The Archies

The Archies is a fictional American garage band featuring characters Archie Archie Andrews (guitar), Reggie Reggie Mantle (bass guitar), Jughead Jughead Jones (drums), Betty Betty Cooper (tambourine), Veronica Veronica Lodge (keyboards. The group first appeared in a 1967 issue of the comic book “Life With Archie.” A year later, the concept was transferred to a Saturday morning cartoon series, “Archie.” Original songs were featured in the animated TV series, which ran on the CBS network from 1968 into the 1970’s. A studio group recorded the music and had successful releases under the Archies name. Most of the songs are credited to and (“Barry - Kim “). Other material was written by Ritchie Adams, Mark Barkan, Al Gordon, Bob Levine, Bob Gengo, Gene Allan, Ron Dante, Howard Greenfield, and Richard Kim Milford.
Jeff Barry produced the music from 1968 to 1970, after which, Ritchie Adams and Ron Dante took over his role.
The real lead singer was Ron Dante, joined in the studio most often by Toni Wine (female duet vocals), Jeff Barry (bass vocals) and Bobby Bloom. Donna Marie replaced Toni Wine in 1970. She, in turn, was replaced by Merle Miller in 1971. The backing tracks were recorded by session musicians, among them Hugh McCracken, Sal diTroia, Dave Appell and Andy Kim (guitars), Joe Macho and Chuck Rainey (bass), Ron Frangipane and Toni Wine (keyboards), Buddy Saltzman and Gary Chester (drums), and Jeff Barry and Bobby Bloom (percussion). Saxophonist Artie Kaplan was contracted to play baritone sax under the keyboard riff of “Sugar, Sugar,” the group’s most successful recording. “Sugar, Sugar” became one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1973. The Archies charted seven singles and five albums in North America.