Lion and the Leprechauns • my uncle and Godfather

Let's just start with a review of this 60s pop/rock band from a critic in Milwaukee:

❝Watch the stage. You are seeing one of the finest precision choreography groups in the midwest. With the versatile voice of Lion's heading the vocals, and the blending harmony of the others, each song is close to a duplication of a record. Having fun? Of course, and so is everyone else in the audience. Maybe that explains why the Leprechauns play to large crowds every night, and why they are one of the highest priced club groups in the midwest.❞

— Alan Posniak, Milwaukee Journal Badger Beat, Oct 12, 1966

I've always known him as Uncle Lion, my dad's younger brother and my Godfather. But the country knew him as the lead singer of Lion and the Leprechauns (and previously Lion and the Laymen).

The Band.

Lion and the Leprechauns formed in 1965. They toured the midwest performing covers in the best clubs around. In 1966 they teamed up with Little Fort Company to cut a record with their hit "Mouse Trap" along with "Two Miles Over and Two Miles Back" on the B side. The song was written by John Mangione and Dutch Wenzlaff, with Wenzlaff also producing the record. If you want to purchase the 45, you can sometimes find a rare copy on Discogs.

A compilation album.

Their hit "Mouse Trap" was included in a 1988 compilation album "The Madness Invasion, Volume 3".

Newspaper ads.

The Booking Agent.

Lion and the Leprechauns were managed by Al Schultz Agency of Waukegan, Illinois.