songs likely were cut at Edgewood Recording Studio at 1627 K Street, N.W. in Washington D.C. A couple of Edgewood acetates of the single exist. On one the song has the title “She Makes Me Feel So Good”, corrected in pen to “She Makes Me Feel Right”.
Doesn’t sound like the Beau Havens had a keyboard player on the record. Claiborne Music published both songs.
More info on the Beau Havens would be appreciated.
Update May, 2022:
Danny G purchased a guitar in the D.C. area and the name on the case helped him trace it to this post, where it is clearly the guitar in the last photo above. Below are some interesting photos of this custom-made guitar provided by Danny along with his description:
Likely a neck taken from an unbranded Kay guitar and put onto a solid chunk of mahogany (?). The white paint was to emulate the pickguard on a Höfner bass.
The guitar uses two Lafayette pickups, a 99-4536 in the neck which is a screw on pickup made for jazz arch top guitars and a PA-297 acoustic soundhole pickup in the bridge. The guitar has a really unique sound because of the odd choice of pickups, and that’s part of the reason I bought it.
The bridge pickup came with an RCA input and he simply repurposed it as the main input.
