Robert John Pedrick Jr. (January 3, 1946 – February 24, 2025) was an American pop and soft-rock singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York, known for his distinctive high tenor/falsetto voice. He had a long, intermittent career spanning four decades on the charts.
He started young, scoring a minor hit at age 12 as Bobby Pedrick Jr. with “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes” (1958; written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman), which reached the lower end of the Billboard Hot 100. In the early 1960s he led the doo-wop group Bobby & The Consoles (e.g., “My Jelly Bean”). He later adopted the stage name Robert John.
In 1968 he released the sunshine-pop single “If You Don’t Want My Love” (co-written with Michael Gately and others; produced by David Rubinson). It peaked at #49 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #34 on Cash Box, #42 in the UK, and #21 in Canada. It also served as the title track of his 1968 Columbia album, which included covers such as “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Ooo Baby Baby.” Other mid-period singles included “When the Party Is Over” (1970).
His biggest early success came with a 1972 cover of The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over a million copies, and earned a gold disc. He also worked as a songwriter (e.g., contributing to Blood, Sweat & Tears) and background vocalist.
Peak success: After periods of lower activity (including construction work in New Jersey), he returned in 1979 with the self-written soft-rock ballad “Sad Eyes” (produced by George Tobin). It slowly climbed the charts and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1979 (displacing The Knack’s “My Sharona”), also performing well on Adult Contemporary charts. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. The accompanying self-titled album reached the lower reaches of the Billboard 200. Follow-up singles and the 1980 album Back on the Street yielded more modest hits, including covers like “Hey There Lonely Girl.”Later years: He continued recording sporadically into the 1980s (including a Motown single “Bread and Butter” in 1983) before largely stepping back. He died on February 24, 2025, at age 79 in Las Vegas, having been recovering from a stroke suffered years earlier.
Hamilton Camp was a British-born American actor, singer, and songwriter who built a dual career spanning child acting, 1960s folk music, improvisational comedy, character roles in film and TV, and extensive voice work in animation.
Born in London, Camp was evacuated to the United States (via Canada) with his mother and sisters during World War II to escape the Blitz. The family settled in California. He began acting as a child, making his film debut around age 12 in Bedlam (1946) with Boris Karloff (as an uncredited extra). He continued with stage work and other early film/TV roles into the early 1950s.
Camp rose in the early 1960s folk scene performing as Bob Camp. He debuted as a folk singer at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival.
Here’s to You (1967/1968; the title track was a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit peaking at #76).
He performed at festivals and clubs into the 2000s, balancing music with acting.
Camp returned to performing arts via improvisation: he worked with Chicago’s Second City and was an original member of San Francisco’s satirical troupe The Committee (mid-1960s; alumni included Joan Rivers and Howard Hesseman). He appeared on Broadway (e.g., The Committee, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Paul Sills’ Story Theater) and in regional theater (including Shakespeare roles late in life, such as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Film highlights (selected from ~100 credits): Heaven Can Wait (1978), Eating Raoul (1982), Under Fire (1983), Dick Tracy (1990), Almost Heroes (1998), Joe Dirt (2001), and his final role in Hard Four (2007, posthumous).
TV work included a regular role as Andrew Hummel on the sitcom He & She (1967–68 with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss). Memorable guest spots: Del the manic salesman on WKRP in Cincinnati, Boots Miller on MASH*, a height-related date on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, plus appearances on Cheers, Hill Street Blues, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (as the Ferengi Leck), Lois & Clark (as older H.G. Wells), Desperate Housewives, and many others.
Voice acting was a major later focus: Harmony Smurf and Greedy Smurf on The Smurfs; Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck on DuckTales (and related series); plus work on The Tick, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and many more animated projects.
Camp remained active in theater, music, and coaching (e.g., theater games) until shortly before his death from a heart attack on October 2, 2005, in Los Angeles (following a fall outside his home), at age 70.
Specifically, he voiced Count Dracula in Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, and was probably one of my favorite portrayals of the character in fiction(along with Adam Sandler in the Hotel Transylvania animated movies, Gary Oldman, and of course Bela Lugosi)…
Seriously though, I have that Scooby movie on DVD, and it’s always a fun watch around Halloween…
Sad Eyes: If You Don't Want My Love
Jason Remington • August 21, 2026
#36 – “If You Don’t Want My Love
Robert John
Robert John Pedrick Jr. (January 3, 1946 – February 24, 2025) was an American pop and soft-rock singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York, known for his distinctive high tenor/falsetto voice. He had a long, intermittent career spanning four decades on the charts.
He started young, scoring a minor hit at age 12 as Bobby Pedrick Jr. with “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes” (1958; written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman), which reached the lower end of the Billboard Hot 100. In the early 1960s he led the doo-wop group Bobby & The Consoles (e.g., “My Jelly Bean”). He later adopted the stage name Robert John.
In 1968 he released the sunshine-pop single “If You Don’t Want My Love” (co-written with Michael Gately and others; produced by David Rubinson). It peaked at #49 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #34 on Cash Box, #42 in the UK, and #21 in Canada. It also served as the title track of his 1968 Columbia album, which included covers such as “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Ooo Baby Baby.” Other mid-period singles included “When the Party Is Over” (1970).
His biggest early success came with a 1972 cover of The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over a million copies, and earned a gold disc. He also worked as a songwriter (e.g., contributing to Blood, Sweat & Tears) and background vocalist.
Peak success: After periods of lower activity (including construction work in New Jersey), he returned in 1979 with the self-written soft-rock ballad “Sad Eyes” (produced by George Tobin). It slowly climbed the charts and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1979 (displacing The Knack’s “My Sharona”), also performing well on Adult Contemporary charts. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. The accompanying self-titled album reached the lower reaches of the Billboard 200. Follow-up singles and the 1980 album Back on the Street yielded more modest hits, including covers like “Hey There Lonely Girl.”Later years: He continued recording sporadically into the 1980s (including a Motown single “Bread and Butter” in 1983) before largely stepping back. He died on February 24, 2025, at age 79 in Las Vegas, having been recovering from a stroke suffered years earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm0SehNx1F4
Here's To Hamilton Camp
Jason Remington • August 21, 2026
Hamilton Camp was a British-born American actor, singer, and songwriter who built a dual career spanning child acting, 1960s folk music, improvisational comedy, character roles in film and TV, and extensive voice work in animation.
Born in London, Camp was evacuated to the United States (via Canada) with his mother and sisters during World War II to escape the Blitz. The family settled in California. He began acting as a child, making his film debut around age 12 in Bedlam (1946) with Boris Karloff (as an uncredited extra). He continued with stage work and other early film/TV roles into the early 1950s.
Camp rose in the early 1960s folk scene performing as Bob Camp. He debuted as a folk singer at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival.
Here’s to You (1967/1968; the title track was a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit peaking at #76).
He performed at festivals and clubs into the 2000s, balancing music with acting.
Camp returned to performing arts via improvisation: he worked with Chicago’s Second City and was an original member of San Francisco’s satirical troupe The Committee (mid-1960s; alumni included Joan Rivers and Howard Hesseman). He appeared on Broadway (e.g., The Committee, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Paul Sills’ Story Theater) and in regional theater (including Shakespeare roles late in life, such as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Film highlights (selected from ~100 credits): Heaven Can Wait (1978), Eating Raoul (1982), Under Fire (1983), Dick Tracy (1990), Almost Heroes (1998), Joe Dirt (2001), and his final role in Hard Four (2007, posthumous).
TV work included a regular role as Andrew Hummel on the sitcom He & She (1967–68 with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss). Memorable guest spots: Del the manic salesman on WKRP in Cincinnati, Boots Miller on MASH*, a height-related date on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, plus appearances on Cheers, Hill Street Blues, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (as the Ferengi Leck), Lois & Clark (as older H.G. Wells), Desperate Housewives, and many others.
Voice acting was a major later focus: Harmony Smurf and Greedy Smurf on The Smurfs; Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck on DuckTales (and related series); plus work on The Tick, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and many more animated projects.
Camp remained active in theater, music, and coaching (e.g., theater games) until shortly before his death from a heart attack on October 2, 2005, in Los Angeles (following a fall outside his home), at age 70.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiKGNXtJt2M
Hamilton Camp's Scooby Doo voice acting
Adam • August 22, 2026
Specifically, he voiced Count Dracula in Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, and was probably one of my favorite portrayals of the character in fiction(along with Adam Sandler in the Hotel Transylvania animated movies, Gary Oldman, and of course Bela Lugosi)…
Seriously though, I have that Scooby movie on DVD, and it’s always a fun watch around Halloween…
Some great memories
Jason Remington • August 21, 2026
I often see a title I don’t remember and will search Youtube for the song. I found 4 in this list that I am adding to my playlist.
I see that ‘Unwind’ and ‘Tighten Up’ are side-by-side on the chart. Coincidence?