Ooh La La and the Greasers started in early 1975 at the University of Cincinnati. Calhoun Hall and Sidall Hall (two residence halls on campus) were putting on a student talent show. A group of jocks, mostly football players, got together over a few eight-packs of Stroh's beer and tried to come up with an act for the show. One could strum guitar a little, and a few could carry a tune if they had a big bucket, so we set out to choose a song or two.

The first one that came to mind was "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers. The ending, the most exciting part of the song, had many different vocal parts that gave a lot of people a chance to show off their singing talent. Now we only had to limit the number of people to a workable number to put on stage. Since the talent show was for fun, and cutting people was out of the question, we had to find another approach.

Shortly before this time, Sha Na Na, an oldies act who appeared at Woodstock, performed on campus. Someone suggested that old rock 'n' roll songs might be better for this semi-talented group of jocks. After all, most old rock 'n' roll songs were three chords and relatively easy to sing. There was only one problem now: we had one acoustic guitar; not quite the instrumental makeup of a rock and roll band. We also found out one of the guys was a drummer, but didn't own a set of drums. We then went on a crusade to borrow equipment. Somehow we found some and started rehearsing.

We chose the name Ooh La La because it sounded like Sha Na Na. The original lineup consisted of Dan Hauser, Keith Grothaus, Larry Wiegele, and Jim Hixenbaugh on vocals, Mike Connell on drums, Dan Shepherd on bass guitar, and Jim Kelly on guitar and vocals. The three songs selected for the talent show were "Runaround Sue" by Dion, "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Paul Peterson, and "Houndog" by Elvis Presley. Ooh La La was the winner of the first Calhoun/Siddall talent show.

Besides playing at all of the areas’ key events and festivals. Ooh La La had opened shows for the who’s who of National Oldies Entertainment as they have come through the Greater Cincinnati area. Acts such as The Rascals, Leslie Gore, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Del Shannon, Jan and Dean, Freddie Cannon, Bo Diddley and others have had Ooh La La open their shows.

We look forward to talking with you and hope that we have the opportunity to perform for your function. If you come out to hear us, please stop by and introduce yourself. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Please contact Brenda Hauser (513)984-8446 or write to bha43@fuse.net. You can contact us through the feedback page on this site as well. We look forward to hearing from you and would love to see you this summer, our 33rd summer of Good Old Rock and Roll.

Ooh La La entered the talent show again in 1976 and won again. We were asked not to enter the show the following year, but were allowed to perform. In June 1977, graduation sent several members off into the sunset, but we added several new members.

Ooh La La played at the Pour House in Oakley on Sunday nights for many years. The first night at the Pour House we were to perform with another band, The Greasers. The advertisements ran on the radio all week. However, The Greasers never showed. So Dan, in his usual wit, repeated what had been on the radio: "Welcome to the Pour House featuring Ooh La La and The Greasers." That infamous line Dan jokingly said on stage that night has stuck ever since!

Celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2006, Ooh La La and the Greasers are gearing up for our 33nd year and a summer of fun and special excitement. Much like the 25th anniversary, when the Greasers performed for over 10,000 people in the month of June alone, Ooh La La hopes to make this summer, one big time party after another.

New show routines of Elvis, , Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline and other treats are being rehearsed and finalized to make the summer of 2008 rock. Whether it’s a concert series, a pool party, street festival, weekend fair, Old rock and roll music by Ooh La La and the Greasers is just the recipe to keep all generations rocking to the same songs.