The six-man group the Association is back for their second number one song, “Windy.” “Windy” was written by Ruthann Friedman who hung out with the likes of Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. The song was written as a waltz in ¾ time, but when the producer of the Association, Brian Howe heard the song, he changed the tempo to what we hear today. There were rumors that Friedman had actually written the song about a man, but that the group changed the lyrics to make it about a women. Friedman denies this.

The Association had become valuable property after their number one song “Cherish” in 1966. That had been on the Valiant label, and was the only group on Valiant that was making any money. Warner Brothers wanted the Association and so bought the entire Valiant label just to get the one group. So, “Windy” was recorded on the Warner Brothers label.

The label is not the only thing that changed for the Association. Founding member Gary Jules Alexander was into an alternate lifestyle of the late Sixties. He did not smoke, drink or eat meat. Sometime in early 1967, he left the group to study meditation in India, similar to what the Beatles did around this time. That left the group short one member, so they hired Larry Ramos, who used to sing with the New Christy Minstrels. He and Russ Giguere shared lead vocals on “Windy.”

The Association was the lead-off band at the Monterey Pop Festival which was held from June 16 to June 18, 1967 in Monterey, California. That festival became known as the official start of “The Summer of Love” which was that summer in 1967. It also featured people like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who and Janis Joplin.

After the success of “Windy” they had two more Top 10 hits, “Never My Love” (#2) later in 1967 and “Everything That Touches You” (#10) in 1968. After that the appeal of the Association gradually died off and the hits ended. By the end of 1968, they were gone from the charts. The group continued to record and perform together until 1973, when member Brian Cole died of a drug overdose. That was the catalyst for the final breakup of the group.

“Windy” debuted on the pop charts on June 3, 1967 and spent four weeks at number one. This was the last number the Association ever had and the group went on to other endeavors after their breakup in 1973. In 1980 HBO brought them back for a reunion concert and the group recorded a couple singles in the early Eighties, but nothing ever came of them.