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Alan Merrill
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Alan Merrill
Alan Merrill (born Allan Preston Sachs; February 19, 1951 – March 29, 2020) was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners in Japan to achieve pop star status there. He wrote the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", and was the lead singer on the original recording of it, made by the band the Arrows in 1975. The song became a breakthrough hit for Joan Jett in 1982.
Merrill was primarily a vocalist and songwriter, but also played the guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, and keyboards. He died during the COVID-19 pandemic due to complications brought on by the virus.
Merrill was born in The Bronx, New York City on February 19, 1951, the son of two jazz musicians, singer Helen Merrill and saxophone/clarinet player Aaron Sachs. He attended Aiglon College in Switzerland from age 9 to 13, schools in New York and Los Angeles and, briefly, Sophia University in Tokyo. He started his semi-professional career in New York City at age 14, when he began playing in Greenwich Village's Cafe Wha? with the bands The Kaleidoscope, The Rayne, and Watertower West, all of which played the club from 1966–1968.
In 1969, Merrill auditioned for the New York City band, the Left Banke. According to Merrill, the audition was successful, but the band dissolved. Shortly thereafter, he left to reside in Japan, where his mother was living, and began his professional career there by joining the band The Lead, who were contracted to RCA Victor Records. The group was a foreign Tokyo-based act, and had an urgent requirement for a fill-in musician after one of its American members was deported. The Lead had previously had some chart success, but the project soon fell apart when a second member was also deported.
Merrill subsequently signed a solo management deal with Watanabe Productions, who contracted him to Atlantic Records, and changed his professional surname from Sachs to Merrill (his mother's stage name) apparently because "Merrill" was thought to sound less lascivious and more commercially viable when spoken by young Japanese pop music fans. He recorded one album with Atlantic, Alone in Tokyo (February 1971) which yielded a single, "Namida" (Teardrops).
In other activities, Merrill acted on the TV soap opera Jikan Desu Yo and occasionally had his own 'corner' on the TBS's Young 720, a morning show for teens. He was a model in ads for Nissan cars, Jun clothing, AnnAnn, Non-no, and GT Jeans.
In January 1972, an LP of his own compositions titled Merrill 1 was released on the Denon/Columbia record label produced by Mickey Curtis. Later that year, the singer Tiny Tim covered a song from the album, "Movies", on Scepter Records. Merrill then formed the band Vodka Collins, which became a prominent glam rock act. The band included notable Japanese musicians Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu and Hiroshi Oguchi. Vodka Collins recorded an LP in 1973, Tokyo – New York, on the Toshiba-EMI Express label The band are best known for recording and releasing the first popular glam rock songs in Japanese, including the double A-sided single "Sands Of Time" and "Automatic Pilot", released June 1973.
A dispute with management led to Merrill's abrupt departure from Japan.
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Alan Merrill
Alan Merrill (born Allan Preston Sachs; February 19, 1951 – March 29, 2020) was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners in Japan to achieve pop star status there. He wrote the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", and was the lead singer on the original recording of it, made by the band the Arrows in 1975. The song became a breakthrough hit for Joan Jett in 1982.
Merrill was primarily a vocalist and songwriter, but also played the guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, and keyboards. He died during the COVID-19 pandemic due to complications brought on by the virus.
Merrill was born in The Bronx, New York City on February 19, 1951, the son of two jazz musicians, singer Helen Merrill and saxophone/clarinet player Aaron Sachs. He attended Aiglon College in Switzerland from age 9 to 13, schools in New York and Los Angeles and, briefly, Sophia University in Tokyo. He started his semi-professional career in New York City at age 14, when he began playing in Greenwich Village's Cafe Wha? with the bands The Kaleidoscope, The Rayne, and Watertower West, all of which played the club from 1966–1968.
In 1969, Merrill auditioned for the New York City band, the Left Banke. According to Merrill, the audition was successful, but the band dissolved. Shortly thereafter, he left to reside in Japan, where his mother was living, and began his professional career there by joining the band The Lead, who were contracted to RCA Victor Records. The group was a foreign Tokyo-based act, and had an urgent requirement for a fill-in musician after one of its American members was deported. The Lead had previously had some chart success, but the project soon fell apart when a second member was also deported.
Merrill subsequently signed a solo management deal with Watanabe Productions, who contracted him to Atlantic Records, and changed his professional surname from Sachs to Merrill (his mother's stage name) apparently because "Merrill" was thought to sound less lascivious and more commercially viable when spoken by young Japanese pop music fans. He recorded one album with Atlantic, Alone in Tokyo (February 1971) which yielded a single, "Namida" (Teardrops).
In other activities, Merrill acted on the TV soap opera Jikan Desu Yo and occasionally had his own 'corner' on the TBS's Young 720, a morning show for teens. He was a model in ads for Nissan cars, Jun clothing, AnnAnn, Non-no, and GT Jeans.
In January 1972, an LP of his own compositions titled Merrill 1 was released on the Denon/Columbia record label produced by Mickey Curtis. Later that year, the singer Tiny Tim covered a song from the album, "Movies", on Scepter Records. Merrill then formed the band Vodka Collins, which became a prominent glam rock act. The band included notable Japanese musicians Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu and Hiroshi Oguchi. Vodka Collins recorded an LP in 1973, Tokyo – New York, on the Toshiba-EMI Express label The band are best known for recording and releasing the first popular glam rock songs in Japanese, including the double A-sided single "Sands Of Time" and "Automatic Pilot", released June 1973.
A dispute with management led to Merrill's abrupt departure from Japan.
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