The Peddlers were a British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

trio of the 1960s and 1970s. Led by organist Roy Phillips, they had hits with "

Birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

" and " Girlie". They were very popular in New Zealand during the 1970s.

History

The Peddlers formed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in April 1964, as a trio of * Trevor Morais (Trevor Gladstone Emanuel Morais, born 10 October 1944,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

) - the drummer had previously played with Faron's Flamingos and

Rory Storm and the Hurricanes Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contempora ...

(who had struggled to replace Ringo Starr after he had left to join

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

). * Tab Martin (Alan Raymond Brearey, 24 December 1944,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

) the bassist, noted for his peculiar style of playing a

Gibson EB-2 The Gibson EB-2 is an electric bass guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1958 to 1972, with a hiatus from 1962 to 1963. When production ceased in 1972, a total of 8017 instruments had been built, with 2102 of them being EB-2 ...

bass guitar in an upright position as though it were a

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

. * Roy Phillips (Roy Godfrey Phillips, 5 May 1941,

Parkstone Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...

, Poole, Dorset). on vocals and keyboards, had been in the Saints,

the Tornados The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hi ...

, and also the Soundtracks.

Career

1960s

The group's history began as the Song Peddlers, which with addition of Trevor Morais, became a trio. The lineup also included Tab Martin and Roy Phillips. The Song Peddlers were managed by Alan Lewis. A single, "Rose Marie" bw "I'm Not Afraid" was released on the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

label in 1964. The group then changed its name to The Peddlers. Also in 1964, and now known as the Peddlers they had some minor success with their debut single, "Let the Sun Shine In" which was written by

Teddy Randazzo Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo (May 13, 1935 – November 21, 2003) was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as " Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", " Pretty Blue Eyes", ...

. In 1966, the group began a residency at Annies Room in London also playing the Scotch of St James and The Pickwick where the group's first album ''Live at the Pickwick'', including an introduction by Pete Murray, was recorded. The trio released six singles and an EP on the

record label before joining

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in 1967. Their cover of "Let the Sunshine In" (1965) charted on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 1968 they released the album ''Freewheelers'', consisting of standards arranged by

Keith Mansfield Keith Mansfield (born 1941 in London, England) is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the '' Grandstand'' theme for the BBC. Career Other works include "The Young Scene" (the ...

. The follow-up, 1968's ''Three in a Cell'', included a version of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", from the 1965 musical of the same name, which was later

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

for its bass and Hammond organ

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

. The third and final CBS album, ''Birthday'', followed in 1969, and brought the band two UK

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

singles in " Girlie", and "

" which reached No. 17.

1970s

The single "Girlie" did well in New Zealand, hitting the no. 1 spot in May 1970. Following ''Birthday'', the Peddlers returned to Philips, where they released ''Georgia on My Mind'' in 1971 and ''Suite London'' (1972). On Philips they released ''Three for All'' in 1970 including "Tell the World Were Not In", "Working Again", "My Funny Valentine" and "Love for Sale". Trevor Morais left the trio during an Australian tour in 1972, and was replaced on drums by New Zealander Paul Johnston. The Peddlers disbanded in 1976. The anthology ''How Cool Is Cool... The Complete CBS Recordings'' was released by CBS in 2002.

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

record producer

Luke Vibert Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genre ...

sampled their "Impressions (Part 3)" for "The Premise", a track which featured on his album, ''

Musipal ''Musipal'' is a studio album by Luke Vibert, released under the alias Wagon Christ. It was released in 2001 on Ninja Tune. Critical reception Tony Naylor of '' NME'' gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5, commenting that ''Musipal'' "amply illustr ...

''.

After the Peddlers

Trevor Morais joined Quantum Jump. He later opened the ''El Cortijo'' studio in Málaga, Spain, and has worked with

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...

, Howard Jones,

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 198 ...

and Björk. Tab Martin lives in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Roy Phillips now lives in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and performs

live shows Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

around the country. He contributed lead vocals for the track "Closer" on the 2007 Lord Large album, ''The Lord's First XI''. Paul Johnston returned to New Zealand and became a chiropractor. He died in 2013. A Peddlers reunion gig was held on 25 May 2009 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand.

In popular culture

* The Peddlers provided the theme song for the 1968 Hammer film '' The Lost Continent''. * The song "Tell The World We're Not In" was featured in the 1970 horror film ''

Goodbye Gemini ''Goodbye Gemini'' (also released as ''Twinsanity'') is a 1970 British psychological horror film directed by Alan Gibson and starring Judy Geeson, Michael Redgrave, and Martin Potter. Based on the novel ''Ask Agamemnon'' by Jenni Hall, it conce ...

''. * In 2012, season 5 episode 3 ("Hazard Pay") of AMC-TV's '' Breaking Bad'' used "On a Clear Day..." as the musical background over a montage of Walt and Jesse's meth manufacturing. This was later parodied in The Simpsons season 30 episode 22 "Woo-hoo Dunnit?"

Discography

Albums

Singles

Citations

References

* * * * "The Peddlers
http://www.thepeddlers.co.uk/

External links

The Peddlers official site

Roy Phillips official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peddlers, The English pop music groups English jazz ensembles British soul musical groups Musical groups established in 1964 Musical groups disestablished in 1976 Philips Records artists CBS Records artists