R.I.P.: Larry Ramos Of The Association

Larry Ramos

Hilario "Larry" Ramos, whose career took him from the New Christy Minstrels to the Association, died on Wednesday from metastatic melanoma.

He was 72, according to Vintage Vinyl News.

Ramos had a natural musical ability but started his career acting. At the age of seven, he was in the movie Pagan Love Song with Esther Williams and appeared on both Arthur Godfrey's radio and television shows. While he was in his teens, he toured the country with The King and I starring Yul Brynner.

After graduating, Ramos began playing coffeehouses around the Los Angeles area, where Randy Sparks saw him and brought him into the New Christy Minstrels where he started playing banjo and moved up to other instruments.

Ramos stayed with the group for four years before attempting a solo career that produced one single before he began filling in on occasion in the Association. He was asked to join the band in 1967 when founding member Gary Alexander left and was with them from the recording of their third album, Insight Out, until he left in the mid-1975. His voice and playing can be heard on such standards as Windy, Never My Love, Everything That Touches You and Time For Livin'.



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