Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Big Boy Groves

Members

Ervin Groves:

RIYL

Ervin Big Daddy Rucker, Ike Turner, Johnny Otis, Dinah Washington

Influences

Johnny Otis, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Al Hibbler, Sam Cooke, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Ike Turner, Count Basie, Cab Calloway

Discography

Video(s)

Sponsored

Pianist, arranger, and composer Ervin Groves Jr., aka Big Boy Groves, was born January 20, 1927 in Oklahoma. After playing in the Army band, he became a bandleader and songwriter, appearing on labels like Money Records, Spark, Vita, and Dolphin in the 1950s, with songs like "Big Boy's Bounce," "You Can't Beat the Horses," and more.

Growing up in La Jolla, Groves was interested in both music and art. He attended both the La Jolla Art Institute and San Diego City College, studying music at the latter before moving on to Westlake College of Music in Hollywood. After enlisting in the Army in the mid-1940s, he served in Japan, where he organized a special service band, playing both piano and trombone.

He spent several years gigging in Guam and Hawaii, leading the house band at venues like the Royal Lahaina Hotel in Kaanapali, Maui, where he held residencies at Moby Dick's and at Coconut Willie. At the same time, he still pursued his muse as an illustrator, producing a cartoon book called The Funny Side of Hawaii. That was later followed by The Funny Side of Las Vegas, said to have been inspired by a visit to his friend, comedian Redd Foxx, in that city. His cartoons were so good that he drew for a local newspaper, and is said to have also invented several educational games.

While in Hawaii, Groves wrote and arranged an album called Composer in Paradise. During this period, Groves also wrote "Welcome to Paradise," which was recorded by his daughter Lani and appeared on the album. Featured players on Composer in Paradise include Garnett Scott, Viola Wills, Dede Copeland, Mary Staten, and Yvonne Butler.

Groves became known as Big Boy when he scored a hit record in 1955 with "I Gotta New Car" b/w "Midnight Special" on the Spark label, for which he was backed up by fellow Spark signees the Robins. It was as Big Boy Groves that he scored again in 1956 with "You Can't Beat The Horses," on the Vita label.

In the '60s, he started his own Musette label, as well as GME (Groves Music Enterprises) Records, with both based in the Groves' home at 4675 Logan Avenue, where recording sessions took place in a back room.

His songs were also recorded by other artists, including Little Margie ("Another Ticket") and fellow San Diegan Ervin Big Daddy Rucker (with whom Ervin Groves is sometimes mistaken, having also recorded on Groves' local labels). The San Diego Marauders with Ervin "Big Daddy" Rucker recorded "Baby Can't You feel It," written by both Groves and Rucker, for Compose Records, and Rucker also recorded singles featuring Groves tracks on both sides like "She's Alright" b/w "Kids Together" (Musette) and "Just Do Your Thing" b/w "Bad Misunderstanding" (GME). Ervin Rucker also recorded Groves' holiday song "Christmas in the Ghetto" (GME).

Groves' daughter Lani (sometimes billed as Lennie or Lenni Groves) was among the artists signed to GME. Father and daughter recorded together for the A-side of the 1962 GME single "Teenage Party" b/w "Bucket O' Blood," the latter track one of Groves' partly spoken-word songs that some feel constitute early rap efforts.

Lani also recorded under her own name, singing her dad's music and/or backed by the Ervin Groves Trio, including "I Feel Pretty" b/w "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" (on her dad's GME label). Her single "Sweet Sixteen" b/w "Fool For a Day" (as Lenni Groves) features both songs written by her dad. Lani Groves later sang in Stevie Wonder's band Wonderlove and can be heard singing the intro to 1972's "You Are the Sunshine of my Life." Groves' wife Lei and another daughter, Kim, sometimes sang on recordings as well.

Groves also toured as an accompanist for late jazz vocalist Dinah Washington, and artists like Young Dean recorded for Groves' labels, backed by the Grovettes and Lennie Groves for singles like "The Story of a Fool" b/w "Just to Be With You" (GME).

Groves later sold the Musette label to three local doctors. He died of leukemia on July 21, 1982, at the age of 55, and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery. In 2017, local musician and archivist "Action" Andy Rasmussen (whose research into Groves provided data for this bio) reissued "Bucket O' Blood" on a local music compilation.

“When he had a hit with ‘Gotta New Car,’" says Rasmussen, "Spark Records actually bought him a new car. Ervin was also a painter by trade and did artwork, doing the logo for both GME and Musette, drawing the globe and the arrow.”

Sponsored

Upcoming Local Shows

No shows scheduled

Post a show
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.