You know the song. Everyone does. That opening guitar riff kicks in, and suddenly you’re beltsing out a story about a barmaid in a harbor town who serves whiskey and rye. It’s "Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)," a staple of yacht rock and one of the most resilient hits of the 1970s.
But if you ask the average person to name the members of Looking Glass, you’ll usually get a blank stare.
It’s kind of a weird irony. The song is immortal, but the guys who actually played it became ghosts in the machinery of music history. They weren't just some studio creation, though. They were a real-deal Jersey Shore band that came up through the frat house circuit before Clive Davis plucked them out of obscurity.
Honestly, the story of what happened to these guys after the glitter faded is way more interesting than just a "where are they now" blurb. It involves heavy metal, landscape architecture, and a very successful second act in Hollywood.
The Core Four: The Original Members of Looking Glass
The band started at Rutgers University in New Brunswick around 1969. They were basically college kids playing bars. After an early version of the group fizzled out, the "classic" lineup solidified.
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Elliot Lurie was the face of the group. He was the lead guitarist, the songwriter, and the guy with that distinctively smooth, slightly raspy voice. He wrote "Brandy" in an upstairs bedroom of a farmhouse they rented in Hunterdon County for $240 a month.
Then you had Larry Gonsky on the piano. He and Lurie were the Rutgers connection. Pieter Sweval handled the bass and vocals—he was a vital part of that Jersey Shore sound. Rounding them out was Jeff Grob on the drums.
They weren't aiming to be a "soft rock" band. If you listen to their deeper cuts, there's a lot of country-rock and even some gritty R&B influences in there. But when "Brandy" hit #1 in August 1972, it locked them into a specific image that they eventually struggled to escape.
Why the Lineup Didn't Last
Success is a weird thing. It can be a cage. By 1973, they had another minor hit with "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne," which is actually a great track produced by the legendary Arif Mardin. But the internal friction was growing.
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Lurie was the songwriter getting the spotlight. The rest of the band, however, wanted to go in a much heavier direction. They were tired of the "Brandy" shadow.
The Great Split and the Birth of Starz
In early 1974, things fell apart. Elliot Lurie decided to go solo, which is what usually happens when a frontman writes a million-seller. To replace him, the band brought in a singer from Georgia named Michael Lee Smith and a guitarist named Brendan Harkin.
This wasn't just a personnel change; it was a total identity shift.
The remaining members of Looking Glass—Grob, Sweval, and the new guys—basically shed their skin. They briefly called themselves Fallen Angels, then added guitarist Richie Ranno. By late 1975, they had fully transformed into Starz.
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If you’ve never heard Starz, it's a trip. They were a full-blown hard rock/heavy metal outfit. They had the leather, the hair, and the loud amps. It’s wild to think that the guys behind one of the sweetest pop songs of all time ended up influencing bands like Mötley Crüe and Poison.
Where Are the Members of Looking Glass Now?
Life after a #1 hit takes people on some pretty divergent paths.
- Elliot Lurie: After his solo career didn't quite set the world on fire, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid-80s. He became a massive powerhouse behind the scenes as the head of the music department at 20th Century Fox. If you’ve seen Alien 3, A Night at the Roxbury, or Spanglish, you’ve seen his work as a music supervisor. He still performs occasionally today, often playing "Brandy" just the way people remember it.
- Jeff Grob: He stayed with Starz for a while, but eventually took a massive left turn. He left the music industry in 1979 and became a successful landscape architect. He did eventually rejoin a reformed version of Starz in the 2000s, proving you can never quite shake the rock and roll bug.
- Larry Gonsky: He took a more academic route. He became a music teacher in New Jersey, sharing his expertise with students in Morris Township for decades. It's a quiet legacy, but a meaningful one.
- Pieter Sweval: Sadly, Pieter passed away in January 1990 due to complications from AIDS. He remains a beloved figure among fans of both Looking Glass and the early Starz era.
The 2026 Context: Why We're Still Talking About Them
It’s 2026, and "Brandy" is arguably more popular now than it was twenty years ago. Thanks to its heavy use in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, a whole new generation treats the song like a modern anthem.
The members of Looking Glass represent a specific moment in American music—the transition from the psychedelic 60s to the polished, radio-ready 70s. They were "ordinary guys" (as Lurie once put it) who happened to catch lightning in a bottle.
Actionable Insights for Music Fans
If you want to go deeper than just the hits, here is how to actually appreciate the Looking Glass legacy:
- Listen to "Subway Serenade": This was their second album. It’s grittier than the first one and shows the direction the band was trying to go before they split.
- Check out the Starz Discography: If you like 70s hard rock, listen to the Starz self-titled debut. It’s the missing link between Looking Glass and the 80s hair metal scene.
- Watch the Credits: Next time you watch a 90s or early 2000s movie, look for Elliot Lurie’s name in the music credits. It’s a fun "I know that guy" moment.
- Support Live Music: Elliot Lurie still plays shows with various 70s revival tours. Seeing the guy who wrote the song perform it live is a bucket-list item for any soft-rock aficionado.
Looking Glass might have been a "one-hit wonder" in the eyes of the charts, but the individual members left a footprint across the entire entertainment industry. They proved there's a lot more to a band than just their biggest chorus.