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Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein started as a shop
manager at NEMS,
the Epstein family business in Liverpool, selling
electrical equipment, instruments and records. The story
goes that his life, and the world, allegedly changed when
a young man came in to the shop and asked for the record
My Bonnie by an unknown group called The Beatles.
Epstein's interest was aroused and he visited The Cavern
and almost immediately made The Beatles an offer to
manage them despite having no experience. Impressed by
his suit, his obvious breeding and style and the prospect
of regular earnings The Beatles agreed. Many record
company rejections followed, but he persisted and
persuaded Decca to hear them out, although they too
rejected them. Epstein smartened-up their image and
stopped the swearing and eating on stage, made them
rehearse their set and made them all wear the same
tailored suits. Then came the break that Epstein's
perseverance had demanded. George Martin,
seemingly EMI's least likely contender to sign
a beat group, liked something he had seen and
heard and signed the fab four to Parlophone.
Epstein was given the task of sacking Pete Best and
replacing him with Ringo Starr. Epstein was a very fair
manager and was well-respected for his integrity and
loyalty to his stable of acts which he quickly built up,
including Gerry And The Pacemakers, The Big Three,
Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas, The Fourmost and
Cilla Black. His acts had nine number one's in 1963.
Epstein is considered as rather naive in terms of some
of the deals he struck and there was a lot of fuss
concerning the minimal merchandising income which
The Beatles received from the thousands of different
items which were marketed with the groups name and
pictures on them. However, he made stars of The Beatles
and Cilla Black, who embarked on a showbusiness career
which is still one of the strongest in the UK today.
He also opened up opportunities for many British acts to
appear in US stadia and on US TV. Despite his incredible
success, his private life was dogged by guilt about his
sexuality and a dependence on all sorts of drugs and anti
-depressants. He survived an attempted suicide and then,
tragically, accidentally overdosed at his London home while
The Beatles were seeking spiritual enlightenment with the
Maharishi in north Wales. Brian Epstein was a gentleman
and a gentle man, a visionary and genius in his way and,
most importantly, the architect of the
biggest cultural revolution in modern history.
*See
Beatles-related Sir George Martin,
Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann, Pete Best,
Sid Bernstein, Tom Murray, Bill Harry,
Hunter Davies, Pattie Boyd,
Victor Spinetti and Neil Innes interviews
in our Star
Interviews section*
Brian Epstein
The Equals
Emanating from Jamaica, Guyana and
London and
learning their craft on a London council estate, they
had a big European hit with Baby Come Back.
This was followed by Viva Bobby Joe and Black
Skinned Blue Eyed Boys. Eddie Grant went into a highly
successful solo career with Electric Avenue among
other hits. The band had various line-ups into
the 70s and 80s.
The Equals
Adam Faith
Adam was a leading player in the
British Coffee bar
phenomenon. This attracted our youth to indulge in this
questionable substance while listening to the juke box.
At the same time many acts were 'discovered' in these very
same coffee bars found around Denmark Street in London,
the music publishing centre of the capital. Adam was a major
rival to Cliff Richard in the late 50s and early 60s.
'Discovered' by Jack Good and managed by the formidable
Eve Taylor, Adam 'Terence Nelhams' Faith co-existed
with other similarly power-named acts from Larry Parnes'
stable of re-named young men such as Billy Fury, Marty
Wilde, Vince Eager, Dickie Pride, Nelson Keene, Georgie
Fame and Johnny Gentle. Adam Faith, though, was
self-invented. With John Barry's orchestrations and a
gimmicky Buddy Holly-like guttural delivery and strange
pronunciation, he scored several hits with Poor Me,
What Do You Want, How About That, and
Don't That Beat All. The ex-film editor then went into
British B movies with Beat Girl, Never Let Go and
What A Whopper (about the Loch Ness Monster.)
Adam famously appeared on Face To Face, a probing
TV interview programme in the early sixties, and surprised
audiences by the intelligent and astute comments coming
from this young rock and roller. Cheating death in
various accidents on at least three occasions,
until his recent death as a result of heart disease, Adam
was an actor, producer, writer, successful businessman
and TV presenter.
Adam Faith and his
'discovery' Sandie Shaw
Marianne Faithfull
Born in Hampstead and convent
educated,
daughter of university lecturer Dr Robert Glynn
Faithfull & Austro-Hungarian Baroness Erisso, this beauty
met Mick Jagger & Keith Richards and they offered her
As Tears Go By which was a hit for her. The relationship
with Jagger was well-publicised and helped her career
and the follow ups, Jackie De Shannon's Come And Stay
With Me and This Little Bird also did well.
Having lived to a certain extent in his shadow, and always
amongst much controversy, she split acrimoniously with Jagger
and Marianne tried her hand at stage acting and in the film
Girl On A Motorcycle ( aka Naked Under Leather to the
Americans ) - now a cult movie. Marianne suffered
severe setbacks in the 70s, including living on the
streets of London for some time, but in recent years
pulled herself back from the brink with new recordings
and a new outlook born of maturity.
Marianne Faithfull
Georgie Fame
Lionel Bart recommended Clive Powell
to Larry Parnes and
after a customary name change Georgie was born. Yeh, Yeh
has turned into a 60s classic, Bonnie And Clyde, Sunny
and Get Away were all major successes. With or without
his Blue Flames he was a top R&B act. When he teamed
up with ex-Animal Alan Price he had more
successes including Rosetta from the album
Fame And Price, Price And Fame Together.
Georgie Fame
Julie Felix
Julie Felix hailed from California and came to England at
around
the same time as contemporaries such as Paul Simon were
performing
in the UK. A break on David Frost's The Frost Report provided
her
with national TV coverage and she quickly became a popular act
and
adopted as one of our own. Her strong political and social
beliefs gave
her a reputation as a protest singer and this, along with a
conviction for
possession of marijuana, only added fuel to her cool image.
She was very
soon labelled Britain's answer to Joan Baez. She had two very
successful
TV shows in the late 60s and then a huge hit with her version
of
El Condor Pasa.
Since then Julie has continued a busy performing and
recording career as
well as pursuing her strong political and social
beliefs.
*See
Julie Felix interview in
our Star
Interviews section*
Julie Felix
Wayne Fontana & The
Mindbenders
Another Manchester outfit to join the ranks of
The Hollies, Herman's Hermits and Freddie & The
Dreamers. This group was signed to Fontana records
and so telephone engineer Glyn Ellis became Wayne
Fontana and his group were christened The Mindbenders
after the film of the same name. Their line-up included
future 10cc member Eric Stewart (pictured centre.)
The hits, as a group or as solo efforts by 'Wayne' included
Groovy Kind Of Love, The Game Of Love, Um Um Um Um Um
and Pamela Pamela. Groovy Kind Of Love was re-recorded
by Phil Collins as part of the soundtrack to the movie
Buster about the Great Train Robbery. Pamela Pamela
was written by Graham Gouldman, another Manchester man
destined for fame in the 70s in 10cc.
Wayne has just completed a two-month tour with the
Solid Silver Sixties Show 2001. I was lucky enough to
see him at the last night at the London Palladium. As well as
having a great voice still he was also a very funny man.
Wayne opened the show and set the mood for the
whole evening.
*See
Eric Stewart interview in
our Star
Interviews section*
Wayne Fontana & The
Mindbenders
The Fortunes
The Fortunes sophisticated harmonies were much in evidence
in their three hits of the 60s. Emerging as a vocal trio in
Birmingham and evolving into a five-piece, they had Roger
Cook and Roger Greenaway to thank for many of their
bigger successes through to the 70s. Caroline was a minor
hit but given much greater prominence after pirate
ship Radio Caroline adopted it as their own. You've Got
Your Troubles and Here It Comes Again
followed.
Their 70s hits included Storm In A Teacup,
Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again &,
Freedom Come Freedom Go.
The Fortunes. Glen Dale,
Barry Pritchard, David Carr,
Rod Allen, Andy Brown
The Fourmost
The Blue Jays became The Four Jays
and then The Four
Mosts. Brian Epstein spotted this four-piece from
Liverpool and Cheshire and Lennon & McCartney
provided the abbreviated Fourmost with two instant
hits, Hello Little Girl and I’m In Love.
Mike Millward, Billy Hatton, Brian O’Hara and Dave
Lovelady followed these up with the very popular
and catchy A Little Loving, their biggest hit. Tragedy
struck in 1966 when Millward died of leukemia
and this further undermined the group’s
confidence in their struggle to keep up with
rapidly-changing musical trends. Paul McCartney
tried to take them under his wing and produced
them but even he could not stop the rot and thus they
resigned themselves to cabaret.
The Fourmost
Freddie & The Dreamers
They had a mixture of
beat music and comedy. The hits
included If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody,
I'm Telling You Now, You Were Made For Me,
Over You, I Love You Baby and Just For You. They
became very popular in the US and introduced
'The Freddie' dance to the world. (This actually
started
as a joke as a parody of the dance that The Shadows
did in their act.) When their popularity waned,
Freddie explained "there are only three ways you
can kick your legs." Freddie continued a career
in cabaret and TV.
Freddie and The Dreamers
Billy Fury
From the Larry Parnes stable,
Liverpool born
Ronald Wycherley had chart success with his first
single Maybe Tomorrow and then with Tony Orlando's
Halfway To Paradise. Last Night Was Made For Love,
Jealousy, Like I've Never Been Gone,
It's Only Make Believe and In Thoughts Of You
all followed. He appeared in some uninspiring pop
films and his popularity was overtaken by Beat
mania. However, he did manage to record songs by
some impressive names even if they didn't do very
well in the charts - Peter and Gordon, David Bowie,
The Bee Gees and Carole King were all covered by
Billy in his quest for further hits. In the 70s he
appeared with David Essex and Ringo Starr in the movie
That'll Be The Day. Having always had problems with
his heart, sadly Billy died of a heart attack in
1983. These days Billy Fury is recognised as one
of the best rock 'n rollers Britain has produced.
Billy Fury
Gerry & The Pacemakers
They were the second group to be signed by Brian Epstein
and also trod the German club route that The Beatles
had taken. How Do You Do It (rejected by The Beatles)
was their first number one. I Like It followed this to
number one and then, the first time ever this had been
achieved by anyone, a third consecutive number one with
You'll Never Walk Alone. This song is used to this day
as a Liverpool F.C. anthem. Gerry Marsden wrote two
hits, Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying and Ferry Cross
The Mersey, from the film of the same name. From then
on the hit formula left them and the band who once rivaled,
and for a short while even seemed to overtake, The Beatles
in terms of chart success, parted company. Gerry has
been a popular figure on tv and the club circuit ever since.
Gerry & The Pacemakers.
Gerry and Freddie Marsden,
John 'Les' Chadwick, Les Maguire
Jack Good
A stand-up
comedian, he went on a BBC training course
and landed the role as producer of the first British show
for teenagers, 6.5 Special. Though for the young, it
featured middle-aged presenters, comedy sketches and
news features as well as Rock `N Roll to satisfy the BBC's
conservative production values of the
time. Good took
the show on the road and was fired by the BBC. Rivals
ITV snapped him up and he produced Oh Boy! which featured
Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard and other UK teen stars.
He also produced Boy Meets Girl and
Wham! He moved
to the States and appeared in several films, as well as
producing the popular Shindig on tv. He then produced
many tv specials for, among others, The Beatles, Andy
Williams, The Monkees, Ray Charles, Jethro Tull &
The Nice. He has had more changes of direction in
recent years venturing into painting and religion.
Jack Good
Jimi Hendrix
James
Marshall Hendrix was born in Washington
U.S.A. in November 1942. A self-taught, left-handed
guitarist of phenomenal natural ability and virtuosity,
he played the blues and, while enlisted in the military,
formed a band called The King Kasuals. Following an injury
he was discharged and played in various bands for many
established names such as The Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke
and Little Richard. It was while in New York in his
manifestation as leader of Jimmy James and The
Blue Flames that he attracted the attention of visiting
bass player from the British group The Animals,
Chas Chandler, who offered to manage Hendrix
there and then and persuaded Jimi to 'try his luck'
in Britain. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed
around Jimi and two Englishmen, Noel Redding on bass
and 'Mitch' Mitchell (formerly of Georgie Fame's
coincidentally-named Blue Flames) on drums. Critically
popular and popular too with the record-buying and
concert-going public, Hendrix played King while other
guitar greats such as Clapton, Townshend and Beck all
looked on - Hendrix had an untouchable raw talent. Hey
Joe and Purple Haze were immediate winners and 'The
Experience' were established as crowd pleasers with
showman extraordinaire Jimi dressed in colourful
garb, playing his instrument with his teeth, using it as
a phallic extension of his body and even setting it alight.
The debut album, Are You Experienced was full of classics
although this was followed by an ill-judged supporting
tour with The Monkees, not quite in keeping with the
image. Known affectionately as 'H', also denoting his
significance in such a short period of time, Jimi blazed
a trail which other coloured acts were later to follow.
Hendrix was a sensation upon his appearance in the US
for the Monterey Pop Festival where they welcomed him
back with open arms. The album, Axis: Bold As Love
followed and the band were at their zenith, although
members Redding and Mitchell were already beginning to
get itchy feet due to the gruelling tour schedules and
'playing second fiddle' to Jimi. Electric Ladyland
produced several hits - Voodoo Chile and All Along The
Watchtower are legendary. Two years after forming,
personal pressures caused The Experience to split and
Jimi formed a new group - Band Of Gypsies and toured
with them culminating in an appearance at the Isle Of Wight
Festival. This band was more experimental and proved less
popular although Hendrix could still do no wrong with
his audiences. He returned to London for a rest from the
schedule in September 1970. It was here that Jimi died,
suffocating while under the influence of drugs. Jimi's major
contribution to pop culture was recently recognised by
the rare placement of an official plaque outside of his
London home, an honour usually reserved for classical
musicians, politicians and so on.
*See
Noel
Redding interview in our
Star
Interviews section*
Jimi Hendrix
The Herd
After a few line-up changes,
original member
Andy Bown joined Peter Frampton and they teamed-up
with Gary Taylor and Andy Steele and the songwriting
team of Howard and Blaikley. They had a number of hits,
including Paradise Lost, From The Underworld and
I Don't Want Our Loving To Die. They were promoted
for the teen market and Frampton was the 'face of 68'
in the UK. Fed-up with their pop image they tried more
progressive material but this didn't make an impression.
The band folded with Frampton going to Humble Pie
and Bown joining Andy Fairweather-Low
and appearing with Status Quo.
The Herd. Andy Bown, Andrew
Steele,
Peter Frampton, Gary Taylor
Herman's Hermits
This Manchester-bred band were
linked with producer
Mickie Most and had a string of pop successes worldwide
but predominantly in the US where their brand of
Britishness seemed to do better than at home. Their
songs were written by the leading pop writers of the day.
Fronted by the boyish good looks of Peter Noone
(aka inaccurately as Herman) they went down a storm in
the US where Noone is still based. Hits included
I'm Into Something Good,
Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter,
I'm Henry VIII, I Am, Wonderful World,
No Milk Today, (by future 10CC member
Graham Gouldman) and A Must To Avoid.
Peter has just completed a two-month tour with the
Solid Silver Sixties Show 2001. I was lucky enough to
see him at the last night at the London Palladium.
What a great show and what a great showman! And
he still genuinely loves and enjoys his music.
*See
Peter Noone interview in
our Star
Interviews section*
Peter Noone
The Hollies
'Another' Manchester band, The
Hollies were formed by
childhood friends Allan Clarke and Graham Nash. The list
of hits is too large to print here, but highlights include
Stay, Just One Look, I'm Alive, King Midas In Reverse,
Yes I Will and George Harrison's If I Needed Someone,
although their most famous songs are probably
He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother and The Air
That I Breathe recorded in the 70s. They
experimented with musical styles and were heavily
influenced by Bob Dylan, as indeed many groups were,
as well as by psychedelia. Graham Nash departed to
become a player in Crosby, Stills and Nash at the end of
the decade. Their catalogue of songs is still in demand today.
Allan was replaced by Carl Wayne, formerly of The Move,
as their lead singer. Carl tragically died of cancer but
the band plays on.
The Hollies. Allan Clarke,
Graham Nash,
Tony Hicks, Eric Haydock, Bobby Elliott
Mary Hopkin
This
folk/rock singer beauty was singing in Welsh when she
entered the UK talent show Opportunity Knocks and
won. Viewer Twiggy recommended her to Paul McCartney,
he produced her first single, Those Were The Days,
which duly went to number one in the
UK and US. Signed
to newly-formed Apple, she had more hits with Goodbye,
Temma Harbour and the Eurovision entry Knock, Knock
Who's There, under the production of Mickie Most. Most's
Hot Chocolate wrote her next hit, Think About Your Children.
She married Tony Visconti, worked with David Bowie, Julian
Lloyd Webber and George Martin. Her
albums included
Post Card and Earth Song & Ocean Song.
Mary Hopkin
Engelbert Humperdinck
Named after the composer of Hansel and Gretel, his
first hit Release Me deposed The Beatles from the top spot.
There Goes My Everything followed and then the biggest
hit of 1967, The Last Waltz. He had more hits (Les
Bicyclettes De Belsize, A Man Without Love) but he
decided to go to Las Vegas where, along with Tom Jones,
and more recently Elton John, he has been 'packing
them in' ever since.
Engelbert Humperdinck
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