Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds--Don't Pull Your Love (1971)/Falling In Love (1975)

     This trio can trace it's linage back to the mid 60s as a group called the T-Bones, which was put together to go on the road to support the single, "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In). It had been done by studio musicians previously and ended up becoming a hit.  Dan Hamilton (guitar, lead vocals), Joe Frank Carollo (bass, vocals), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentals, vocals) pattered their sound after The Venturas, which Hamilton was a part of at one time. They stayed together for a couple of years, but after succeeding recorded went nowhere, the group broke up.
     Several years later the trio reformed under the name, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds and was signed by Dunhill Records. Their first single, "Don't Pull Your Love" became a top five hit in the summer of 1971.

     A couple more songs barely missed the top 40, but late in 1972, Reynolds left the band. Hamilton and Carollo brought in a couple more musicians and continued to tour locally, but the singles stopped after mi-72. They brought in Alan Dennison as a permanent replacement and began looking for a new record company since Dunhill had dropped them.
     Their wishes were answered in the form of Playboy Records, who would sign them on the proviso that they retained the name, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds. The idea obviously was that a "known" name would have a better chance of having a hit. We can't be sure of that had anything to do with it, but in 1975, the song, "Fallin' In Love" climbed all the way to the number one spot. The follow up, "Winners and Losers" climbed to #21 as well.

     1976 brought several more charting song, but nothing approaching their previous successes. It also brought a name change to the more correct, "Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Dennison". The continued touring as a group until 1980 until they packed it in for good.