The Fairies were a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

band led by drummer John 'Twink' Alder, who recorded three singles between 1964 and 1965. The group began in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

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, in 1963 as 'Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats'. After a year, the band evolved into 'The Fairies' - Dane Stephens (born Douglas Robert Ord, vocals/blues harp), John 'Akky' Acutt (lead guitar, ex-the Strangers), Mick 'Wimps' Weaver (rhythm guitar/fiddle - not the same-named organ player also known as Wynder K Frog), John Frederick 'Freddy' Gandy (bass) and John 'Twink' Alder (drums, ex-the Strangers). In late 1964 the Fairies recorded the single " Don't Think Twice It's Alright" for the

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

label. Around the same time, the band made newspaper headlines when members were arrested for climbing up a statue. Twink later recalled:

''"With Dane Stephens, our shows were not only blues but soul numbers, touches of jazz as well. He was an amazing singer, very very special. Had a great voice, played amazing blues harp, the Fairies were just about to break big." "Dane Stephens was involved in a fatal accident while he was driving the group van - without any license or insurance. He served time in jail, so we lost him for a year and got Nik Wymer from Nix Nomads instead. We had been actually about to break at that point, there was no doubt about it. We had
Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate ...
producing us in the studio, we had a single out and another one on the way, an agent who was getting us booked back again everywhere - we were good, a really good R&B band."''

In 1965, after Wymer replaced Stephens as singer, they recorded two more singles, "Get Yourself Home" and "Don't Mind", for

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

. "Get Yourself Home" was written by Johnnie Dee, road manager for the Fairies, but rejected by the

Pretty Things The Pretty Things were an English band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent. They took their name from Willie Dixon's 1955 song "Pretty Thing". A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several singles charting in the Unit ...

and recorded by the Fairies instead; previously, Dee's song "

Don't Bring Me Down "Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album ''Discovery''. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States to date. History "Don't Bring Me Down" is the band's s ...

" had been rejected by the Fairies but became a hit for the Pretty Things in 1964. Twink: ''"We became like the

when Nik Wymer came along - mostly because Nik looked and sounded so much like Phil May... and then after '' ane Stephens' came out Nik left and we got Dane back but we were really trying to recreate something which we'd already lost."'' Nik Wymer briefly joined an embryonic group formed by ex-members of

Them Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Welsh ...

in late 1965. Brian 'Smudger' Smith from

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

R&B band 'Cops 'n' Robbers' may have sung with the band at some point, as Dane Stephens reportedly swapped to become Cops 'n' Robbers singer around late 1965 and possibly sang on their final single "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". The Fairies split at some date before 1967, Twink having already departed and joined

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

band the In-Crowd in August 1966. This band evolved into Tomorrow, and from there Twink joined the

and the

Pink Fairies Pink Fairies are an English rock band initially active in the London (Ladbroke Grove) underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug use, and anarchy, and often performed impromptu gigs and other stunts, ...

before launching a solo career. Dane Stephens recorded under the pseudonym 'Zion De Gallier' for Tomorrow producer

Mark Wirtz Mark Philipp Wirtz (3 September 19437 August 2020) was a German-French pop music record producer, composer, singer, musician, author, and comedian. Wirtz is best known for the never-completed '' A Teenage Opera'' concept album, a project he devi ...

. Freddie Gandy joined

Bluesology Bluesology was a 1960s British blues group, best remembered as being the first professional band of Elton John (then known by his birth name Reginald Dwight). History From about 1960, organist Reginald Dwight – then aged 13 – and his neig ...

alongside

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

Elton Dean Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among oth ...

and Reggie Dwight (Elton John), followed by a late line-up of

Sam Gopal Sam Gopal (originally known as Sam Gopal's Dream) were an underground British psychedelic rock band who formed in 1966 and released their first album, Escalator, in 1969. History Original line-up (Sam Gopal's Dream) The band was formed un ...

in 1969 and Hookfoot in the early 1970s. Twink reunited with Stephens and Weaver on his 1991 album ''Odds & Beginnings'', which included the tracks "Anytime At All", "Don’t Bring Me Down", "Get Yourself Home" and "Boot Black". The Ipswich-based Nik Wymer Band (NWB) released the album ''Time Will Tell'' in 2009.

Discography

Singles *" Don't Think Twice It's Alright" / "Anytime At All" - 7" single (

, 1964) *"Get Yourself Home" / "I'll Dance" - 7" single (

, 1965) *"Don't Mind" / "Baby Don't" - 7" single (HMV, 1965) Zion De Gallier (Dane Stephens) Singles *"Me" / "Winter Will Be Cold" - 7" single (

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

, 1968) *"Dream Dream Dream" / "Geraldine" - 7" single (

, 1968)

References

External links

Interview with Twink
By Ivor Trueman, Opel #11, 5 December 1985
Twink
- interview (Ptolemaic Terrascope #3 1990) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairies, The English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1963 Musical groups disestablished in 1966 Musical groups from London