Nigel Pickering (born Fredy Ray Pickering; June 15 1929 - May 5 2011) was an American folk rock musician, who co-founded and was a songwriter for

Spanky And Our Gang Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s sunshine pop band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as ''The Little Rascals''), because of the si ...

Career

Nigel Pickering was born Fredy Ray Pickering in 1929 in

Pontiac, Missouri Pontiac is a census-designated place in southern Ozark County, Missouri, United States. It lies six miles south of Isabella and 18.5 miles southwest of Gainesville, on the northeast shore of Bull Shoals Lake. A post office called Pontiac has bee ...

. Pickering began his music career playing guitar on the radio with a Milwaukee group called "The Westernaires" in the mid 1950s. Their show was called "Ranch House Roundup" and he was the character "Ranger Tom." Prior to being in

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

, Nigel was a member of the folk trio The Folksters, whom appeared on two 1962 episodes of

The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is ...

(November 19th and 26th). The trio included Kenny Hodges, who later played in Spanky And Our Gang. Pickering first met

Spanky McFarlane Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (born June 19, 1942) is an American singer best known for fronting the vocal group Spanky and Our Gang in the late 1960s. She was nicknamed "The Queen of Sunshine Pop". Early years In 1959, McFarlane arrived in Chicago f ...

and

Oz Bach Paul Michael "Oz" Bach (June 24, 1939 – September 21, 1998) was an American folk musician and bassist for the 1960s group Spanky and Our Gang. Bach entered music in 1962 as a guitarist, singer and comedian, before switching to bass in 1963. He t ...

at a Hurricane party in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1965. The three, along with

Malcom Hale Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s sunshine pop band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's '' Our Gang'' comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as ''The Little Rascals''), because of the s ...

and

John Seiter John Seiter (born August 17, 1944) is an American musician. He is best known for his work as a drummer for Spanky and Our Gang and The Turtles. Biography Seiter's first official credit came on a 1972 recording of ''Peter and the Wolf'' for Uni ...

, formed Spanky And Our Gang, best known for songs such as '' Lazy Day'', '' Sunday Will Never Be The Same'', and ''

Like To Get To Know You "Like to Get to Know You" is a 1968 song from Spanky and Our Gang. Written by Stuart Scharf, the song debuted at No. 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on April 20, 1968, and peaked at No. 17 on June 8, 1968.''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955- ...

'' that were produced between 1967 and 1969. The group came to an abrupt end in 1969, following the death of Malcom Hale on October 30 1968. After the split of Our Gang, Nigel continued to perform as a solo act in clubs. He stopped playing guitar in the late 2000s due to arthritis, but continued to sing. After fighting liver cancer, he died on May 5, 2011 aged 81 in

Saint Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

Career

References

Further reading