Eternity’s Children

Formed in the Mississippi Delta in 1966, Eternity’s Children were playing at the Biloxi Hotel when they met two Baton Rouge entrepreneurs who would play the biggest role in the band’s career. Ray Roy and Guy Belello operated a chain of successful health clubs, and although they had zero experience in music management, they were wowed by the group’s live act.

Ray and Guy formed Crocked Foxx Productions and struck a management deal with Eternity’s Children. They soon had the group working all over the Gulf region.

Their first recording session produced two Bruce Blackman-penned tracks (Time And Place and Can’t Put A Thing Over Me), which surfaced on a 1967 Apollo 45 but failed to chart nationally.

Relocating to the West Coast, the band scored a recording deal with A&M and began appearing on the bill with bands like The Seeds, Country Joe and the Fish and Three Dog Night. They also had a brief (uncredited) cameo in the film The Graduate, playing in a restaurant (actually the Whisky A Go Go).

Their debut single for A&M failed to chart, and problems with Crocked Foxx prompted Bruce Blackman to leave. He was replaced by Mike ‘Kid’ McClain in time for the band’s debut (self-titled) album for their new label, Tower (a Capitol sub-label reputedly set up as a tax shelter).

The single Mrs Bluebird – a gorgeous slice of Sunshine Pop – became their highest-charting release ever, hitting Billboard‘s #69 spot, and reaching even higher in Cash Box (#54) in August 1968.

The second album, Timeless, was – for reasons unknown – pulled from Tower’s release schedule and only issued in Canada in a very limited pressing.

Exhausted after touring, drummer Roy Whittaker chose to take a break, infuriating the band’s managers, who hired drummer Bo Wagner. Roy was furious and quit the group he had co-founded (and named).

1969 brought the single Sidewalks of the Ghetto, which received a great deal of airplay but failed to chart (the track was hindered somewhat by the simultaneous release of Elvis Presley‘s similarly titled In the Ghetto). Their label, Tower, had folded by the end of the year.

Mike McClain left the group after recording their final single, Alone Again, which was released in the spring of 1970 on Liberty. That label also folded a few months after the release of the single, which proved to be the final straw, and Eternity’s Children called it a day.

Linda Lawley
Vocals
Charlie Ross
Vocals, bass
Johnny Walker
Guitar
Bruce Blackman
Keyboards
Roy Whittaker
Drums
Mike ‘Kid’ McClain
Keyboards

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