Hair Tunes Sprayed With Cuts
Billboard - March 22, 1969

New York - The songs from the Broadway musical Hair, which were ignored by the record companies during the early part of the show's run, are beginning to pick up lots of disk action.

Two singles, the Fifth Dimension's "Aquarius" and "Let The Sunshine In" medley, and the Cowsills version of the title song have broken through the best seller chart.  The song, "Frank Mills," has drawn single disk action from Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, Phyllis Newman, and Denise Puma.  "Let The Sunshine In" has been cut by Anthony and the Imperials, and "Where Do I Go" has been released in versions by Carla Thomas, the Four Lads, Nelson Riddle and Ron Elron.  The Staple Singers and the Collection have recorded "Aquarius" and the Constellations, and Lynn Kellog (sic), of the original Broadway cast, have recorded "Easy To Be Hard."  Flip side of Miss Kellog's disk is "I Believe In Love," while Eddie Hazelton has recorded "Good Morning Starshine."

A number of instrumentals have also hit the market.  Composer and original cast member Galt MacDermott (sic) has an instrumental single with "Where Do I Go" and "Good Morning Starshine." Nelson Riddle has "Where Do I Go" and Don Tweedy and Orchestra has recorded "Aquarius."

On the LP front, the original cast album on the RCA label has been having a steady run at the top of the charts, and Atco Records is releasing the original London cast album.

In England, Hair songs have been recorded by A.V.Edwards, Madeline Bell, Barney Kessel, Paul Jones, the Beverly Sisters, Jean Livingston and Sonja Kristina.  American artist Nina Simone has scored with a hot chart single on her version of "I Ain't Got No/I Got Life."  Miss Simone's single is also on top of the charts in Holland, vying with the local group, Zen, which ran in the top spot for seven weeks with its culling of "Aquarius" and "Hair."  The Zen single is being released in the U.S. through Philips.

The original cast versions are riding high in Sweden and germany, and in the latter country, there have been strong singles by Caterina Valente with the Edmundo Ros ORchestra of "Be-In," and by the Spencer Davis Group on "Let The Sunshine In" and "Aquarius."  In Italy, Elio Gandolfi has a single of "Aquarius" and "Hair".

United Artists Music controls and administers the Hair score throughout the world.  The score was written by Galt MacDermott (sic), Gerome Ragni, and James Rado.  Hair is playing in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, London, Munich and Stockholm.

Copyright Billboard.

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