The Surprize

The Surprize, from left: Roger Fuentes, James Marvell and Buddy Good. (Paul Paris not shown)
The Surprize, from left: Roger Fuentes, James Marvell and Buddy Good. (Paul Paris not shown)

The Surprize Cent 45 I Will Make HistoryYou can hardly find a better intro than the one to the Surprize’s “I Will Make History”, with an immortal fuzz riff that hooks the listener immediately. I find the lyrics don’t match the intensity of the music, and that hokey interlude just doesn’t make sense to me, cutting the momentum in the middle of the song.

The flip “Too Bad” is more consistent, if more conventional, and is the side I play the most these days. I’ve seen this listed as from the summer of ’67 but I would speculate it was cut a little later.

The Surprize Cent 45 Too BadMembers of the band included:

James Marvell (Carlos Zayas) – lead vocals
Paul Paris – lead guitar
Buddy Good – bass and vocals
Roger Fuentes – drums

Roger Fuentes came from the Early Americans who have a great single on Paris Tower, “Night After Night” / “It’s So Cold Outside” where his drumming stands out. Carlos Zayas wrote “Too Bad” and co-wrote “I Will Make History” with Centinaro.

John Centinaro managed and produced the band on his own Cent Record label out of Tampa, Florida. Centinaro he also managed the Robbs and the Mysterians for a time.

Prior to the Surprize, Good and Marvell collaborated with Centinaro as the Skopes with “She’s Got Bad Breath” / “Tears In Your Eyes” on the USA label in the summer of ’67.

Together Cent 45 I Love YouIn 1968 Good and Marvell released one single with lead guitarist Eddie Wasenberg as ‘Together’, with “I Loved You” (credited to Centinaro, Wonderbuna and Zayas) / “Don’t Laugh at Me” on Cent Records, recorded at Charles Fuller Studios in Tampa. Both sides are poppy productions, and “Don’t Laugh at Me” seems to feature some zippy speeded-up guitar runs.

Marvell, Fuentes and Good went on to join Mercy (“Love Can Make You Happy” on Warner Bros), another band managed by Centinaro. After Mercy, Marvell and Good formed the gospel country music duo the Country Cavaleers, again with Centinaro managing, then went solo in 1976.

James Marvell wrote to me:

The Surprize was originally a 1966 three piece Tampa, Florida band.

Before their days as The Surprize, James Marvell and Buddy Good were singing and writing songs together. It was during those teen years that James and Buddy formed The Scopes. They released a song co-written by their manager John Centinaro titled “She’s Got Bad Breath.” Scope mouthwash banned the song and the duo changed their group name to The Surprize.

Around 1968 Surprize members James Marvell, Buddy Good with their drummer Roger Fuentes joined Mercy and recorded the million seller “Love Can Make You Happy” written by Mercy founder Jack Sigler Jr.

James & Buddy wrote many songs during their teenage years in Florida and even had songs published by The Isley Brothers’ publishing company in New York. James hopes to dig up those recordings from the middle to late 60s.

After Mercy, Marvell & Good went on to form The Country Cavaleers. Today, James Marvell is still traveling and reliving the the music of the 60s. Joining Marvell is his wife Faye.

Sources include: Jeff Lemlich’s rundown on Mercy at Spectropop, the Limestone Lounge, James Marvell’s site and BoggessMusicandSound.com.

 Mercy with Buddy Good and James Marvell
Mercy with Buddy Good and James Marvell

16 thoughts on “The Surprize”

  1. Recorded these Garage Band songs in the mid ’60s pre-Mercy and Centinaro ( the producer ) re-pressed them again in 1971. Hope this answers your questions. { James Marvell of SURPRIZE, Together, Mercy, The Country Cavaleers and The Skopes }

      1. I meant read my other comment on reply to your comment regarding you & James together at a gig.

    1. hi my name is reese paradis i am the son of paul paradis jr and i am looking for any one who knew of his music or the music he has written please contact me @reeseparadis666@yahoo.com

  2. Hi Allie,

    I am Gloria’s daughter Tammy. I wish you could have heard him play the drums live. As a little girl I would sit on the floor in our basement in Hendersonville, TN and listen to him for hours. He was incredible! Because of him I love music and have always thought he was the best drummer in music history! Praying really hard for him!! Growing up he was such a huge part of my life and was a great uncle.

    Tammy

  3. Hi Allie,

    I’m sorry to hear about your father’s passing. He’s the drummer and lead vocalist on this song by the Early Americans:

    1. Well my brother Paul Paradis started the band in 1964-65. They practiced in our garage all the time and they were great. Damn shame he was drafted to the Army to Viet Nam. I lost him RIP Paul 10/05/2006.

  4. Just trying to put together a birthday surprise for Carlos”James M” & need his birth year. 1948 or 1949 ??. Didn’t want to ask Faye, didn’t know if she’d keep the sercret. He plays down here in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas at Winter Texan Resorts every year with a “Hippie Invasion” dance gig. Lots of fun. Thank you for your help.
    Paul

  5. hi my name is reese paradis and i am the son of paul paradis jr who was the lead guitarist on the band the surprize and i would like to talk to any band member who knew my father and knew his music my my crystal paradis threw away his music and me and my family do not understand why she did that please contact me

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