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The Hollyridge Strings was a catchall name for the group of largely interchangeable studio musicians who recorded a series of easy listening instrumental albums for Capitol Records at the peak of the British Invasion era. The project was masterminded by music industry veteran <a href="spotify:artist:5nbB3QaZcq59N84O7VFzM6">Stu Phillips</a>, a composer and producer who previously headlined his own series of Capitol easy listening records including Organ and Strings in Stereo before leaving the label in 1960 to become head of A&R for Colpix Records, where he produced a series of pop smashes including <a href="spotify:artist:1JQYskbOoudT9cylam24a3">the Marcels</a>' "Blue Moon," <a href="spotify:artist:6ZID5oFfvvgzIRrqXaTJSy">Shelley Fabares</a>' "Johnny Angel," <a href="spotify:artist:7fUZIscY5nNdeSdetfeBNC">Paul Petersen</a>'s "My Dad," and <a href="spotify:artist:1aRdnBeUqTNY9zdBzOrkvJ">James Darren</a>'s "Goodbye, Cruel World." In 1964 he returned to Capitol, where his familiarity and dexterity with the rock idiom made him the logical choice to cash in on Beatlemania with a record targeted at a more mature audience; the first Hollyridge Strings record, The Beatles Song Book, was a Top Ten hit, and resulted in similarly syrupy collections of hits by <a href="spotify:artist:43ZHCT0cAZBISjO8DG9PnE">Elvis Presley</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3oDbviiivRWhXwIE8hxkVV">the Beach Boys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6mcrZQmgzFGRWf7C0SObou">the Four Seasons</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE">Simon & Garfunkel</a>. At one point in time, no fewer than three different Hollyridge Strings LPs hovered in the Billboard Top 20, and their success spurred copycat projects from labels including Vee-Jay (the Castaway Strings), Liberty (the Sunset Strings), and MGM (the Fantabulous Strings). During his Capitol stint <a href="spotify:artist:5nbB3QaZcq59N84O7VFzM6">Phillips</a> also headlined his own Feels Like Lovin', a minor classic of '60s soft pop that added vocals to the signature Hollyridge Strings sound. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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