Dear Forgotten Hits,
I was sitting at my computer this very warm Saturday afternoon and I decided to take a romp in my old neighborhoods in Wisconsin. I have lived in Missouri for many years but my roots are not here and never will be.
I go on google and type in my old addresses in Milwaukee and Mequon and I see what my old houses and my old neighborhoods look like now. This got me to thinking about the last few years I lived in Wisconsin when I lived in Mequon. I attended Homestead High my freshman and part of my sophmore years. One of our dances featured a local band called Tony's Tygers.
I developed a big crush on the keyboard player. I thought he was the dreamiest. He smiled at me a lot.
At the start of my sophmore year my parents informed us that we were moving to Springfield, Missouri. Needless to say, I was not happy about the idea of leaving Wisconsin. The last night before we moved my parents let my older sister and me go the the Strobe teen center in Thiensville. This was one of our hangouts. I had heard that the Tigers were playing there that night. We had another group in the area with a similar name to Tony's Tygers but I knew they were not the same band. I still went cause I love to dance.
When the band came out, I almost fainted. It was Tony's Tygers and my heartthrob keyboard player Craig Fairchild. I found out his name that night. I just stood in front and fell in love. After the show I waited in line for his autograph. I wanted to be the last one so I could look at him for a long time. He asked my name. I could barely say it. He wrote, "Stacee, always remember I love you, Craig". I was over the moon.
I kept that autograph for many months and every time I was feeling sad about this horrible place my parents had moved us, I would take it out and it made me smile. The second year we lived here I was invited to the fair. I went on the one of those rides that has you in a cage and turns you upside down among other things. My purse came open and all the contents spilled. I lost my precious autograph.
Today I googled Tony's Tygers Milwaukee and I found your website. I loved reading about the band and I had forgotten that Little by Little was theirs ... it runs through my head from time to time. I so enjoyed seeing the pictures of some of the guys from way back especially my Craig. He was just as cute as I remembered him being.
I left Wisconsin in 1968. I will be 57 this year. How is that possible??????
Thanks for listening,
Stacee McDermott
Thank you, Stacee ... these are the kind of emails we LOVE receiving here in Forgotten Hits. Although Craig is no longer a member of The Tygers, I have passed your message on to the band ... I believe all these guys have stayed in touch with each other ... so it'll be interesting to see what kind of response (if any) we get back.
Thanks again for sharing your memories with our readers ... obviously, this was a VERY special time in our lives growing up ... and these artists meant SO much to us back then. (I'll tell you what ... the brand new Tygers CD is better than ANYTHING they recorded back in the day ... I'm hoping these guys get a whole 'nother career out of this thing!!!) kk
Thank you, Kent, for the kind words about my letter. I enjoyed writing it. I got to be 14 going on 15 again for a little while. I am happy that I know about your website now. I plan to use it often.
Stacee
I passed Stacee's email on to The Tygers ... and I they're going to be sending her an autographed copy of their new CD as well as a special vinyl edition of the LP ... and, they've even arranged to have Craig Fairchild sign it for her!!! (Now how cool is THAT?!?!?)
You can read our exclusive Forgotten Hits Interview with The Tygers here:
Click here: Forgotten Hits: The Tygers - Part One
Click here: Forgotten Hits: The Tygers - Part Two
Click here: Forgotten Hits: Forgotten Hits Interviews The Tygers
And listen to their first local hit "Little By Little" right here:
