88-506: Specs Appeal is the tenth album by British instrumental (and sometimes vocal) group the Shadows , released in 1975 through Columbia (EMI) . The album included all six songs that the group had performed in that year's A Song for Europe . With The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated
176-497: A jazz influence. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. The Shadows built their signature sound on Fender guitars and Vox amplifiers, but around 1964, they replaced their Fenders with Burns guitars, with Bruce Welch citing tuning issues as
264-754: A DVD on which there was a 24 minutes video clip, where he gives us a guided tour of the St. Pauli district, showing us the main venues and places where himself, The Beatles and other musicians would perform, hang out and sleep when they played at the Star-Club, the Kaiserkeller and other clubs in Hamburg. He also reminisces about the day-to-day life of them as performers, the harsh conditions they endured, performing 8 hours per day, with little money for salary, and sometimes sleeping in squalid living quarters, all which they had to endure for
352-557: A bit of nudging from Norrie Paramor, they set about finding a permanent name, which arrived out of the blue one summer's day in July 1959 (maybe the 19th). When Hank Marvin and Jet Harris took off on their scooters up to the Six Bells pub at Ruislip, Jet hit upon a name straight away. 'What about the Shadows?' The lad was a genius! So we became the Shadows for the first time on Cliff's sixth single " Travellin' Light ". The Shadows were also becoming
440-488: A colleague of German Polydor producer/ A & R man Bert Kaempfert saw the pairing on stage, he suggested that Sheridan and the Beatles make some recordings together. Kaempfert viewed Sheridan as the one with "star" potential, and though Kaempfert's production company signed the Beatles to play on Sheridan's records, the contract stipulated that the four Beatles (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Best) were guaranteed to play on
528-434: A collection of his own material, except for a new cover version of "Skinny Minnie", a Bill Haley song he had recorded years earlier for his first album " My Bonnie ". "Vagabond" was essentially different from his previous repertoire, consisting mainly in reflective ballads. "His development as an artist and on a personal and spiritual level makes Vagabond an interesting departure that bona fide r’n’r that made his reputation on
616-524: A cover album in the same vein as early Polydor releases with singles " Moonlight Shadow " and Bruce Springsteen 's, " Dancing in the Dark " both failing to make a dent in the singles chart. Due to Alan Jones's involvement with the Dave Clark 's musical Time , the bassist was not available to contribute to the album, and Paul Westwood temporarily sat in. Moonlight Shadows was released on LP and CD simultaneously as
704-446: A few vocal numbers. Their rhythmic style is primarily on the beat , with little syncopation . They said in 1992 that "Apache" set the tone with its surf guitar sound. The Shadows and their management did not exploit commercial opportunities such as self-promotion via artwork. They allowed Vox to produce metallic badges in a script typeface, with the group name on the front bottom right corner of all three Vox cabinets sometime during
792-400: A follow-up album with 13 old tracks (including a Marvin solo track) and one unreleased track from the 'String of Hits' sessions. These tracks came from albums released earlier in the group's career of cover versions of hit singles; this was eventually released as Another String of Hot Hits in 1980. After 20 successful years together, the Shadows parted ways with their record company EMI and
880-706: A great deal." "Tony was the Star in "Star-Club", His Name will live forever." - Ted "Kingsize" Taylor Sheridan lived in Seestermühe , a village north of Hamburg , and in addition to music, in his later life he was interested in heraldry and designed coats of arms . Sheridan was extremely secretive about his personal life, although it's known that he was married three times, lastly to Anna Sievers, and previously to Rosi Heitmann and to Hazel Byng. His friend and former bassist Crawley stated that in 1960 Sheridan confided that despite his mixed Irish-Catholic and Jewish background, he
968-493: A group proper (though almost always including now bassist Colin "Melander" Crawley and usually top-pianist Roy Young ). However, in 1961, the young Beatles (with their line-up at the time of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison , Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best ) who had met and admired Sheridan during their first visit to Hamburg in 1960, and who worked with him on their second visit, became even closer. The Beatles sometimes backed Sheridan, who, in turn, often joined
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#17328690753931056-486: A minimum of two songs. Of the seven songs recorded during Sheridan's two-day-long sessions for Polydor in June 1961, at times the band behind Sheridan would be down to only two Beatles (Paul McCartney and Pete Best). Conversely some say that only on their two songs do all four Beatles play (minus Sheridan), while Sheridan plays on all of his tracks. John Lennon's rhythm guitar is heard only on the two Beatles tracks (though his voice
1144-556: A music producer at Decca Records . He was replaced by Brian Bennett . In April 1962, Jet Harris was replaced by Brian "Licorice" Locking . Bennett and Locking were friends from the 2I's who had been in Marty Wilde 's backing group, the Wildcats, who recorded instrumentals as the Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up released seven hit singles, two of which, " Dance On! " and " Foot Tapper ", topped
1232-587: A new band name was urgently needed. The name "The Shadows" was thought up by bass guitarist Jet Harris (unaware of Bobby Vee 's backing group) while he and Marvin were at the Six Bells pub in Ruislip in July 1959. From The Story of the Shadows : With a combination of the American situation, Cliff Richard's first number 1 hit, the runaway success "Living Doll" had by now sold over a million copies in Britain alone and after
1320-414: A new version of "Apache", without bass and percussion, for use in the documentary. On 17 December 2022, BBC2 showed Cliff at Christmas , with Welch and Bennett appearing as guests performing "Move It". The Shadows are difficult to categorise because of their stylistic range, which includes pop , rock , surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence. Most of their tunes are instrumental rock , with
1408-444: A number one album, prompted the group to re-form once more for a 'Twenty Golden Dates' tour around the UK, featuring Francis Monkman (formerly of Curved Air and soon to be in Sky ) on keyboards and Alan Jones on bass guitar. Monkman left after that tour, and the line-up settled as Marvin, Welch and Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass). It
1496-411: A popular band in their own right and in 1960, " Apache ", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan , topped the UK charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, including the number ones " Kon Tiki " and " Wonderful Land ", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing and even for eight weeks at number 1. The Shadows played on further hits as Richard's band. In October 1961, drummer Tony Meehan left to be
1584-446: A popular choice to represent the UK and the viewers' postal vote was the lowest in 'Song For Europe' history. EMI however released a compilation album in 1976, spanning 1962 to 1970: Rarities with sleeve notes by John Friesen. The first half of the album was from Marvin's solo career, and the second was by the Shadows. Following the rare vocal single "It'll Be Me, Babe", written and sung by Marvin & Farrar, John Farrar amicably left
1672-427: A proper band logo, four silhouettes of the original line-up, in ascending order of height, were used as a pseudo-logo on concert programme covers and artwork projects such as sheet music, EP and album covers. From left to right after the drum-kit were Meehan, Harris, Marvin, and Bruce Welch. The original artwork group silhouette was modified each time a member changed: the last version featured Brian Bennett and Rostill in
1760-490: A reconstituted Shadows were chosen by BBC Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton to perform the Song for Europe in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest . The Shadows recorded six songs, seen each week on a weekly television show It's Lulu , on BBC1 and hosted by Lulu , a former Eurovision winner. The group taped all six performances in the TV studio before the series itself began, with
1848-872: A reputation for having gone a bit "haywire", and cost him much of his professional standing in England. Providentially, an offer for a gig came from Bruno Koschmider's " Kaiserkeller " club in Hamburg , West Germany for an English group to play there. Sheridan and others (including Colin "Melander" Crawley) joined an ad hoc group promptly dubbed "The Jets" and were put on the ship headed for Hamburg. As fate would have it, legal woes (i.e. lack of proper papers) caused "The Jets" to not last long, but Sheridan (and now-friend Crawley) were soon back onstage in Hamburg. While performing in Hamburg between 1960 and 1963, Sheridan employed various backup bands, most of which were really "pickup bands", or simply an amalgam of various musicians, rather than
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#17328690753931936-499: A single at the tail end of 1978. The record eventually reached number 5 in the singles chart thereby giving the group their first top ten single since the 1960s. In 1979, their version of " Cavatina " also became a top ten hit, and they recorded ten more tracks with bassist Jones and keyboardists Dave Lawson and Alan Hawkshaw for the album String of Hits on EMI which topped the British album charts. The success of this led to EMI issuing
2024-877: A single. Sheridan was born in Norwich , Norfolk, where he grew up at 2 Hansell Road in Thorpe St Andrew and attended the City of Norwich School . His parents, Alphonsus McGinnity and Audrey Mann, were married in Norwich in 1939. In his early life, Sheridan was influenced by their interest in classical music , and by age seven, he had learned to play the violin. He eventually came to play guitar, and in 1956, formed his first band. He showed enough talent that he soon found himself playing in London's "Two I's" club for some six months straight. In 1958, aged 18, he began appearing on Oh Boy! , made by
2112-413: A trio, vocal harmony group. They were favourably compared to USA folk close harmony group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (a.k.a. CSNY) and The Hollies . Their second album, Second Opinion (1971), produced by Peter Vince, was voted one of the best ever sounding albums recorded at Abbey Road studios by EMI Records' sound engineers in a private poll during the 1970s. The band lasted until 1973. In 1975,
2200-399: A version in 1962 on Sheridan's album My Bonnie ; however, Polydor states they've never found this last recording). A newspaper story of the day also mentioned that Sheridan had recorded " You Are My Sunshine " with the Beatles as well for single release (it was also on his album as well). In 1962, after a series of singles (the first of which, "My Bonnie"/"The Saints" made it to number 5 in
2288-415: A vocal A-side with an instrumental A-side. The vocal songs "Mary Anne", "Don't Make My Baby Blue", and "I Met A Girl" all made the UK top 30, and "The Dreams I Dream" peaked at #42. Instrumental numbers also continued to chart, including "Genie With The Light Brown Lamp", "Stingray", "The War Lord", "A Place In The Sun" and "Maroc 7", all top 30 hits. During the 1960s, the group appeared with Cliff Richard in
2376-510: A whole studio album in Los Angeles. Elvis Presley 's TCB Band , not working at the time, was hired to play on the album along with top bassist (and former Hamburg friend) Klaus Voormann . An album of rock classics plus a few country tunes resulted but, with no major label release, it was restricted to direct TV sales. Thus, the prospect of a long American career in Las Vegas evaporated. In 1978,
2464-635: Is available on YouTube A biography of Sheridan, titled The Teacher ( ISBN 0957528507 ), was eventually published in 2013 by Norfolk author Alan Mann, a childhood-friend of Sheridan. The book was essentially an email question and answer interview. While repeated probings by the author did elicit the fact that Sheridan spent two weeks in an English jail, the author unfortunately took Sheridan's memory of things at total face value. In 2015, Colin "Melander" Crawley, Sheridan's former bassist, published another biography, Tony Sheridan – The One The Beatles Called "The Teacher" ( ISBN 9781515092612 ). Of
2552-436: Is heard in background vocals as well as his handclaps on Sheridan's tracks) (per "Beatles Deeper Undercover" by Kristopher Engelhardt, p. 302). During these sessions at Polydor were produced a total of nine songs, seven of them for Sheridan: "My Bonnie" , "The Saints" , "Why" , "Nobody's Child" , "If You Love Me, Baby (Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby)" , " Sweet Georgia Brown " and "Swanee River" (this last recording
2640-981: Is now available in the DVD The Final Reunion . A new studio based album, Reunited , featuring mostly rerecorded versions of their own hits, reached number four in the UK Albums Chart in 2009. "Singing the Blues", the first "Cliff Richard and the Shadows" single for 40 years, reached number 40 in the UK Singles Chart , and is Richard's most recent top 40 hit. The Final Tour was put on Blu-ray format by Eagle Records in 2010. Welch, Bennett, Mark Griffiths and Warren Bennett performed two Shadows hits ("Apache" and "Wonderful Land") at Albert Lee 's 70th birthday concerts at Cadogan Hall, London, on 1 and 2 March 2014, Lee playing with them on lead guitar. The Shadows recorded an interpretation of John Barry's " The Appointment " for
2728-530: Is now lost, but it was recorded later on by Sheridan with another backup group). Two more songs without Sheridan were recorded by The Beatles: " Ain't She Sweet " and " Cry for a Shadow " (formerly titled "Beatle Bop"). Polydor's beliefs in Sheridan's coming stardom were so strong that they buried the two Beatles tracks until much later. Additionally John Lennon, Pete Best and Tony Sheridan all swore that there were several other Beatles tracks that were recorded during
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2816-411: Is the audible and visual proof of how romantic the ballad "Why" can still sound today, that the stomping "Skinny Minnie" is still a highlight in Sheridan's song list, and how the traditional "The Saints" fairs in a vivid rock arrangement. (...) Sheridan and CHANTAL are a combination of a special category, and they disprove old prejudices (such as): "Too old to rock and roll..." " - Günter Jertz In 2005
2904-511: The ITV contractor ABC , playing electric guitar on such early rock classics as " Blue Suede Shoes ", " Glad All Over ", "Mighty Mighty Man" and " Oh, Boy! " He was soon employed backing a number of singers, reportedly including Gene Vincent and Conway Twitty while they were in England. In 1958 Johnny Foster sought to recruit Sheridan as a guitar player in Cliff Richard 's backing band (soon renamed
2992-475: The Star Club was reopened, and Sheridan performed there along with Elvis Presley's TCB Band. In 1991, Joe Sunseri, Sheridan's biographer and then-manager, completed Nobody's Child: The Tony Sheridan Story . However, due to a falling-out, the biography remained unpublished. On 13 August 2002, after a long hiatus away from the record industry, Bear Family Records released Sheridan's album "Vagabond", essentially
3080-463: The "Top Ten" and the "Star-Club", I was shocked by both; and seeing Tony Sheridan at last on stage, I immediately knew why countless musicians unconditionally accepted him as the "master": Tony was unique - and miles away of his time." Gerry Marsden , lead singer of the band " Gerry and the Pacemakers " said: "He was a genius, a great guitar player. I used to watch Tony every night and he influenced me
3168-488: The 2015 Brian Bennett album Shadowing John Barry . Rumours circled in late 2016 about a reunion and a tour with Richard, but this did not occur. On 1 May 2020, BBC4 showed The Shadows at Sixty , a documentary looking back at their success as they celebrated the 60th anniversary of their first No 1 hit, " Apache ". Marvin, Welch and Bennett all gave interviews and the programme included some previously unseen footage from their early days. Marvin, Welch, and Bennett performed
3256-521: The Beatles during their own sets backing them on guitar. They even visited Sheridan's home and had jam sessions in the back garden. Ringo Starr briefly played in Sheridan's backing band during very early 1962, before returning to Rory Storm and the Hurricanes . Starr was reportedly unhappy with Sheridan performing songs he had not rehearsed with his band (other musicians made the same complaint, as well as about Sheridan's penchant for fist-fights). When
3344-405: The British popular music charts in the pre- Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard from 1958 to 1968, and have joined him for several reunion tours. The Shadows had 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 as the Shadows and 34 as Cliff Richard and the Shadows , ranging from pop , rock , surf rock and ballads with
3432-556: The Ensemble CHANTAL also produced with Tony Sheridan the first studio version of the song "Tell Me If You Can" recorded at Abbey Road Studios, which was issued as a CD-Single including an instrumental version. In 2007 Sheridan went to the Opus 3 Studio in Sweden to record some songs, three of which he sang: "Tell Me If You Can", "Indochina" (a song relating his experience when he performed for
3520-507: The German chart), the record was released in America on Decca with a black label and also in a pink label for demo play. The record has the distinction of being one of the most expensive collectible 45 rpm with the black label in mint condition selling for $ 15,000 in 2007 and the pink label selling for $ 3000. Also in 1962, Polydor released the album My Bonnie across West Germany. The word "Beatles"
3608-427: The German producer of Sheridan's album "Vagabond" (2002) wrote this: "The leader of the amateur band with whom I played in the early 1960s, was a Sheridan fan. His working method ("How would Tony Sheridan do it?") demanded that we busy ourselves with the arrangements until the band leader was satisfied that the result came close to the required "TS" (Tony Sheridan) style - then it was alright! Having become acquainted with
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3696-627: The Hamburg scene way back in the 60's. Those who know his story know that he gradually departed from that said scene after his experiences in Viet Nam and his search for spiritual awareness.". "Vagabond" can be heard on YouTube. In 2002, the Argentinian rock musician Charly Garcia recorded his album Influencia , on which Tony Sheridan contributed as a singer/guitarist on the song "I'm Not in Love". The song can be heard on YouTube. In 2003, Sheridan produced
3784-514: The Pops performances, notably Mud , the Rubettes , Showaddywaddy and Yellow Dog . 'The walk' is three steps within a 60–60–60-degree triangle, with a reverse right-heel back-kick, with optional can-can finale. This was varied throughout a gig during certain numbers, for example "FBI". During the 1980s, rather than play in a static posture during an instrumental number, or using the walk, their live act
3872-598: The Shadows ), but after failing to find him at the 2i's Coffee Bar opted for another guitarist who was there, Hank Marvin . Early in 1960, he performed in a tour of the UK, along with Vincent and Eddie Cochran . On 16 April, Vincent and Cochran rebuffed his request to ride along with them to the next venue. He therefore escaped the road accident which would leave Cochran dead and Vincent badly injured. Sheridan played guitar for Cherry Wainer on her recording of "Happy Organ". Despite these successes, his penchant for being late, showing up without his guitar, etc., soon got him
3960-522: The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee; Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and the Shadows as the Broker's Men. Their film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest film, 1961's The Young Ones , but, by Finders Keepers in 1966, almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill. In 1967,
4048-477: The Shadows each have had four No. 1–selling EPs. The Shadows formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard under the name The Drifters . The original members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard ) on guitar and vocals. They had no bass player. Samwell wrote their debut single, " Move It ", often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and
4136-622: The Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance , at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour. The tour began in September 2009 with 36 shows throughout the UK and continental Europe, extending in 2010 to Australia , New Zealand and South Africa . A 'final reunion' of Cliff and the Shadows was performed in the O2 Arena in London in November 2009. This performance
4224-499: The Shadows released a double album on the Tellydisc label, titled Shadows Silver Album , which contained previously released recent material, along with new, recently recorded tracks. In July 1984, the Shadows reunited with Cliff Richard for a series of celebratory concerts at Wembley Arena and Birmingham NEC . In 1986, the Shadows had a top ten hit on the LP chart with Moonlight Shadows ,
4312-654: The Shadows used Olivia Newton-John on the track " The Day I Met Marie " on their album From Hank Bruce Brian and John . In October 1968, Marvin and Welch decided to disband the group following a concert at the London Palladium . In the event, only Welch left, but the Shadows had disbanded by the end of the year. The group began 1970 by appearing on the BBC 's review of the '60s music scene, Pop Go The Sixties , performing "Apache" and backing Richard on " Bachelor Boy ", broadcast across Europe and BBC1 , on 31 December 1969. This
4400-461: The Shadows" and not the Drifters. At the insistence of the group's producer and manager Norrie Paramor , in order to ensure a strong sound, two session players, guitarist Ernie Shear and bassist Frank Clark, played on the "Move It/Schoolboy Crush" single. Initially Paramor wanted to record using only studio musicians, but after persuasion he allowed Smart and Samwell to play as well. In his memoirs, Welch regrets that he and Marvin were not able to be at
4488-553: The US soldiers in Vietnam in the 1970s) and "The Puzzle". They were issued as part of the album: "Tony Sheridan and Opus 3 Artists", which was released posthumously in 2018. The remaining nine tracks were original songs recorded by Sheridan in his home by himself with only his guitar, to which additional post-production arrangements (musical and vocal) were added to the basic tracks by the "Opus 3 Artists". The whole lineup of 12 songs of this album
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#17328690753934576-479: The back, and we were really impressed at the way the saxophone players moved in unison, taken, I suppose, from the Glenn Miller days. It looked fantastic and we thought, "We must do something like that because it looks so interesting from the front." The Shadows developed sequences using their bodies and guitars in tempo with the music, such as 'the walk'. It has been copied by other groups as part of their Top of
4664-518: The band in 1976, moving to the US to become the music producer for Olivia Newton-John . (Among her hits, Farrar wrote " You're the One That I Want " from the film Grease which was covered by the Shadows in 1979, and " Suddenly ", from the film Xanadu , which was a popular duet between Newton-John and Cliff Richard). The packaging of hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977, which led to
4752-597: The bass player would walk back - and vice versa. During the late 1950s in the UK, it was a common practice for pop stars to adopt a stage name, and several members of the original Cliff Richard and the Shadows did so: Harry Webb became "Cliff Richard", Brian Rankin became "Hank B. Marvin", Terence Harris became "Jet Harris" and Bruce Cripps became "Bruce Welch". Subsequently, the names Cliff Richard and Hank Brian Marvin were confirmed by deed poll . Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan ,
4840-547: The charts. In October 1963, Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness . Meanwhile, Harris and Meehan teamed up at Decca as an eponymous duo to record another Lordan instrumental, " Diamonds ". It rose to UK no. 1 in January 1963. Two further hits, " Scarlett O'Hara " (also by Lordan) and "Applejack", followed in the same year. On the Lordan tunes, Harris played lead using a six-stringed Fender Bass VI . During 1963, ironically
4928-429: The early 1960s. This badge became the "default" band logo but was never commercially exploited by the group. The Shadows never used the logo on the front of the bass drum, preferring to allow Meehan and Bennett to use their names instead. Belatedly, the logo was used once on the front artwork of the 1975 original studio album Specs Appeal . As of 2009, the logo still remains untrademarked and uncopyrighted. In lieu of
5016-486: The early years of his career, by his turning into Rock'n Roll many old traditional songs like: "My Bonnie" , "The Saints" , "Swanee River" , " You Are My Sunshine " and jazz standards like " Sweet Georgia Brown ". But ironically, one of the greatest lessons which the Beatles learned from Tony's life, was to reproduce the opposite of what they saw from his habits: Be disciplined in rehearsing their music relentlessly, always arrive fully prepared... and on time. Ulf Krüger,
5104-476: The ex-Shadows were competing in the charts with their former bandmates. It is perhaps also worth noting that Jet Harris also acquired himself a Burns guitar, only this time it was a Barracuda Bass. Jet Harris The Shadows, meanwhile, had issued a run of 13 consecutive top 10 UK hits from 1960 through 1963. The Shadows had met John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to join. This final and longest-lasting line-up
5192-419: The fans, Cliff invited onto the stage former and classic-era members of the group Jet Harris and Tony Meehan to perform " Move It " with him and his band. On 30 June 1990, Cliff and the Shadows performed to an estimated 120,000 people at Knebworth Park as part of an all-star concert line-up that also included Paul McCartney , Phil Collins , Elton John and Tears for Fears . The concert in aid of charity
5280-507: The films The Young Ones , Summer Holiday , Wonderful Life , and Finders Keepers . They also appeared as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO , and starred in a short B-film called Rhythm 'n Greens which became the basis of a music book and an EP. They appeared in pantomime : Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp in 1964 at the London Palladium with Arthur Askey as Widow Twankey , Richard as Aladdin, and
5368-456: The group also recorded occasional vocal numbers, and hit the UK top ten with the group-sung " Don't Make My Baby Blue " in 1965. Four other vocal songs by the Shadows also made the UK charts. They disbanded in 1968, but reunited in the 1970s for further commercial success. The Shadows are the fifth-most successful act on the UK Singles Chart , behind Elvis Presley , the Beatles , Cliff Richard and Madonna . The Shadows and Cliff Richard &
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#17328690753935456-721: The group came second to the Dutch entry, Teach-In 's " Ding-A-Dong ". Having long stepped out of Richard's shadow, this was a rare excursion into vocals for a band known for instrumentals (although they had cut vocal tracks on most albums, plus some singles 'B' sides, and had four charting vocal singles in the '60s). Welch sang lead and let the world know when, forgetting a couple of words, he turned to colleagues and said "I knew it" in range of his microphone. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest ;– The Official History that they were not
5544-478: The group signed a 10-year contract to Polydor Records . The first album released under the Polydor banner was the aptly titled Change of Address in September 1980. With the influential arrival of keyboardist Cliff Hall, the musical style shifted from the traditional sound, becoming more electronic-based, with prominent keyboards and synthesizers burying Welch's contributions. For the group's 25th anniversary in 1983,
5632-419: The group's third CD release. This top ten album consisted entirely of cover songs. The album spent 16 weeks on chart peaking at number 6. In June 1989, the Shadows once more reunited with Cliff to celebrate 30 years in show business, where the singer filled London's Wembley Stadium for two nights, with a spectacular titled "The Event", in front of a combined audience of 144,000 people. As a special surprise for
5720-493: The highlights of the night, was the Live performance of Sheridan's song "Tell Me If You Can", the only Live recording of the song, which he co-wrote with Paul McCartney during their time in Hamburg, more than 40 years prior. The full set of the songs played on that night are found on the DVD of the event, entitled "CHANTAL meets Tony Sheridan - A Beatles Story". An abridged set of these songs
5808-489: The late 1960s. During the 1970s, EMI dropped the silhouettes, preferring to use two guitar necks or colour photos of the Shadows. During the later 1980s, Polydor used a red Fender Stratocaster (with white scratch plate) as a symbol. In 1958, Bruce Welch went to a concert as part of the 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis tour of the UK of which he said: On the show was this black American band called the Treniers . Hank Marvin and I were at
5896-503: The love of Rock and Roll. "We were like slaves" he pointed out with a grin, concluding that he feels honored to have been privileged to contribute to this little piece of history. An extract of that guided tour can be viewed on YouTube. On 29 February 2004, the German classical music group "CHANTAL InstrumentalEnsemble" produced a tribute concert for The Beatles, where they performed 15 instrumental Beatles songs along with an additional 11 played with Tony Sheridan as their Guest Star. One of
5984-442: The main reason. The core members from 1958 to the present are guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett (who has been with the group since 1961) with various bassists and occasionally keyboardists through the years. The Shadows' number-one hits include " Apache ", " Kon-Tiki ", " Wonderful Land ", " Foot Tapper " and " Dance On! ". Although these and most of their best-remembered hits were instrumentals,
6072-543: The same period, have been reissued many times. In the mid-1960s, Sheridan's musical style underwent a drastic transformation, away from his rock and roll roots and towards a more blues- and jazz-oriented sound. Though those recordings were praised by some, many fans of his earlier work felt disappointed. The change was presaged by liner notes from his 1964 album, Just a Little Bit of Tony Sheridan , in which his musical preferences are listed as "jazz and classical" rather than rock. The liner notes also mention his wanting to visit
6160-495: The sounds of any kind of explosions, even fireworks. With his Polydor contract gone, Sheridan did what he could to survive. In the early 1970s, he managed to cut a single as a pop duo, teamed with Carole Bell, and they toured Europe together with fair success. Following that phase he returned to playing in West Germany (usually Hamburg) or London. The mid-1970s saw him deejaying a West German radio programme of blues music, which
6248-437: The southern US "to hear at first hand the original negro music and experience the atmosphere that has been instrumental in creating negro jazz and the spiritual, for which he has a great liking." During 1967, Polydor continued releasing Tony Sheridan singles recorded German producer Jimmy Bowien , though they only ever released two albums by him. By 1967, Sheridan had become disillusioned with his Beatle-brought fame. Because he
6336-402: The start of making history with "Move It". The Drifters signed for Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Paramor of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went to Soho 's 2i's coffee bar , known for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle , in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan . Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention
6424-443: The two published biographies, it gives the most insight into Sheridan's major career of the early '60's. The Beatles affectionately called him "The Teacher", because they learned from him so many crucial professional skills, namely from his sense of showmanship, his stage presence, his musical talent, and his musical arrangement skills. One of Sheridan's outstanding skills was for musical arrangements, which were evident especially in
6512-420: The two-day session, but they have not surfaced. In the spring of 1962 in order to fulfill contractual obligations, the four surviving Beatles (plus Roy Young but without Sheridan) recorded an instrumental version of "Sweet Georgia Brown"; later, Sheridan cut his vocal overdub for the song while solo in the studio. (Reportedly " Swanee River " was also recorded by the Beatles and Roy Young, though Polydor released
6600-579: The video cut into the weekly show. For the presentation of the songs on week seven and the announcement of the result on week eight, the pre-recorded performances were run again. Two of the songs ("No, No Nina" and "This House Runs on Sunshine") were co-written by members of the group. The public voted for " Let Me Be the One ", composed by Paul Curtis , to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm , Sweden in 1975. There,
6688-475: Was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany . He was best known as an early collaborator of the Beatles (though the record was labelled as being with "The Beat Brothers"), one of two non-Beatles (the other being Billy Preston ) to receive label performance credit on a record with the group, and the only non-Beatle to appear as lead singer on a Beatles recording which charted as
6776-568: Was caught by Hank Marvin, who played guitar well and wore Buddy Holly -style glasses. In spring of 1959, the owner of the United States vocal group The Drifters threatened legal action over naming rights after the release and immediate withdrawal of "Feelin Fine" in the US. The second single, "Jet Black", was released in the States under the name of The Four Jets to avoid further legal aggravation, but
6864-544: Was followed by Marvin and a reconstituted Shadows becoming resident guests on Richard's debut TV series for the BBC, It's Cliff Richard! In July 1970, Australian musician John Farrar moved to Britain and was invited to become a member of Marvin, Welch & Farrar . By that time, Olivia Newton-John and Welch had become engaged, and Farrar and Welch became two of her songwriters and producers. While The Shadows were famous for their instrumental work, Marvin, Welch & Farrar were
6952-510: Was issued on CD (including all the tracks sung by Sheridan). All the songs played by Sheridan on that night can be viewed on YouTube. Michael Hofmann-von der Weiden, founder of the Ensemble CHANTAL commented that this unique event was "A musical dream come true for me", as it represented "an ascent not thought to be possible: CHANTAL toured and recorded with the Teacher of The Beatles, the full-blooded musician Tony Sheridan. (...) This CD (& DVD)
7040-598: Was judged to sound too similar to the Hamburgisch dialect word "Pidels" (pronounced "peedles"), the plural of a slang term for penis , hence the album was credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers". After the Beatles had gained fame, the album was re-released in the United Kingdom, with the credit altered to "Tony Sheridan and the Beatles". The Beatles' Hamburg studio recordings, as well as some live recordings from
7128-671: Was more concerned by the Vietnam War and the thought of further Communist aggression, Sheridan agreed to perform for the Allied troops. While in Vietnam , the band that he had assembled was fired upon and one of the members was killed. For his work entertaining the troops, Sheridan was made an honorary Captain of the United States Army. Due to the repeated shellings he experienced in Vietnam, Sheridan henceforth suffered from great sensitivity to
7216-445: Was refined to include another movement. This featured Marvin, Welch and the bassist moving their guitars in time, or in sequence, with note or chord changes. Occasionally, during other instrumentals, this guitar presentation is re-engineered with Marvin and Welch acting out of sequence or alternating. When the group performed the popular live number "Shadoogie" (originally a track on their first LP), Hank and Bruce would walk forward whilst
7304-636: Was released in September. In December 2004, each of the then-current members of the Shadows was offered an appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), but Marvin declined. The group reformed in 2004 for a farewell tour, and recorded "Life Story" (written by Lordan) to accompany a hits package of the same name which featured 1980s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Cliff Hall and on bass by Mark Griffiths ,
7392-550: Was successful enough that they extended the tour to continental Europe in 2005. The line-up was almost the same, except that Warren Bennett , son of Brian played the keyboards instead of Hall. Marvin, Welch and Bennett appeared together as special guests at Marty Wilde 's 50th anniversary concert at the London Palladium on 27 May 2007, performing "Move It" with Wilde on vocals. The concert also featured former Shadows Jet Harris and Brian Locking. On 11 December 2008, Richard and
7480-479: Was televised around the world and helped to raise $ 10.5 million for disabled children and young musicians. Brian Bennett resigned from the group just before the group were to embark on what would be their final tour for 14 years, with Marvin, Welch and Bennett going their separate ways on 1 December following the final concert in Southampton. The last studio album the Shadows recorded before they disbanded, Reflection ,
7568-399: Was the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up still had ten hits, the first and most successful of which was " The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt ". Beginning in 1965, the group also started issuing vocal numbers as singles, usually alternating
7656-509: Was this line-up that reunited with Cliff Richard for two concerts at the London Palladium in March 1978. Highlights of the concert, including four solo Shadows tracks, were released the following year on the top ten charting album Thank You Very Much . On the back of this, The Shadows recorded an instrumental version of " Don't cry for me Argentina " from the West End production " Evita ", released as
7744-420: Was well received. He then managed to record an entire live album of early rock classics, a number of which had been part of his and the early Beatles live act but had never been recorded. In 1978, a record producer in the United States heard Sheridan's early Polydor recordings (with and without the young Beatles), and was impressed by Sheridan's singing and playing. Sheridan immediately accepted an offer to record
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