The Sorrows are a rock band formed in 1963 in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, England, by Pip Whitcher, and were part of the British

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

boom of the 1960s. They were a fixture in the English mod scene and are sometimes referred to as

freakbeat Freakbeat is a loosely defined subgenre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups during the Swinging London period of the mid-to late 1960s. The genre bridges British Invasion R&B, beat and psychedelia. Etymol ...

Career

The band was formed in 1963, and toured Germany for a month, playing several sets each day.Wilson, Lois (2012) "Welcome Back! The Sorrows", ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'', March 2012, p. 31, retrieved 2012-01-28 The band's first recording was a version of "

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical '' Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Ge ...

", recorded in

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

's bathroom. They were signed by Pye subsidiary

Piccadilly 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 Brothe ...

, and began working with producer John Schroeder. Their line-up included Fardon, Whitcher, Juckes, Packham and Finlay. The Sorrows released their first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, ''Take a Heart'', in 1965 on Piccadilly. The Sorrows played a hard, aggressive version of contemporary R&B; later this style of music was termed

. After the band achieved a minor

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

position 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 ...

, Phil Packham and

Don Fardon Don Fardon (born Donald Arthur Fardon, 19 August 1940, Coventry, Warwickshire, England) is an English pop singer. Fardon is best known for his cover of the song "Indian Reservation" (1968), a UK number 3 hit and global million selling disc. ...

left the group. Fardon had a UK chart

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

with "

Indian Reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

". Wez Price joined the group on

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, Roger Lomas became

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

ist, and Pip Whitcher did vocals. The band relocated to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where they were moderately successful. Whitcher and Lomas later recorded at

Air Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

under Mike Sullivan. Lomas in the early 1980s became a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

for his own company, ROLO productions, and produced 1980s ska bands such as

Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary, '' Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at their most popular during the early 1 ...

. In 2003 Lomas produced the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

winning album, ''Jamaican E.T.'' for

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...

. In 2011, the band was re-formed by Fardon and Packham, and they began performing live again. The new line-up comprised Fardon (vocals), Packham (bass guitar and vocals), Nigel Lomas (drums and vocals), Marcus Webb (guitar) and Brian Wilkins (guitar, harmonica and vocals).

Personnel

Initial line-up

*Philip (Pip) Whitcher - (born 1943,

) -

and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. *

- (born Donald Arthur Maughn, 19 August 1940, Coventry) - vocals *Philip (Phil) Packham - (born 13 June 1945, Bidford-on-Avon, near Stratford, Warwickshire) -

*Terry Juckes - (born 27 August 1943, Broadway, Worcestershire ) -

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

and vocals *Bruce Finlay - (born 20 September 1944,

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settleme ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

) -

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

After 1966

*Philip (Pip) Whitcher - rhythm guitar and vocals *Wesley 'Wez' Price - bass - (born 19 July 1945, Coventry, Warwickshire) *Roger (Rog) Lomas - lead guitar (born Roger David Lomas, 8 October 1948, Keresley Hospital, Coventry, Warwickshire). 1966 - 1967 *Bruce Finlay - drums *Chuck Fryers - guitar, vocals. (born Alan Paul Fryers, 24 May 1945, Bognor Regis, West Sussex). 1967 - 1969 *Geoff Prior - bass. 1967 - *Chris Smith - lead vocals, Hammond organ *Rod Davies - guitar, vocals. 1968 - (born Roderick Thomas Davies, 28 March 1946, Ivor, Buckinghamshire)

After 2011

*Don Fardon - lead vocals *Phil Packham - bass guitar and vocals *Nigel Lomas - drums and vocals (Played on some recordings late 1960s) *Marcus Webb - lead guitar *Brian Wilkins - guitar, harmonica and vocals

After 2013

*Don Fardon - lead vocals *Nigel Lomas - drums and vocals *Marcus Webb - lead guitar *Brian Wilkins - guitar, harmonica and vocals. *Mark Mortimer - bass guitar (replaced in Phil Packham October 2013) *Paul Rollason - lead guitar (replaced Marcus Webb in March 2017)

Discography

Singles

*"I Don't Wanna Be Free" / "Come With Me" (Piccadilly 7N 35219) 1965 *"Baby" / "Teenage Letter" (Piccadilly 7N 35230) 1965 *"Take a Heart" / "We Should Get Along Fine" (Piccadilly 7N 35260/Warner Bros. 5662 S release 1965 -

- No. 21 *"Nimm mein Herz" (German version of "Take a Heart") / "Sie war mein Girl" (Deutsche Vogue DV 14 449) 1965 *"You've Got What I Want" / "No No No No" (Piccadilly 7N 35277) 1966 *"Let The Live Live" / "Don't Sing No Sad Songs For Me" (Piccadilly 7N 35309) 1966 *"Let Me In" / "How Love Used To Be" (Piccadilly 7N 35336) 1966 *"Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red" / "My Gal" (Piccadilly 7N 35385) 1967 *"Gonna Find A Cave"/"Don't Do That", "Doin' Alright Tonight" (EP) (Rise Above, RISE7188) 2014

Albums

*''Take a Heart'' - (Pye NPL 38023), (1965) ("Baby" / "No No No No" / "Take a Heart" / "She's Got The Action" / "How Love Used To Be" / "Teenage Letter" / "I Don't Wanna Be Free" / "Don't Sing No Sad Songs For Me" / "Cara-lin" / "We Should Get Along Fine" / "Come With Me" / "Let Me In") *''Old Songs, New Songs'' - (Miura MIU 10011) (1967); officially reissued on CD by Wooden Hill Records (#WHCD026) – 2009 *''Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red'' - ( LP, Bam-Caruso KIRI 089) (1987) *''The Sorrows'' - ( CD,

Sequel Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

NEXCD 165) (1991)

References

External links

The Sorrows Myspace page
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