The Paramounts were an English beat group based in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. They had one hit single with their cover version of " Poison Ivy", which reached No. 35 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 1964, but are primarily known as the forerunner to

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

Career

The origin of the Paramounts is unclear. They were either formed as "The Raiders" in 1959 when the members were at secondary school, or were one of the first "manufactured" bands, the organisers of a band competition at the Palace Hotel in Southend forming a group out of the best musicians in the contest. The Raiders had

Robin Trower Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band. Biography Robin Trowe ...

and

Chris Copping Chris Copping (born 29 August 1945 in Middleton, Lancashire, England) is a musician and singer-songwriter who was a member of Procol Harum in the 1970s, and has also composed for TV and film. He predominantly plays organ, piano and bass guitar. C ...

(guitars), Mick Trower (lead vocals; older brother of Robin Trower) and Gary Nicholls (drums; born 1945 died April 2007). The initial line-up of the Paramounts from September 1960, was

Gary Brooker Gary Brooker (29 May 1945 – 19 February 2022) was an English singer and pianist, and the founder and lead singer of the rock band Procol Harum. Early life Born in Hackney Hospital, East London, on 29 May 1945, Brooker grew up in Hackney ...

(piano, ex-Johnny Short and the Coasters), Mick Brownlee (drums; born October 1943, Chiswick, West London died June 2017, ex-Mickey Law and the Outlaws),

(bass), Bob Scott (vocals, ex-Bob Scott and the Clansmen) and

(guitar). Scott soon left, and Brooker became the vocalist, but as he was only 14, this made playing in licensed premises difficult, so they started performing in Trower's father's cafe, which became The Shades Club. Copping left in December 1962 and Brownlee left in September 1963, and were replaced by Diz Derrick (bass; born Grahame Derrick, 11 December 1944, Upminster, Essex) and B J Wilson (drums). Their musical style evolved from their initial R&B towards

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 ...

and by 1963 they were regularly playing in London, and were signed by Parlophone. In late 1964 and early 1965 they had

Phil Wainman Philip Neil Wainman (born 7 June 1946, West London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, primarily active in the 1970s. He is noted for his work with Sweet, XTC, Dollar, Mud, and the Bay City Rollers. His greatest chart succ ...

on drums (born Philip Neil Wainman, 7 June 1946, Hampton Court), briefly replaced Wilson who went to Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions. Their first single, " Poison Ivy", produced by Ron Richards, was a cover of the

Leiber and Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

song, which had been a hit for

The Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with " Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producin ...

in 1959. It became a minor hit for the Paramounts, reaching No. 35 on the

, which led to them appearing on TV shows such as ''

Ready Steady Go! ''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light ente ...

'' Their second and third singles "Bad Blood" and "I'm the One who Loves You" both failed to chart, but the B side of the third single "It Won't Be Long" was the first song written by Brooker and Trower to be released. In search of another hit, subsequent singles were in different styles, but none of them charted. They became backing musicians on European tours by

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...

and Chris Andrews and disbanded in 1966. Brooker concentrated on writing music, collaborating with

Keith Reid Keith Stuart Brian Reid (born 19 October 1946 Allmusic.com biography by Jason Ankeny/ref>) is a lyricist and songwriter who wrote the lyrics of every song released by Procol Harum that was not previously recorded by someone else, with the excep ...

, and Matthew Fisher (organ), and they recorded "

A Whiter Shade of Pale "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, i ...

". Needing a band to tour and promote the record, Brooker convinced Trower and Wilson to rejoin them, and augmented this with David Knights (bass). By 1969, Knights and Fisher had left and Chris Copping rejoined.

Liquorice John Death

A friend of the musicians, Dave Mundy, disliked the name "Paramounts", which had been given to them by their manager, and wanted them to be called "Liquorice John Death". Mundy committed suicide in 1972, but left his possessions to Trower, including a painting of an album cover for an imaginary album by 'Liquorice John Death', which Mundy had called ''

Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About ''Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About'' is an album of rock and roll songs recorded in 1970 by the members of Procol Harum under the name Liquorice John Death. It was not released until 1997. History Strictly speaking, this is not a Procol Harum ...

''. In 1969, after Fisher and Knights had left Procol Harum, and Copping had joined, the line-up had evolved into the Paramounts' final line-up, minus Diz Derrick. At a practice/rehearsal in January 1970 the new line-up recorded 38 songs at Abbey Road Studios. Largely R&B covers that they had originally played as the "Paramounts", or songs in a similar vein, 13 of the tracks were mixed by Chris Thomas but the recordings were shelved. An album containing all the Paramounts' singles, called ''Whiter Shades of R&B'', was issued in 1983. In 1998 all the known original Paramounts recordings were remastered, as were six of the 38 tracks recorded by Procol Harum, in the Paramounts' style, in 1970. These remastered tracks were issued on a CD using Mundy's band and album names, and his cover art. The CD was re-released in 2005 by Friday Music, without Mundy's cover.

Band members

– guitar *

– piano, vocals *

– bass *Mick Brownlee (born 1943) – drums *Bob Scott – vocals *Diz Derrick (born Grahame Derrick in 1944) – bass *

B. J. Wilson Barrie James Wilson (18 March 1947 – 8 October 1990) was an English rock drummer. He was best known as a member of Procol Harum for the majority of their original career from 1967 to 1977. Career Early career Wilson was born in Edmonton, Mi ...

– drums *Phil Wainman – drums

Discography

*"Poison Ivy"/"I Feel Good All Over" (1963) Parlophone (UK No. 35) *"Little Bitty Pretty One"/"A Certain Girl" (1964) Parlophone *"I'm The One Who Loves You"/"It Won't Be Long" (1964) Parlophone *"Bad Blood"/"Do I" (1964) Parlophone *"Blue Ribbons"/"Cuttin' It" (1965) Parlophone *"You Never Had It So Good"/"Don't Ya Like My Love" (1965) Parlophone ;EP *''The Paramounts'' (1964) Parlophone (GEP 8908) ;Compilations *''Whiter Shades of R&B'' (1983) Edsel (ED 112) – CD (1991) Edsel (ED CD 112) *''The Paramounts at Abbey Road 1963–1970'' CD (1998) EMI (7243 496436 2 8) ;As Liquorice John Death *''

References

External links

Paramounts memorabilia exhibited in Southend-on-Sea, UK
''Thames Delta'' exhibition, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paramounts, The Parlophone artists Beat groups Musical groups established in 1959 Musical groups disestablished in 1966 1959 establishments in England 1966 disestablishments in England