This artist hit it big exactly once, with the Top Ten hit "The Cheater," released in 1966 under the name of Bob Kuban & the In-Men. His music was influenced by his sideman association with Ike and Tina Turner, including several stints with Ike's Kings of Rhythm band. In 1976, he opened his own booking agency and his venture payed off, even leading to public recognition such as the St. Louis Businessman of the Year award. One of his innovations was the so-called Singles Night Out series of singles dances. He also started his own publishing company, Q-Man Music. His success in these music business endeavors have left him in a different position than many other '60s hit artists who never recovered from getting "ripped off" for their royalties. He always left some time for music, continuing to book his own combo as well as fronting the Bob Kuban Brass Band. Thirty years after his one Top Ten hit, he was honored at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's tribute to "One Hit Wonders," because without him it could never have been complete.
Unfortunately, Kuban's singer on this hit single, Walter Scott, was not around to enjoy the award. He was the victim of a grisly murder in 1983, the details of which were apparently fascinating enough to inspire a book, The Cheaters: The Walter Scott Murder by Scottie Priesmeyer. Although he vanished in 1983, the singer's body was not found until 1987, floating in a cistern with a gunshot wound to the back. His widow and her new husband were charged with the murder, and that is quite ironic considering the words of the biggest hit Scott had ever sung: "Look out for the cheater..." Scott and Kuban's relationship went back to 1963, when the latter was a high school teacher who played drums on weekend wedding gigs, with Scott singing for a group called the Pacemakers. The two men formed a new band that almost immediately began cutting sides for the Norman label, but not with any great success, although the song "Jerkin' Time" would make a great theme song for a Jamaican jerked chicken chain. "The Cheater" was originally released by the Musicland label, for whom Kuban cut two further singles, "Harlem Shuffle" and "The Batman Theme." In 1970, Kuban cut a single for Reprise and re-did his one-hit for other labels in both 1974 and 1975. In 1975, the Bob Kuban Brass Band recorded Get Ready for Some Rock and Soul, once again for Norman. The same label was still around in the late '80s to issue two more singles with predictable partying themes, "Everybody's Gonna Have a Party" and "Triple Shot of Rhythm and Blues." In 2000, Kuban began playing drums in the band of another St. Louis rock & roll legend, but one with decidely more than one hit to his credit: guitarist Chuck Berry. Kuban has also worked in radio and was the musical director of KXOK from 1985 through 1987.
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Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi