Sha Na Na’s Screamin’ Scott Simon, 75, died on Sept. 6. He was with the retro-rock group from its foundation in 1969 through 2022. Simon was a pianist, singer and songwriter—he wrote many of Sha Na Na’s tunes which weren’t classic-rock covers, and the song “Sandy” for the film version of Grease (the group appeared as Johnny Casino & The Gamblers in it). Simon told interviewer Gary James of their early Woodstock appearance, “A guy came and said ‘I’m holding this big festival upstate. I’ll pay you $600,’ of which the group saw $300. ‘Do you wanna play at it?’ Sure. Going on just before Hendrix, the camera crews were all asleep, ’cause it was 5:30 in the morning. Somebody woke ’em up and said ‘you ought to shoot this, ’cause it's really amazing looking,’ and they shot ‘At the Hop.’ Getting into the Woodstock movie and being linked in the same breath with The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Janis Joplin, gave the group instant creditability, that would perhaps never been achieved otherwise.”
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