[1] Although born in Burbank, O'Brien grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Shadow Hills, between Sun Valley and Sunland.

O'Brien, like Annette Funicello, was personally selected to audition for The Mickey Mouse Club by Walt Disney, in the spring of 1955.

After graduating from high school, he started touring with Spike Jones, playing show tunes and dance music with the formerly manic bandleader's final group.

He then played for Ann-Margret in her live performances, and in the late Sixties returned to television as the sometime on-camera drummer for CBS's The Carol Burnett Show.

Despite this scenario, Karen still played drums live during this period, although rarely and mostly on B-side songs, with Hal Blaine and other professional studio percussionists performing on the group's recordings.

Sharing a love of percussion, O'Brien at one point introduced Carpenter to big band drummer Buddy Rich.

Cubby lives in the Pacific Northwest and still works constantly, playing drums for various touring Broadway shows, and with Bernadette Peters.