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The Idle Race
Dave Pritchard, Greg Masters &
Roger Spencer
were backing group to Birmingham's Mike Sheridan,
The Nightriders. He went solo in 1966 and they
then joined-up with fellow Brummie Jeff Lynne
who became the leading player in the band,
contributing all of the new material and giving the
band direction. There followed some brilliant pop
compositions on single and album, The Birthday Party
and Follow Me Follow amongst them. As with other fine
groups (such as The Creation), The Idle Race were met
without enthusiasm outside of the West Midlands and
eventually Jeff Lynne gave in to pressures to join
the successful leading Birmingham band,
The Move. He soon left though and pioneered
The Electric Light Orchestra. The Idle Race
struggled on for a while but eventually evolved
into the Steve Gibbons Band.
The Idle Race
The Ivy League
The Ivy League formed in 1964 in
Birmingham.
John Carter (born John Shakespeare) and Ken Lewis
(born James Hawker) had written for Mike Sarne
and had fronted Carter-Lewis And The Southerners with
the young Jimmy Page. Perry Ford (born Bryan Pugh)
completed the trio. They had three UK hits, Tossing And
Turning, Funny How Love Can Be and That’s Why I’m
Crying. The group’s close harmonies were akin to The
Four Seasons and The Fortunes. By 1966 the group’s
style was becoming a bit of an anachronism and John
Carter left. The band plodded on for a while but eventually
evolved into new equally successful ventures, White Plains
and The Flowerpot Men (who famously sang about San
Francisco without ever having been there.)
The Ivy League
Tom Jones
Thomas Jones Woodward born on 7th
June, 1940
in Pontypridd, Wales. His career began as vocalist for
Tommy Scott And The Senators ('Scott' was actually
our man Tom.) After failing to score with some recordings
for legendary and ill-fated producer Joe Meek, he was
discovered by Decca's Peter Sullivan. After some
disagreements with his new manager he returned from
London to Wales where he was again discovered by
Gordon Mills and his name changed to Tom Jones, after
the popular novel and film of the time. He first saw
success with It's Not Unusual and developed a sexy
on-stage image. Less successful follow-ups were then
compensated for by What's New Pussycat? but his career
was then flagging. His management went for a new older
audience as they tried to woo the middle-aged market.
Tom had a renaissance with hits such as Green Green Grass
Of Home, Delilah, Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings
and Help Yourself. Tom has established himself as a
world-class cabaret entertainer, in recent years his son,
Mark, has taken over his management. He has also attracted
a newer audience recently, notably after his
performance of the soundtrack for The Full Monty
and in various other movie and collaborative musical
enterprises and thus he has a huge and loyal international
following, consisting not exclusively of
knicker-throwing housewives.
Tom Jones
Johnny Kidd & The
Pirates
Born Frederick Heath in December
1939, Kidd left
The Five Nutters skiffle band to form the original
pioneer British rockers, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates,
in 1959. The eye-patch, by the way, evidently was as
a result of a minor eye infection, the wearing of which
proved so popular that it became a permanent accessory.
The band underwent many personnel changes, something
which would continue throughout the life of the band.
The first single, Please Don't Touch, barely made the
hit parade. A further band line-up consisted of Kidd, Alan
Caddy, Clem Cattini and Brian Gregg and this was the one
that recorded the influential and revolutionary Shakin'
All Over. The band reorganised again, and had
further hits
in '63 at the very start of the beat boom - I'll Never
Get Over You and Hungry For Love. With a struggling
career in the midst of Beat mania, at the tender age of
26, Johnny Kidd was killed in a car crash in October
1966. He was one of the handful of pioneers whose
material and performances influenced a generation to
take up rock and roll.
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
The Kinks
The Kinks, a quintessentially
English band, stormed onto the
scene with You Really Got Me followed by
All Day And All Of The Night.
Raw rocking numbers at this stage but already the group's
key strength was evident - the incredible songwriting
ability of Ray Davies. He wrote some of the true classics
of the sixties and, although often full of very British
references, they were hugely popular worldwide and
in fact from the seventies have been stronger in
the US where their albums and concerts still
continue to do significantly better than at home.
Other hits included: Tired Of Waiting For You,
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, Sunny Afternoon,
Dead End Street, Waterloo Sunset, Autumn Almanac,
Days, Lola, Apeman.
*See
Mick Avory interview in
our Star Interviews section*
The Kinks. Peter Quaife, Mick
Avory,
Ray and Dave Davies
Billy J. Kramer & The
Dakotas
Another group from the Epstein
stable, three Lennon &
McCartney songs, Do You Want To Know A Secret,
Bad To Me and I'll Keep You Satisfied were their
opening chart successes. This was continued with
From A Window and Little Children. Not bad for
the former British Railways worker.
Billy J. and three of his
Dakotas
Love Affair
Steve Ellis fronted this London band
as a baby-faced
teenager. They hit the charts with Everlasting Love and
it worked its way to number one in the UK. Ellis was the
darling of the fanzines in 1968, vying with Peter Frampton
for the privilege of appearing on the front covers.
They had several more hits - Rainbow Valley, A Day
Without Love, Bringing On Back The Good Times, but
they couldn't sustain the success and by the 70s the
original members had split to leave new manifestations
of the band to exploit the hits and to play the
country's cabaret and retro circuit.
Love Affair
Lulu
Marie MacDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was a
shy but gutsy
15 year-old when her first hit, a cover of The Isley
Brother's Shout, hit the UK and European charts.
She 'lost' her backing group, The Luvvers, and teamed
up with Mickie Most. Neil Diamond's The Boat That I Row
was the next hit, followed by an appearance in the movie
To Sir With Love, with Sidney Poitier cast as a teacher in
a tough east end of London school. The title song was a
huge hit in the US, much more so, in fact, than in the UK,
and was the longest charting single in the US by a female
until the mid-eighties. Further hits, such as Lets Pretend,
The Peaceful Heart, Boy, and I'm A Tiger followed
until, probably inevitably, she was invited to represent
Britain in the Eurovision song contest, that yearly display
which proves the inherent wrongness with the concept of
writing a song for Europe. The predictably bad
Boom Bang A Bang was hardly a career high spot.
Lulu recovered and married Bee Gee Maurice Gibb
and she then continued with a creditable cover of
David Bowie's Man Who Sold The World, with Bowie
singing backing track, and a successful career in
stage musicals, light entertainment on tv and even the
children's programme Adrian Mole. After several years
out of the charts, she scored further success with
Independence in 1993. She also had a hit with the
original boy band Take That and Relight My Fire.
She released a new album in spring 1999 and,
like Cilla, is appearing regularly on British TV and
tours. James Brown reportedly recently said of Lulu
"Honey, you got Soul".
Lulu
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