Cub Koda

Michael "Cub" Koda was born on October 1, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan. His father Max owned a small-town newspaper in Manchester, Michigan. He got his nickname Cub from the character of Cubby on the TV show The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Koda was a drummer at age five and formed his first group, The Del-Tinos, while attending Manchester High School. The group recorded three singles before breaking up in 1966. Cub formed the rock band Brownsville Station in 1969, which scored a big hit in 1973 with the terrifically thrilling teen attitude anthem classic "Smokin' in the Boy's Room," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard pop charts and sold over two million copies. Brownsville Station continued to perform in concert and record albums, but disbanded in 1979. Koda began recording one-man band songs in such diverse music genres as country, blues, R&B, jazz, rockabilly and early rock'n'roll with a multi-track tape recorder while still a member of Brownsville Station; these recordings were released as the album "That's What I Like About the South!" in 1984. In 1979 he started writing the regular column "The Vinyl Junkie" for "Goldmine" magazine. In 1980 Koda worked with blues singer Hound Dog Taylor's backing band The Houserockers. He also began writing liner notes and compiled records for numerous CD compilations issued by Rhino Records, Time-Life, MCA and Motown; among the compilations he wrote liner notes for are three volumes of the acclaimed "Blues Masters" series and "Best of" retrospective compilations for such artists as Link Wray, The Trashmen, Jimmy Reed and The Miller Sisters. He was the editor and a contributing writer for the book "The All Music Guide to Blues" and both co-wrote and edited the paperback publication "Blues for Dummies" in 1998. In addition, Koda recorded and released albums of his own material, which include "Welcome to My Job," "Abba Dabba Dabba: A Bananza of Hits," "Box Lunch," and the especially well-received "Noise Monkeys." Cub Koda was still writing and recording music when he died suddenly of kidney failure at the tragically young age of 51 on July 1, 2000.