The Montanas were an English 1960s and 1970s

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

from

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Though they never found significant success in their home country, they had one moderate hit in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The group formed in 1964 and became known for their live shows. Their manager, Roger Allen, had them signed to

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

, and some of their early releases for Pye were written by

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

and

Jackie Trent Yvonne Ann Burgess (6 September 1940 – 21 March 2015), better known by her stage name Jackie Trent, was an English singer-songwriter and actress. She was best known for co-writing (with Tony Hatch) several hits for Petula Clark in the 1960s an ...

. In 1966 Terry Rowley joined the group on keyboards, and also worked with the group on composition and arranging. They released two singles in the year, the second, "That's When Happiness Began" b/w "Goodbye Little Girl", of which became a steady seller in the autumn of 1966 when it received extensive radio play. The band's breakthrough came later in the year when they became the opening act for the Walker Brothers tour across the UK, concluding in November 1966. More singles followed, and the band appeared on radio programmes like ''Easy Beat'' and ''Saturday Club'', and touring expanded to other countries including

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, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and

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. One single in particular, " Ciao Baby" b/w "Anyone There", was released in March 1967, and sold over 10,000 copies in Britain alone. The band re-released the song "Ciao Baby" (written by

Scott English Sheldon David "Scott" English (January 10, 1937 – November 16, 2018) was an American songwriter, arranger and record producer. He is best known as the co-writer of "Brandy" which he wrote with Richard Kerr. This song became a No. 1 hit fo ...

and

Larry Weiss Laurence D. "Larry" Weiss (born March 25, 1941) is an American songwriter and musician. He wrote "Rhinestone Cowboy", a US no.1 hit for Glen Campbell in 1975; and co-wrote "Bend Me, Shape Me", "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and several other international ...

) in 1969. Their several radio hits in England made little impact on the charts, but "You've Got to Be Loved", which was released on October 13, 1967, reached number 58 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1968, and number 41 on '' Cashbox'',Cash Box Top 100 Singles, March 30, 1968
/ref> and number 33 on ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'', followed by "Run to Me" making it to number 121 on the ''

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Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

charts and number 96 on ''Cashbox''. The band, however, was unable to promote the single in the US, so no other national hits followed. Their lineup changed considerably in 1967 and again in 1968, and they continued releasing singles, often written by outside writers, that were more radio-friendly than their live sound. In 1969, the group left the Pye label, and Rowley and vocalist John Jones quit, wanting to perform more original material. Roger Dopson, liner notes from the compilation CD The group continued to perform throughout most of the 1970s, though mixing comedy with the music in their performances, and finally broke up in 1978.Vocaist Ian "Sludge" Lees later found success as a

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

, and Bassist Jake Elcock pursued a career in A&R. In 1997, Sequel Records issued a 26-track compilation CD, "You've Got To Be Loved (Singles A's & B's)," including ten tracks newly mixed from original multi-tracks.

Members

*Will Hayward – guitar *Graham Crew – drums *Ralph Oakley – bass *John Jones – vocals *Terry Rowley – keyboards (joined 1966) *Jake Elcock – bass (joined 1967) *Graham Hollis – drums (joined 1967) *Barry Clifft – drums & vocals (dates unknown) *Bob Cross – guitar & vocals (joined 1977 ex Alvin Stardust) *Pete Mackie – bass & vocals *Ian "Sludge" Lees – Vocals (joined 1968) *George Davies – vocals (joined 1968) *Allen Austin – Guitar & Vocals / Bass Guitar & Vocals *Brian Eustace – Guitar & Vocals

Road crew

* John Kirby * Micky Winfer * Shaun Gillam * Keith Mantle * Loz Collins *Cozmic Dave *Les Gilfilan

Discography

;Singles *All That Is Mine Can Be Yours b/w How Can You Tell (Piccadilly 7N 35262, September 1965) *That's When Happiness Began b/w Goodbye Little Girl (Pye 7N 17183, September 1966) *" Ciao Baby" b/w Anyone There (Pye 7N 17282, March 1967; released in US as Warner Bros 7208) *Take My Hand b/w Top Hat (Pye 7N 17338, June 1967; released in US as Independence 79) *

You've Got to Be Loved A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations ...

b/w Difference of Opinion (Pye 7N 17394, October 1967; released in US as Independence 83) *A Step in the Right Direction b/w Someday (You'll Be Breaking My Heart Again) (Pye 7N 17499, April 1968) *I'm Gonna Change b/w A Step in the Right Direction (US version of the above, date unknown, Independence 87) *Run to Me b/w You're Making a Big Mistake (Pye 7N 17597, September 1968; released in US as Independence 89) *Roundabout b/w Mystery (Pye 7N 17697, February 1969) *Heaven Help You b/w Roundabout (US only, Independence 93) * Ciao Baby b/w Someday (reissue) (Pye 7N 17729, April 1969) *

Let's Get a Little Sentimental "Let's Get A Little Sentimental" is a song written by Mike Leander and originally released by The Montanas in 1970. It was released as a single but did not chart. Craig Scott cover The song was covered by New Zealand singer Craig Scott later ...

b/w Hey Diddle Diddle (Decca 32682, 1970) *Uncle John's Band (cover) b/w Doctor Nero (MAM 14, 1971) *No Smoke Without Fire b/w Seaport (MAM 45, 1971) *Suzanne b/w Your Love Is Growing (MAM 62, 1972) *Love Machine b/w Oh but I Love You (Charisma 265, 1975?) ;Compilation CD *You've Got to Be Loved (Singles A's & B's) (Sequel NEMCD 994, 1997, UPC 023224 099426)

Charts

References

External links

The Montanas history at Brumbeat.net
draws on interview with Jake Elcock {{DEFAULTSORT:Montanas, The English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1964 Musical groups disestablished in 1978 musicians from Wolverhampton Musical groups from West Midlands (county)