Paul Revere obit

PAUL REVERE, whose organ riffs, big smile and effervescent persona defined the’60s band Paul Revere and the Raiders, died on Saturday at his home in Garden Valley, Idaho, from cancer. He was 76. The group, which formed in Boise as The Downbeats in 1958, had a number of hits, including “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Good Thing,” Him or Me - What’s It Gonna Be” and 1971’s “Indian Reservation,” but achieved its greatest popularity as the costumed, slapstick-y house band for Dick Clark’s Where the Action Is, which aired on weekday afternoons and as such was afterschool appointment TV to a generation of American kids. “From Day 1, we’ve always been a party band that accidentally had some hit records and accidentally got on a hit television series,” Revere—born Paul Revere Dick—pointed out in a 2000 interview with the AP. Revere continued to tour with various iterations of the Raiders until earlier this year, when his illness forced him off the road. “He’d been quiet about it for some time,” band manager Roger Hart said. “Treated at the Mayo Clinic, Paul stayed on the road as long as he could, then retired recently back to Idaho, where he and his wife, Sydney, always kept a home.” (10/6a)