In the name of charity and ’80s rock music, The Cover Girls will once again perform at Rick’s Caf? Americain tonight to kick off the Kappa Sigma Fraternity’s Charity Bowl. The Cover Girls performed in Starkville last spring to support a charity event for Samantha Conner, who was in need of a new wheelchair. The band thinks playing charity events is the best thing they can do as musicians.
“It makes everything worth it,” Smith Fulford, vocalist for The Cover Girls, said. “I was thrilled to death about the money we raised.”
“It is great to be able to spread the gospel, so to speak,” Jeff Florreich, keyboardist, said.
This year, The Cover Girls are helping to raise money for Bradley Powell.
Powell was in a car wreck in 1996 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. The goal of the members of Kappa Sigma is to raise $55,000 that will be used toward a surgery that will enable Powell to walk again.
“We weighed our other options and thought he was in the most need,” Brennan Sanders, a member of Kappa Sigma, said.
Rick Welch, owner of Rick’s Caf? Americain, said The Cover Girls have been a success playing there in the past.
“They’re great; the crowd really enjoys them every time they play here,” Welch said.
The other members of The Cover Girls are vocalist Kristee Lively, drummer Vannie Warren, guitarist Allen Park and bassist Kenny Webber. Florreich said he is better known as the “loveshack guy” by fraternity guys who say he looks like the older member of the ’80s band the B52s.
Florreich describes The Cover Girls as an event band. He said they often play festivals and charity events due to the high turnout such gigs reward. Fulford and Lively are both hard at work on their solo careers. Lively lives in Los Angeles and is forming a name for her self in the music industry. Fulford is doing the same in Nashville, Tenn.
Fulford’s genre as a solo artist is country pop, and she is working with songwriters who have composed music for Travis Tritt, Garth Brooks and Eric Clapton. Fulford said working with these writers is a great opportunity to climb the uncertain rungs of the music industry.
“I lucked out,” Fulford said.
The Cover Girls, from Birmingham, Ala., have been together for nearly four years. The band started when the two vocalists were taken out of other bands to create a powerful ’80s retro band. The band plays around 60 shows a year to college towns in the Southeast.
Florreich said the band uses gimmicks such as feather boas, smoke, lighting and pom-poms, reminiscent of the ’80s hit “Hey Mickey” to keep the crowd entertained.
Feature songs that usually get the audience up and dancing are “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Love Shack” and “I love Rock and Roll.”
“We try to play a good party selection and give you a mixture of it all,” Florreich said. “Eighties music is really the highlight of our group, but we do play some music from the ’70s and ’90s as well.”
They used to play 100 gigs a year but have dropped off due to the vocalists’ recent departures. Florreich said since the band plays less, it creates a higher demand for them to be heard and that it keeps them fresh.
The show tonight at Rick’s Cafe Americain will kick off the band’s spring tour, and after that they will travel to Troy State University.