47-511: The Mojos were a British beat group from the 1960s, best known for their hit UK single, " Everything's Alright ", with two other singles charting low in the UK Singles Chart in 1964. The band formed under the name the Nomads as a duo in 1962 and originally consisted of bassist Keith Karlson (born Keith Alcock) and drummer Jon "Bob" Conrad. Before Conrad, Snowy Fleet was the drummer, when he
94-713: A mod following during the Swinging London period of the mid to late 1960s. Freakbeat bridges "British Invasion mod/ R&B /pop and psychedelia ". The term was coined by English music journalist Phil Smee . AllMusic writes that "freakbeat" is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the British Invasion era such as the Creation , the Pretty Things or Denny Laine 's early solo work. Other bands often mentioned as Freakbeat are
141-408: A 7,000-word liner note from Showaddywaddy expert Steve Thorpe, and an introduction from former band member Dave Bartram. June 2013 also saw the release of their only live album to date. It contained 16 of their most famous tracks. This album was only available at live gigs with a pressing of only 1,000 copies. Buddy Gask retired to Spain in 2005, and died in 2011 after suffering with ill health for
188-618: A further 22 UK hits until late summer 1982. Their most recent chart single was " Who Put the Bomp ", a number 37 hit in 1982, which they also promoted in their final Top of the Pops performance. In total, they had ten top-ten singles, a solitary number one ("Under the Moon of Love" in 1976), and spent 209 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, including seven successive top-five entries. Their biggest-selling single
235-701: A group called Nicky Crouch's Mojos, which features members of other 1960s Merseybeat acts, including the Swinging Blue Jeans , Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Faron's Flamingos . The Mojos were reformed as a touring band in the 1970s by the Hal Carter Organisation with various professional musicians including lead guitarist Antz Cowell ( the Tornados , Billy Fury , Marty Wilde ), bass guitarist Dave Cowell ( Fusion Orchestra ) and drummer Jon Werrell (
282-595: A guest house with his wife in Beadnell , Northumberland, and still plays guitar in a local covers band, Before The Mast. Allured owned a nightclub called MFN at Shipley Gate, Derbyshire , and still plays live in local bands. Field was replaced by Ray Martinez in 1985, who was subsequently replaced by Danny Willson in 1995. Cherry Red Records began to release Showaddywaddy's extensive album back catalogue on CD from 2000 on their 7Ts imprint. The reissues featured rare bonus tracks, B-sides and non-album singles. Early in 2008,
329-453: A number of years. Bartram did his first solo post-Showaddywaddy appearance on 1 November 2013, at Upstairs At The Western, a venue above The Western pub in Leicester, where he was interviewed by a compere and took questions from the audience in an "evening with"–type format. He also performed three acoustic numbers on the night, "Smiling Eyes", "Three Steps To Heaven" and "Hey Rock And Roll" –
376-481: A significant impact on popular music and youth culture from 1960s movements such as garage rock , folk rock and psychedelic music . The exact origins of the terms 'beat music' and 'Merseybeat' are uncertain. The "beat" in each, however, derived from the driving rhythms which the bands had adopted from their rock and roll, R&B and soul music influences, rather than the Beat Generation literary movement of
423-575: A very different effect from the monolithic character of rock, in that the beat was given not by the duplication of one instrument in the rhythm section by another, but by an interplay between all three. This flexibility also meant that beat music could cope with a greater range of time-signatures and song shapes than rock & roll had been able to". Beat groups usually had simple guitar -dominated line-ups, with vocal harmonies and catchy tunes. The most common instrumentation of beat groups featured lead, rhythm and bass guitars plus drums, as popularised by
470-445: Is a British popular music genre and developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll , rhythm and blues , skiffle , traditional pop and music hall . It rose to mainstream popularity in the UK and Europe by 1963 before spreading to North America in 1964 with the British Invasion . The beat style had
517-611: Is the father of Benjamin Challenger who trialled for Leicester City before playing basketball for Leicester Riders, and then moved into athletics, gaining medals in the high jump at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games. Danny Willson also left the band during 2009 to join Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash, and his last gig was in Denmark on 8 August that year. Lead singer Dave Bartram left Showaddywaddy on 3 December 2011 after 38 years fronting
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#1732848967719564-616: The Blue Angel jazz club. The band also changed their name in August 1963 to the Mojos and Lord changed from rhythm guitarist to lead guitarist. This lineup recorded "My Whole Life Through", which was featured on the Oriole Records This is Merseybeat compilation album , and the debut single "They Say". "They Say" achieved some popularity; amongst other things, it was used for the party scene in
611-622: The Kalin Twins ), " You Got What It Takes " (originally by Marv Johnson ) and " Dancin' Party " (originally by Chubby Checker ). These six singles were all produced by Mike Hurst (a former member of the Springfields ). On the South African chart, "Three Steps to Heaven" reached number 6 in 1975 and "Under the Moon of Love" number 6 in 1977. Malcolm Allured left the group in 1984, followed by Russ Field in 1985, and Buddy Gask in 1987. Field ran
658-542: The Tottenham Sound respectively. The most distinctive characteristic of beat music was its strong beat, using the backbeat common to rock and roll and rhythm and blues , but often with a driving emphasis on all the beats of 4/4 bar. The rhythm itself—described by Alan Clayson as "a changeless four-four offbeat on the snare drum"—was developed in the clubs in Hamburg , West Germany, where many English groups, including
705-549: The 1950s. As the initial wave of rock and roll subsided in the later 1950s, "big beat" music, later shortened to "beat", became a live dance alternative to the balladeers like Tommy Steele , Marty Wilde , and Cliff Richard who were dominating the charts. The German anthropologist and music critic Ernest Borneman , who lived in England from 1933 to 1960, claimed to have coined the term in a column in Melody Maker magazine to describe
752-542: The 1964 film The Comedy Man . Despite having written the single's b-side , Lord (Wilkinson) left the group soon after its release in October 1963 and was replaced by Nicky Crouch (formerly of Faron's Flamingos ) (born Nicholas Crouch, Aintree ). This was the line-up that was to continue until October 1964, recording the group's three charting singles - "Everything's Alright" (no. 9), "Why Not Tonight" (no. 25) and "Seven Daffodils" (no. 30) - as well as an EP . They appeared in
799-564: The ATV series New Faces , in November 1973, and were runners-up in the "All Winners Final", which was broadcast on 28 December 1973. They have made nearly 300 television appearances, including their own BBC TV special, Showaddywaddyshow , broadcast between Christmas and New Year in 1980. The band also appeared in the 1975 film Three for All , where they performed "The Party" from their 1974 debut album. Their first single, "Hey Rock and Roll" (written by
846-675: The Action , the Move , the Smoke , the Sorrows , and Wimple Winch . By 1967, beat music was beginning to sound out of date, particularly compared with the "harder edged" blues rock that was beginning to emerge. Most of the groups that had not already disbanded by 1967, like the Beatles, moved into different forms of rock music and pop music , including psychedelic rock and eventually progressive rock . Beat
893-682: The Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast . From London, the term Tottenham Sound was largely based around the Dave Clark Five , but other London-based British rhythm and blues and rock bands who benefited from the beat boom of this era included the Rolling Stones , the Kinks and the Yardbirds . The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show soon after led to chart success. During
940-475: The Beatles , the Searchers , and others. Beat groups—even those with a separate lead singer—often sang both verses and choruses in close harmony , resembling doo wop , with nonsense syllables in the backing vocals. In the late 1950s, a flourishing culture of groups began to emerge, often out of the declining skiffle scene, in major urban centres in the UK like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London. This
987-558: The Beatles derived their name, combining it with a pun on the beat in their music), and to a lesser extent by British rock and roll groups such as the Shadows . After the national success of the Beatles in Britain from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers (who achieved a number one hit in the UK before the Beatles),
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#17328489677191034-441: The Beatles, performed in the early 1960s and where it was known as the mach schau (make show) beat. The 8/8 rhythm was flexible enough to be adopted for songs from a range of genres. In addition, according to music writer Dave Laing , "[T]he chord playing of the rhythm guitar was broken up into a series of separate strokes, often one to the bar, with the regular plodding of the bass guitar and crisp drumming behind it. This gave
1081-515: The British imitation of American rock'n'roll, rhythm & blues and skiffle bands. The 'Mersey' of 'Merseybeat' refers to the River Mersey . Liverpool lies on the eastern side of the river's estuary. The name Mersey Beat was used for a Liverpool music magazine founded in 1961 by Bill Harry . Harry claims to have coined the term "based on a policeman's beat and not that of the music". The band
1128-556: The Mojos in late 1967 with local musicians Eddie Harnett on lead guitar, Duncan Campbell on bass and Tony House on drums, and recorded "Until My Baby Comes Home", for Liberty . Collins became an actor, starring in The Professionals , and Dunbar became a noted session musician, playing with Frank Zappa , David Bowie and John Mayall , among others. Stu James stayed in the music business taking management roles at Bradley's Records and later Chrysalis Records. Crouch currently plays in
1175-627: The Mojos"), for Decca - before disbanding in September 1966. James and Crouch formed a new version with Birmingham bass player Deke Vernon and Southampton drummer Martin Smith and released a further single " Good-Bye, Dolly Gray " in February 1967 which also failed to chart. They then spent several months playing at a luxury hotel in the Ivory Coast later that year. James moved back to Southampton and reformed
1222-768: The Pacifics were renamed the Mersey Beats in February 1962 by Bob Wooler , MC at the Cavern Club , and in April that year they became the Merseybeats . With the rise of the Beatles in 1963, the terms Mersey sound and Merseybeat were applied to bands and singers from Liverpool, the first time in British pop music that a sound and a location were linked together. The equivalent scenes in Birmingham and London were described as Brum Beat and
1269-549: The Searchers , and Cilla Black . Outside of Liverpool many local scenes were less influenced by rock and roll and more by the rhythm and blues and later directly by the blues . These included bands from Birmingham who were often grouped with the beat movement, the most successful being the Spencer Davis Group and the Moody Blues . Similar blues influenced bands who broke out from local scenes to national prominence were
1316-599: The Tornados , Heinz, Dustin Gee , Carl Simmons). They supported Mud and Showaddywaddy on some UK tour dates. Whilst in Jersey during a break in touring, Jon Werrell loaned his silver Premier drumkit to John Bonham for Led Zeppelin's impromptu club gigs in St.Helier. Martin Smith died on 2 March 1997, aged 50. John Conrad died on 2 January 2001, aged 56. Lewis Collins died on 27 November 2013, aged 67. Lead singer Stu James died on 10 May 2023, at
1363-700: The UK Singles Chart, and have had 10 Top Ten singles, one reaching number one. The band was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of two groups, Choise (Dave Bartram, Trevor Oakes , Al James , and Romeo Challenger ) and the Golden Hammers ( Buddy Gask , Russ Field, Rod Deas, and Malcolm Allured ), the latter often known simply as The Hammers. They both played at the Fosse Way pub in Leicester, and soon discovered shared musical tastes. After playing together in jamming sessions, they joined together permanently, and Showaddywaddy were born. This led to an eight-member band, with
1410-616: The age of 77. Band names: The Nomads (1962–August 1963), The Mojos (August 1963–September 1966 / early 1967–1968) (Members names in Bold are those in the core lineup who recorded " Everything's Alright ") A compilation entitled Everything's Alright: The Complete Recordings was released in 2009 by RPM Records . As its name suggests, it features all of the above (plus the 'This is Merseybeat' compilation album track "My Whole Life Through"), in chronological order by release date. Beat group Beat music , British beat , or Merseybeat
1457-483: The band finished recording their album The Sun Album (I Betcha Gonna Like It) , released on Voiceprint Records . A special limited edition (500 copies only) was available, signed by the whole band, and comprised a CD, a DVD, special packaging and extended sleeve notes. In September 2011, lead singer Dave Bartram released his long-lost solo recordings from 1982 to 1985 on Invisible Hands Music . The original tapes had been in his loft for 25 years. The seventeen-track album
The Mojos - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-467: The band in 2020 (having previously toured with the band 2009 to 2011). In June 2014, Showaddywaddy completed the "Once In A Lifetime" arena tour, with Bay City Rollers , David Essex , and The Osmonds . The same month saw the reissue of Showaddywaddy's 2008 The Sun Album (I Betcha Gonna Like It) , which contained two new tracks. In November 2024, to celebrate 50 years since its release, the song "Hey Mister Christmas" (originally released 15 November 1974 )
1551-442: The band released a new collection of its entire studio recordings to celebrate their anniversary. The anthology featured the band's entire 20th century catalogue of recorded material, including all of their original studio albums in mini-vinyl replica wallets, non-album A and B sides, together with a selection of alternative mixes and unreleased rarities unearthed from the vaults, in a 139-track, 10-CD box set. A 36-page booklet included
1598-606: The band), was released in April 1974. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart . Starting with " Dancin' Party " (1977), the band produced their own records with more cover versions including " I Wonder Why " (originally by Dion and the Belmonts ), " Blue Moon " (based on the Marcels ' interpretation) and the Curtis Lee song " Pretty Little Angel Eyes ", co-written by Tommy Boyce . After their first single, Showaddywaddy went on to have
1645-553: The band, and his last gig was at the Kings Hall Theatre in Ilkley , West Yorkshire. Bartram continues as the band's manager, a role he has undertaken since 1984. The Ilkley gig also marked saxophonist David Graham's last gig, who had been touring with the band since August 2009 - Graham rejoined however in 2020. In 2013, the band celebrated its 40th anniversary and undertook a UK-wide tour between 11 January and 1 June. On 17 June 2013,
1692-620: The group. Shannon left the band on 1 November 2024. His last gig was at a Pontins in Pakefield . Former guitarist Danny Wilson played a one-off with the band the following day, in Kettering . Showaddywaddy have continued to tour, and still do around 100 dates a year in the UK and Europe. The band currently consists of one remaining original member, Romeo Challenger, along with vocalist Andy Pelos, bass player Tom Bull, guitarist and drummer Sam Holland, and saxophonist/guitarist David Graham who rejoined
1739-582: The influence of which has been detected in Beat music. It was also a major port with links to America, particularly through the Cunard Yanks , which made for much greater access to American records and instruments like guitars, which could not easily be imported due to trade restrictions. As a result, Beat bands were heavily influenced by American groups of the era, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets (from which group
1786-532: The movie Every Day's a Holiday and like many of their contemporaries the group played at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany. In October 1964, Karlson, Conrad and O'Toole left the group and James and Crouch were joined by drummer Aynsley Dunbar and bassist Lewis Collins (26 May 1946 – 27 November 2013). This line-up recorded the singles "Comin' On to Cry" and "Wait A Minute" (the latter released as by "Stu James and
1833-698: The next two years, the Animals , Petula Clark , the Dave Clark Five , the Rolling Stones , Donovan , Peter and Gordon , Manfred Mann , Freddie and the Dreamers , The Zombies , Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits , and the Troggs would have one or more number one singles in America. Freakbeat is a subgenre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups, often those with
1880-461: The performance of "Smiling Eyes" was the song's first live performance, having been originally released some 38 years earlier on the 1975 Step Two album. Al James died on 16 November 2018 after falling down the stairs in his Market Harborough home. Rod Deas retired from the band early in 2019, playing his last gig with Showaddywaddy at The Qube in Corby on Friday 25 January. Dave Bartram returned to
1927-492: The stage to give Rod a farewell speech before the second set. Guitarist Ray Hatfield (who joined January 2017 when Paul Dixon left), keyboardist Dean Loach, and bassist Billy Norman (who joined the band in January 2018) all left Showaddywaddy in the summer of 2020. Former guitarist Danny Willson returned to play with the band in September 2021 on a temporary arrangement. On 1 December 2021, Billy Shannon and Sam Holland were added into
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1974-616: The unusual feature of having two vocalists (Dave Bartram and Buddy Gask ), two drummers ( Romeo Challenger and Malcolm Allured ), two guitarists (Russ Field and Trevor Oakes , and two bassists (Rod Deas and Al James ). The band's first gig as professional musicians was at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate , Kent , on 1 September 1973, although the first gigs under the Showaddywady name were in 1972. Showaddywaddy won one programme on
2021-432: Was "Under the Moon of Love", which sold 985,000 copies. They had most of their biggest hits with covers of songs from the 1950s and the early 1960s. These included " Three Steps to Heaven " (originally by Eddie Cochran in 1960), " Heartbeat " (originally written and recorded by Buddy Holly ), " Under the Moon of Love " (originally a US hit for Curtis Lee in 1961, again co-written by Tommy Boyce), " When " (originally by
2068-478: Was a major influence on the American garage rock and folk rock movements, and would be a source of inspiration for subsequent rock music subgenres, including Britpop in the 1990s. Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester , England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. They have spent 209 weeks on
2115-558: Was entitled Lost and Found . Al James retired from the band in 2008, playing his last gig with the band at the Cheese & Grain in Frome , Somerset, on 20 December 2008. In early 2009, Trevor Oakes decided to take a break from the band due to ill health. He left the band and officially retired on 1 May 2009, meaning his last gig was also at the Cheese & Grain. Trevor Oakes is the father of footballers Scott Oakes and Stefan Oakes . Challenger
2162-483: Was particularly true in Liverpool, where it has been estimated that there were around 350 different bands active, often playing ballrooms, concert halls and clubs. Liverpool was perhaps uniquely placed within Britain to be the point of origin of a new form of music. Commentators have pointed to a combination of local solidarity, industrial decline , social deprivation, and the existence of a large population of Irish origin,
2209-431: Was replaced by Conrad when he emigrated to Australia . After that the band was joined in September 1962 by lead singer, pianist Stu James (born Stuart Slater), rhythm guitarist, vocalist Adrian Lord (born Adrian Wilkinson). The band continued without a lead guitarist when Wood left. At the suggestion of Beatle George Harrison , pianist Terry O'Toole was added to the lineup in August 1963; Harrison having heard him play at
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