Angeles, where he traveled to appear on the Ellen
Degeneres Show.
(Photo provided)
By: CAMERON MCCARTNEY
Staff Writer
IU South Bend’s very own Bill Reilich, assistant men’s basketball coach, and his group of childhood friends appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Dan Cox, Dan Burtenshaw, Stevie Brock and Reilich were all born in Centerville, Ohio. They’ve been making music together since high school, but only recently did they start letting the public hear it. In addition to their work together, Cox assists a minor league baseball coach, Brock is pursuing a music career and Burtenshaw does a lot of outdoor seasonal jobs.
One day the friends were sitting in a doughnut shop in their hometown looking at a couple of different names on the menu, like the chocolate éclairs, the cream pies and the custard sticks, and they all thought The Cream Pies would be a great name for their group.
“That is a good one,” Cox said. “It will give people a lot of laughs.”
During Christmas break when Reilich and his friends got together, they tried to think of something they all mutually loved for their next song. Ellen DeGeneres became the topic they all could agree on, since Reilich doesn’t like pizza.
“The lyrics came naturally,” Brock noted. “But the recording process took some time.”
The song was eventually titled “We Love You Ellen.” The group posted it on YouTube and it was there that DeGeneres’ producers discovered it and showed it to her. She instantly loved it, so DeGeneres asked The Cream Pies to be on her show and perform their song live.
“Being on her show was honestly a dream come true,” Reilich said. “It was so surreal walking out on that stage and seeing her smiling at us, with the crowd clapping and cheering for us. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
The song is still available on YouTube and at the iTunes store, along with a couple other songs by the group.
View the video:
