Yahoo Lifestyle Bob Kuban Dies: Drummer & Bandleader Who Had Hit With ‘The Cheater’ Was 84
Bob Kuban, a drummer and bandleader whose group Bob Kuban and the In-Men had a mid-’60s Top 15 hit with “The Cheater,” died January 20 in his sleep of stroke complications. He was 84. Kutis Funeral Home posted the news.
Born on August 19, 1940, in St. Louis, Kuban was drawn to music at an early age. He tells the story about how St. Louis legend Chuck Berry played at Kuban’s grade school and asked the crowd if anyone knew how to play drums. The youngsters chums volunteered him, and Kuban went behind the kit and played for 10 minutes.
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“You did a good job,” Berry told the boy afterward, asking, “How long have you been playing?” Kuban responded, “10 minutes.”
Inspired by seeing Ike Turner’s band perform at the Club Imperial, Kuban said his “goal was to get a band like Ike’s with the horns and be a recording artist someday.” That became a reality in 1966 when his group hit the national charts.
Fueled by a horn hook, “The Cheater” hit the Billboard Hot 100 in late January 1966 and rose to No. 12. Sample lyric: “It seems every day now/You hear people say now/Look out for the cheater/Make way for the foolhearted clown.” Kuban and his band played it on Dick Clark’s ABC showcase American Bandstand, and “The Cheater” is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent exhibit saluting one-hit wonders.
“I would rather have one hit than no hits,” Kuban said in an interview. “I would rather be a one-hit wonder than a no-hit wonder. There’s a million groups out there that are no-hit wonders. That sort of shuts ’em up right there.”
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“The Cheater” was a bigger hit in Australia, and the band planned a nine-date tour of the country. But the Vietnam-era Draft Board told Kuban that his status as a high school teacher gave him a deferment from serving; had he toured, Kuban would have been drafted. That certain curtailed the band’s chances for a longer career.
The single was culled from the Bob Kuban and the In-Men’s LP Look Out for the Cheater, which reached No. 129 and would be their only charting album.
The group would dent the Hot 100 twice more, with “The Teaser” and Beatles cover “Drive My Car,” both also in 1966.
After that Kuban taught music and was the band director at Bishop DuBourgh High School in St. Louis. His memoir, My Side of the Bandstand, co-written with Nancy Wegner, was published in 2006. The previous year, The Bob Kuban Brass performed before the last regular-season baseball game at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
He continued to record and perform into his 80s.
Kuban is survived by Juanita Wheeler; Nancy Rickert; sister Madonna Kuban; granddaughter Finnley Hope; and great-grandchildren Stella Hope and Edison Drier.
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