Whatever Happened to Gary Lewis & the Playboys?

Lauren Novak March 20, 8:00 am

American rock and roll group Gary Lewis & the Playboys, performing with their new line-up, 1965. From left to right, John R. West on the Cordovox, lead singer Gary Lewis, and guitarists Carl Radle and Tom Tripplehorn. Tom Tripplehorn is playing a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar. — Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

What To Know

Gary Lewis & the Playboys achieved major success in the mid-1960s with a string of Top 10 hits.
The group’s momentum slowed after Gary Lewis was drafted into the Army in 1967.
Gary Lewis has continued to perform with various lineups, focusing on nostalgia tours.

In the mid ’60s, Gary Lewis & the Playboys’ music was suddenly everywhere. Songs like “This Diamond Ring,” “Count Me In,” “Save Your Heart for Me,” and “Everybody Loves a Clown” became major hits, giving the group a remarkable run on the charts. For a brief moment, they were one of the few American bands keeping pace with the wave of British groups dominating pop music.

According to Lehigh Valley News, Gary Lewis said, “It was such a thrill for me to be in music at that time because of the Beatles and the British Invasion. So it was an absolute thrill for me. I just loved it that we could stay up there with all the British stuff happening.”

Lewis, who is the son of the famous Jerry Lewis, formed the band as a teenager with friends while he was attending theater arts college in Pasadena. At first, they called themselves Gary & the Playboys and performed locally, eventually landing a regular job playing at Disneyland. They deliberately avoided using Lewis’s famous last name because he wanted to know whether the band could succeed on its own. That Disneyland gig proved to be the turning point, because producer Snuff Garrett heard them there and offered them a recording opportunity. Eventually, they added Lewis to their name.

Their breakthrough came in early 1965 with “This Diamond Ring,” which climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than a million copies. The group followed it with an impressive streak of hits, including “Count Me In,” “She’s Just My Style,” “Sure Gonna Miss Her,” and “Green Grass.” In fact, Gary Lewis & the Playboys became one of only two acts in the ’60s whose first seven singles all reached the Top 10.

However, their momentum slowed in 1967 when Lewis was drafted into the U.S. Army and served for two years. Previously recorded songs continued to chart during his absence, but by the time he returned in 1968, music had changed. Lewis did manage one more Top 20 hit with a 1968 remake of “Sealed with a Kiss,” but the group’s run of major hits was essentially over.

LOS ANGELES - SEPTEMBER 5: Jerry Lewis (L) and his son, singer Gary Lewis, joke around at the 39th Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon at CBS Television City on September 5, 2004 in Los Angeles, California.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Even after the chart success faded, Lewis never really stepped away from music. Through the 1970s and ’80s, he continued performing and gradually transitioned into the nostalgia circuit, where audiences still loved hearing those ’60s hits. He also appeared regularly on his father Jerry Lewis’s Labor Day telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Over the years, the lineup of Playboys changed many times, but Lewis remained the constant figure at the center.

Today, Lewis still performs as Gary Lewis & the Playboys with a newer touring lineup. In a March 2026 interview, he discussed performing on the My Generation Tour alongside The Lovin’ Spoonful and Terry Sylvester of The Hollies. Lewis said the experience still thrills him because audiences continue to sing along with the songs that made the band famous. According to Lewis, those shows now draw three generations of fans who grew up with the music or discovered it through their families. He shared, “It’s wonderful because I’m seeing the crowd smile, they’re mouthing the words right along with me.”

Lewis has also said he prefers to keep the songs sounding exactly like fans remember them. In a 2023 interview with Boomer Magazine, he explained that audiences want to hear the hits the way they sounded on the radio, not reinvented versions. Lewis added, “There’s an awful lot of hits on this tour. Both myself and The Lovin’ Spoonful both had seven Top 10 records. And Terry Sylvester of The Hollies, I mean, they had tons of hits.”

Gary Lewis & The Playboys remaining My Generation 2026 Tour Dates

Mar 20, 2026: Myrtle Beach, SC (The Carolina Opry Theater)
Mar 21, 2026: Florence, SC (Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center)
Apr 26, 2026: Lancaster, PA (American Music Theatre)
May 7, 2026: Newnan, GA (The Donald W. Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts)
May 8, 2026: Waleska, GA (Falany Performing Arts Center)
May 22, 2026: Lorain, OH (The Lorain Palace Theatre)
May 26, 2026: Shipshewana, IN (Blue Gate Performing Arts Center)