Ohio Express

There was never a band called "Ohio Express", as such. The name, which was controlled by Super K Productions--owned by producers Jeff Katz and Jerry Kasanetz--was applied to several songs recorded by bands contracted to Super K Productions but credited to "Ohio Express"--for example, in 1966 a band called The Rare Breed recorded a song called "Beg, Borrow and Steal", which was released by Attack Records, where it flopped. The next year it was picked up by Super K, which released it as "Beg, Borrow and Steal" on Cameo-Parkeway as an "Ohio Express" song. The "Ohio Express" that toured after the song became a hit was a completely different band than the one that originally recorded the song. In 1968 songwriter Joey Levine went to Buddah Records, which now controlled the Ohio Express name, with a demo track of a song he had written for the group, called "Yummy Yummy Yummy". Buddah liked it and released it as an "Ohio Express" song--none of the previous members of the band sang or played instruments on the recording. As far as is known, Levine himself never actually sang with the band--studio musicians and singers backed him up on "Yummy Yummy Yummy"--either on a recording or on stage, though he is probably the best-known "member" of the band.