Bobby Pickett, 69, Is Dead; Scored ‘Monster’ Hit

**needlefingers** · April 27th, 2007, 06:00 AM

OK, so it's not disco. But many DJ's played this song on Halloween. And still do.

Bobby Pickett, 69, Is Dead; Scored ‘Monster’ Hit

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 27, 2007

Bobby (Boris) Pickett, whose Boris Karloff impression propelled the Halloween novelty song “Monster Mash” to the top of the charts in 1962, making him one of pop music’s most enduring one-hit wonders, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 69. His longtime manager, Stuart Hersh, said the cause was leukemia.

Mr. Pickett’s multimillion-selling single — with the indelible chorus “He did the monster mash, it was a graveyard smash” — hit the charts three times: on its original release in 1962, when it reached No. 1, and in 1970 and 1973. Mr. Pickett’s Karloff impression was forged in Somerville, Mass., where as a 9-year-old he watched horror films in a theater managed by his father. He later made it part of his act when he began performing in Hollywood nightclubs in 1959.

Mr. Pickett also did the voice when performing with his band the Cordials. A bandmate, Lenny Capizzi, persuaded Mr. Pickett to do a song featuring the Karloff impression, and “Monster Mash” was born.

In the song, a mad scientist tells of seeing a monster he had created rise from a slab “late one night” to perform a new dance. Soon it becomes a craze when other monsters arrive and join in.

The song was backed by a band christened the Crypt-Kickers and a little-known piano player at the time named Leon Russell. Four major labels rejected the song before Gary Paxton, lead singer on the Hollywood Argyles’ hit “Alley Oop,” released “Monster Mash” on his own.

Mr. Pickett is survived by a daughter, Nancy; a sister, Lynda; and two grandchildren.

Although considered a one-hit wonder, Mr. Pickett cracked the charts on two other occasions. “Monster’s Holiday,” a Christmas follow-up to his Halloween hit, reached No. 30 in December 1962. And “Graduation Day” hit No. 80 in June 1963.

But it was his “Monster Mash” that became a perennial. Mr. Pickett remained in demand for Halloween performances and continued singing the song through his final concert date, last November. In one memorable show, in 1973, his bus broke down outside Frankenstein, Mo.