Biography

The beautiful voices of the singing trio, The Lettermen, first hit the music charts in 1961 with "The Way You Look Tonight". Their voices blended as one and after following that first hit with another chart topper, "When I Fall In Love", they were voted best vocal group of that year. The original singers: Tony Butala, Jim Pike and Bob Engemann continued to stay on top with beautiful harmony and love songs, while becoming one of the top college concert attractions of the 1960's. They brought words to the Percy Faith hit: "Theme From A Summer Place", revived the classic Charles Chaplin song: "Smile", warmed us with "Our Winter Love", they begged "Come Back Silly Girl", made everyone's "Graduation Day" memorable and came out, in 1966, with one of the most loved Holiday albums ever recorded: "For Christmas This Year". Late 1967, brought about, on a "Live" album, perhaps the group's most loved and requested hit: the medley of "Goin' Out Of My Head / Can't Take My Eyes Off You". In 1967, Engemann left the group and was replaced by Jim's younger brother, Gary Pike, and the magic continued with hits like: "Up, Up And Away", "Hurt So Bad", "Shangri-La", "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" and the John Lennon penned "Love". In 1968, the group performed the title hit of the Doris Day film Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968). And, in 1973, when Jim left the group, the youngest Pike brother, Don Pike, took over and the magic continued with hits like: "Cherish / Precious and Few", "World Without Love", "If You Feel The Way I Do", "Feelings", "What I Did For Love" and Donny's own "Thank You Girl". Throughout the 70's and 80's and 90's, The Lettermen continued to release albums and travel the world, performing hundreds of concerts each year. Members who contributed their wonderful vocal talents to The Lettermen sound include: Don Campeau, Ralph "Chad" Nichols, Mark Preston, Ernie Pontiere, Bobby Poynton, Darren Dowler, among others. Their beautiful harmony truly is timeless. The current Lettermen consist of Tony Butala (The group's only original member), Donovan Scott Tea (an accomplished singer and songwriter who joined the group in 1984) and Robert Poynton (who originally joined in 1990, left in 1995 and rejoined in 2011). The year 2010 marked the group's 50th Anniversary.
- IMDb mini biography by: Patrick Fullerton