Arts & Entertainment

60 Years On—Felix Cavaliere Will be Groovin’ With The Rascals At The Music Hall Holiday Show

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Founding members of the Rascals Gene Cornish (left) and Felix Cavaliere. (Photo credit: Leon Volskis)

December 7, 2025

By W.B. King–

At the outset of junior high school, Felix Cavaliere covertly fielded a question whispered from a fellow classmate: “Do you like rock and roll?” For the previous eight years, on the insistence of his mother, he was trained as a classical pianist. Thus, the question might as well have been asked in a foreign language.

“I had never heard rock and roll, but I said, ‘Yes,’” Cavaliere, who grew up in Pelham, told The Hudson Independent via Zoom from his studio in Nashville. “I went immediately home and listened to Alan Freed on 1010 WINS.” Beethoven was indeed about to be rolled over.

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In the mid-1950s, the famed American disc jockey introduced countless listeners to new Top 40 artists such as Bill Haley & His Comets, The Platters, Ritchie Valens and Chuck Berry, among countless others. Cavaliere was soon hooked. “I was really fortunate to get in at the early, early stages of what was to become the pop music: rock and roll. It just captivated me—The Moonglows, Pookie Hudson—it really did,” he said, noting that he used his lunch money to buy albums. “Here I am playing classical, and it [rock and roll] sounded so easy compared to what I was doing.”

While the young upstart was enthralled, his mother, a pharmacist, and his father, a dentist, didn’t share his enthusiasm. “As the music evolved, I went right along with it, but my interest was always the piano—Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and of course, the most for me was Ray Charles.”

Escorts and Moptops

Not long after his musical epiphany, Cavaliere’s mother sadly passed, a devastating loss for his family. As the years clicked on, he continued listening to the songs of the day and playing in groups. When it came time for college, he headed north to Syracuse University, a pre-med major.

Music continued to serve as his co-pilot. His college band, The Escorts, played fraternity and sorority parties. During his sophomore summer break, he took a hospitality job in the Catskills—the Borscht Belt—at a resort. Among entertainers was Joey Dee & the Starliters—famous for their hit “Peppermint Twist.” Cavaliere befriended the group.

Months later, the band was on tour in Europe. Cavaliere received a call from Joey Dee: their keyboardist dropped out and they needed help. He jumped at the chance, dropped out of school, hopped a plane and flew across the pond. At one gig, the band had an opening act—four unknown, sharply dressed moptops from Liverpool.

“When I first started, I ran into them in Germany before they came to the United States, and that was kind of the final straw. I said, ‘Man, I want to do this. This looks like a lot of fun.’ I always stress the importance that those guys had on our business,” he said about The Beatles. “There’s no doubt about it. Not only did people want to play because of them, but people wanted to write because of them, too. Prior to them, almost no one wrote. Bob Dylan did, but most of the people went to publishing houses to get their music.”

While the stint with Joey Dee & the Starliters was short-lived, Cavaliere not only gained road experience, but also met future bandmates: guitarist and vocalist Gene Cornish and vocalist and percussionist Eddie Brigati. Drummer Dino Danelli joined in 1965 and The Young Rascals were born.

When on August 15, 1965, The Beatles famously played Shea Stadium to 55,000-plus screaming fans, the massive scoreboard read (before the show): “The Rascals are Coming!” This, of course, wasn’t happenstance. The up-and-coming band’s promoter, Sid Bernstein, also sponsored The Beatles’ show. Cavaliere and his bandmates watched the historic performance from the dugout. “We always had a relationship with them, because our manager was the fellow that brought them to the United States,” noted Cavaliere, who said that stories like these are recounted in greater detail in his book, Memoir of a Rascal: From Pelham, NY to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2022).

Good Lovin’

As The Young Rascals morphed into The Rascals, their sound gelled—a mix of rhythm and blues and rock and roll, what many reviewers dubbed blue-eyed soul. “At the time, we were playing covers [in the clubs] because owners wouldn’t allow any originals. So, I would go to [a record store in] New Rochelle in those days to buy the 45s. They wanted to make sure that the audience would dance and drink. That’s what they really cared about. Let’s face it, they weren’t musical aficionados.”

Among records purchased was Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally” and The Olympics “Good Lovin’.” These songs began populating The Rascals’ high powered setlists, which caught the attention of industry leaders. When they were signed to Atlantic Records, they became the first white group on the heralded label, which paved the way for bands like Led Zeppelin. Now in the company of esteemed talents such as Ben E. King and Ray Charles, as well as world-class producers and managers, Cavaliere said the band thought they had died and gone to heaven.

By 1966, they struck gold with their spirited version of “Good Lovin’.” Cavaliere’s infectious voice and the enveloping sound of his signature Hammond B3 organ, supported by the uniquely raw talent of the band, catapulted them into the limelight. The hits kept coming, including “Groovin'” and “How Can I Be Sure?”, both released in 1967, and “A Beautiful Morning” the following year. “Later we incorporated Eddie’s brother [David] into the band. Now we had three good singers,” he shared. “And it was a blast. It’s a lot of fun when you have people that can really sing and play. Dino, our drummer, forget about it—he was special.”

The band began extensive touring, performing at high profile engagements like The Ed Sullivan Show. When they made it to the West Coast, sharing bills with bands like The Doors and Love, there were notable differences. “They were some really interesting guys. But the first time we went to L.A. and San Francisco, we produced a lot more energy on stage,” Cavaliere told The Hudson Independent. “When you come up hearing James Brown [and his band], I mean these guys really worked. The West Coast guys, they were more ethereal. They were stoned out of their minds,” he said with a laugh. “We came out kicking ass from the first note. I’m very thankful to have been brought up on the East Coast—we got a lot of energy.”

When presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Cavaliere was dating a woman who was working on the campaign—she witnessed the tragic killing. The songwriter immediately began working on “People Got to Be Free,” a commercial hit with a political message. “When you’re involved in any way, shape or form with a campaign, you’re avid. And when it was taken from us like that, I said, ‘I gotta say something, I gotta do something,’” he reflected. “And I still feel that way: we have to say something and do something right now.”

Then and Now

By 1972, The Rascals had parted ways. For Cavaliere, who set out on a solo career both performing and producing, it was a bittersweet time—he enjoyed being in the band. So, after seven years of success, he entered a period of introspection.

“All of a sudden, we started making hit after hit after hit after hit. But I said, ‘Wait a second, what’s really going on here?’,” he shared, noting that he was raised by devout Italian Catholics. “When you come from a place where you know what’s going on, I decided to just let the ‘hand’ guide me. So, I felt that lift all my life and you have your parents to thank for that, because if they push at it, it stays. And it’s my job to do that for my kids. I don’t care what you believe, but it ain’t just us.”

At one point on his spiritual journey, he reconnected with George Harrison. The former Beatle was known for his interest in transcendental meditation and studying with gurus. Among issues Cavaliere struggled with was “ego,” which had destroyed personal and professional relationships.

“The enemy is the ego. It breaks up marriages. It breaks up partnerships. I happened to be in England and I got an invite to go speak to him [Harrison]. I wanted to get some positive feedback about being into that world of yoga. I had a very simple question for him: ‘Is this stuff for real?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’” he recalled. “He was very cool, very gentle, very thinking, thoughtful and spiritual. In the 60s and 70s, there was a big influx of Eastern way of thinking. What he [my guru] would tell us all the time is, ‘I don’t care what religion you are, but do it right and do it the way it’s supposed to be.’”

Run, Run Rudolph

Over the subsequent years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee continued to write, record and perform. In 1995, he reunited with another Beatle, touring with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. More recently, he released Now and Then (2023). The concept, suggested by his manager Obi Steinman, was to take five songs from artists that inspired him and write five new tracks.

“That was a joy to do and was really fun,” he noted of the album that includes versions of “Spanish Harlem” by Ben E. King and “Mary Ann” by Ray Charles. “When I’m writing, the music always comes first. You start off just jamming and then you got to fill in the lyrical pieces,” he said, adding that the album was recorded during the pandemic, which presented logistical challenges. “The music comes extremely naturally, flowing right through me. The lyrics—they got to make sense; they got to rhyme. These days, I do a lot of writing a night when half in a dream state.” Years earlier, he released Christmas Joy, which features classics like “Run, Run Rudolph” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” as well as Cavaliere’s “Christmas in New Orleans.”

When he returns to the Tarrytown Music Hall on December 19 under the banner, “The Rascals with Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish Rockin’ the Holidays,” he said fans can expect to hear many hits, along with special surprises. Hopes of a 60^th anniversary reunion with the original line up, similar to the 2012 “Once Upon a Dream” tour, which included a residency at The Capitol Theatre, were unfortunately dashed when Danelli passed in 2022.

Cavaliere allowed that he loves sharing the stage with Cornish and that the current band are exceptional musicians, many of whom have been with him for more than 20 years. “There’s a lot of competition and you’re losing a lot of folks to the old clock of the wall,” he said of audiences today. “When they [the people] come out, they have a good time. That’s the main thing. They enjoy it. We bring back those memories that we all know and love, and they feel that for the time during the show—it’s always great to see.”

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