Gil Cabot
Gil started out as a weekend deejay for WALT when he was just 15 and still a student at Tampa’s Hillsborough High School, and also put in some time with country station WYOU. He went on to establish Gil Cabot Enterprises and founded the Paris Tower and Sundi record labels in the mid to late 60’s for recording local talent. No national hits resulted from the Paris Tower recordings made at H&H Studios in Tampa; however, Sundi came through with a huge smash in 1969, recorded at Charles Fuller Productions on MacDill Avenue.
Sundi’s biggest (and only) hit is credited to Mercy, a local group from East Bay High School in Gibsonton. Their smash "Love (Can Make You Happy)" was released in two different versions – the first version, recorded and released by Cabot on Sundi Records, and a second version released on a major label, Warner Brothers, which signed the group for a full-length album (1969’s "Forever") while simultaneously releasing a re-recorded “Love (Can Make You Happy)” single.
The Sundi version was the one most disc jockeys played and the one that peaked in the number two slot on the Billboard and Cash Box music charts in 1969. To make a long story (that we won’t get into here) short, lawsuits ensued. But of course, controversy has been nothing new to Gil Cabot, and space doesn’t allow us to cover them all. So we won’t even try.
The last we heard (2009), Gil makes his home in the Los Angeles area.
Station History
1964 - 1967 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (On Air Personality)
|
