Adrian Pride

Adrian Pride was the pseudonym for Bernie Schwartz (not to be confused with the actor Tony Curtis, who was born Bernie Schwartz), a veteran songwriter whose associations included Sharon Sheely and the Everly Brothers, and was also an occasional recording artist as well. "Adrian Pride" was the name he chose to use on his second Warner Bros. single, a recording of "Her Name Is Melody," a trippy piece of sunshine pop from late 1966. This raga-influenced ballad, with superb drumming and several layers of virtuoso playing on guitar, marked the sole appearance of Schwartz in this guise of Adrian Pride -- he would resurface in 1968 under his own name as a member of the Comfortable Chair. Sad to say, "Her Name Is Melody" somehow missed the charts and had to wait until 2004, upon the release of Rhino Handmade's Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults, to get a hearing before an appreciative audience. ~ Bruce Eder