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The Searchers (band)
The Searchers were an English Merseybeat group who emerged during the British Invasion of the 1960s. The band's hits include a remake of the Drifters' 1961 hit, "Sweets for My Sweet"; " Sugar and Spice" (written by their producer Tony Hatch); remakes of Jackie DeShannon's " Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room"; a cover of the Orlons' "Don't Throw Your Love Away"; and a cover of the Clovers' " Love Potion No. 9". With the Swinging Blue Jeans, the Searchers tied for being the second group from Liverpool, after the Beatles, to have a hit in the US when their "Needles and Pins" and the Swinging Blue Jeans' "Hippy Hippy Shake" both reached the Hot 100 on 7 March 1964. Band history Origins Founded as a skiffle group in Liverpool in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender, the band took their name from the 1956 John Ford western film ''The Searchers''. The band grew out of an earlier skiffle group formed by McNally in 1957, with his friends Brian Dolan (guitar) and Tony Wes ...
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Frank Allen (bassist)
Frank Allen (born Francis Renaud McNeice; 14 December 1943, in Hayes, Middlesex, England) is an English bass guitarist who was a long-time member of The Searchers. Career Frank Allen played bass guitar with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers and The Searchers (since 1964 when he replaced original bass guitarist Tony Jackson), and remained with them until they played their final gig in 2019. Allen joined Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers as rhythm guitarist in 1961, and changed over to bass guitar in early 1962, following the departure of Ben Jordan. When Tony Jackson left the Searchers in August 1964 after a string of hits (including "Sweets for My Sweet", " Sugar and Spice" and " Needles and Pins"), Allen was asked to join the group. They then recorded "When You Walk in the Room", with Mike Pender and Frank Allen singing a dual lead line. Allen wrote a book of touring recollections called ''Travelling Man'' in 1999. His definitive and detailed biography of the Searchers ent ...
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Mike Pender
Michael John Prendergast (born 3 March 1941), known professionally as Mike Pender, is an English singer and guitarist. He was an original founding member of Merseybeat group the Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit singles by the Searchers, including the song " Needles and Pins" and "What Have They Done to the Rain?". Biography Liverpool-native Pender pursued a solo career after leaving the Searchers and released one solo single before forming his current band, Mike Pender's Searchers who perform songs from his many years with the Searchers in addition to all-new material and a blend of popular rock standards by classic artists such as Buddy Holly, the Drifters and Roy Orbison. In his early years, Pender worked at a printing company (Charles Birchall & Sons (Liverpool) Ltd.) as a day job in between playing nightly gigs with the Searchers. According to Pender, he is responsible for choosing the band name for the Searchers. "The band was founded by ...
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Spencer James
Spencer Frederick James (born 15 April 1953) is an English singer and musician. He has been the lead singer of veteran pop band The Searchers since 1986. James was also a member of the one-hit wonder band The First Class that scored a No. 4 hit with the song "Beach Baby". Early life James grew up in Hayes, Middlesex. Working for Marshall's Music Group, he developed an interest in guitars and began playing and singing in local bands. James improved his stage craft while deputising in the band White Plains. He then moved on to form a band named Duke. Career The First Class The First Class was initially a studio creation featuring the voice of Tony Burrows. The success of the song "Beach Baby" (#4 in the US) led to demand for live appearances. A group, including Spencer James, was assembled to perform a number of dates as The First Class. In 1983, The First Class recorded the single "Gimme Little Sign" with Spencer James on vocals. The single had some success in the Netherl ...
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The Clovers
The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s.The Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music. General Editor: Colin Larkin. First published 1993 (UK). . The Clovers p77. They had a top 30 US hit in 1959 with the Leiber and Stoller song "Love Potion No. 9 (song), Love Potion No. 9". History 1946 to 1960 The group was formed at Armstrong High School, Washington, D.C., in 1946 by Harold Lucas (baritone), Billy Shelton and Thomas Woods. Initially a trio, they expanded to a quartet with the addition of John "Buddy" Bailey (lead) and began calling themselves The Four Clovers. Billy Shelton was replaced by Matthew McQuater (tenor) in 1948. As The Four Clovers, the group started to appear at local amateur music shows including the WWDC amateur hour show hosted by Jack Lowe Endler at the Republic Theatre. This brought them to the attention of a wider audience including Harold Winley (bass) who, after hearing them on WWDC, ...
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Don't Throw Your Love Away
"Don't Throw Your Love Away" is a song written by Billy Jackson and Jimmy Wisner that was originally released in 1963 by The Orlons. It was the B-side to "Bon-Doo-Wah", which peaked at #55 in the US charts. Cover Versions *The Searchers released it in April 1964 and went to #1 on the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart; #4 in Denmark, #6 on 24 July 1964 on WLS, and #16 on 11 July 1964 on the Hot 100. *Elvis Costello and Amsterdam recorded a version of the song for ''Liverpool – The Number Ones Album'' released in 2008. See also *List of number-one singles of 1964 (Ireland) *List of number-one singles from the 1960s (UK) The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1969 there was no official singles chart; however, The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources as ''New ... References 1964 singles The Searchers (band) songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singl ...
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The Orlons
The Orlons are an American R&B group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1960. The group won gold discs for three of their singles. Career The quartet consisted of lead singer Rosetta Hightower (June 23, 1944 – August 2, 2014), Shirley Brickley (December 9, 1944 – October 13, 1977), Marlena Davis (October 4, 1944 – February 27, 1993), and Stephen Caldwell (born November 22, 1942). Before they became the Orlons, they were an all-girl quintet called Audrey and the Teenettes. They formed in the late 1950s in junior high school and consisted of Hightower, Davis, and three Brickley sisters: Shirley, Jean, and Audrey. However, after the Brickleys' mother did not permit 13-year-old Audrey to sing in certain nightclubs with the group, she and Jean quit, making the group a trio. In high school, the group's three remaining members discovered fellow student Stephen Caldwell, who was lead singer of a local group called the Romeos. Impressed, they invited him to join the g ...
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When You Walk In The Room
"When You Walk in the Room" is a song written and recorded by Jackie DeShannon. It was initially released as a single on November 23, 1963, as the B-side to "Till You Say You'll Be Mine". It was re-released as an A-side in September 1964, and later included on the album ''Breakin' It Up on the Beatles Tour''. The single charted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 99. The song has been covered by many other artists including The Searchers, whose version reached number 3 in the UK in 1964. Another version was recorded by Paul Carrack in 1987. Content The song's lyrics attempt to detail the singer's emotions when in the presence of the person he or she loves. There is also an expression of frustration by the singer that he or she cannot manage to tell that person of his or her love. The song was produced using the "Wall of Sound" method of Phil Spector. The Searchers version The Searchers had previously a hit song in early 1964 with " Needles and Pins" recorded ...
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Needles And Pins (song)
"Needles and Pins" is a rock song credited to American writers Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono. Jackie DeShannon recorded it in 1963 and other versions followed. The most successful ones were recorded by The Searchers, whose version reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart in 1964, and Smokie, who had a worldwide hit in 1977. Others who recorded the song include the Ramones, Gene Clark, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Stevie Nicks. Jackie DeShannon version (1963) In his autobiography, Bono states that he sang along with Nitzsche's guitar-playing, thus creating both the tune and the lyrics, being guided by the chord progressions. However, Jackie DeShannon claims that the song was written at the piano, and that she was a full participant in the song's creation, along with Nitzsche and Bono, although she did not get formal credit. DeShannon was the first to record the song; in the US it peaked at number 84 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in May 1963. Though it was onl ...
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Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers, August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards, as both singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the Rock and Roll period. She is best known as the singer of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and " Put a Little Love in Your Heart", and as the writer of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Bette Davis Eyes", which became hits for, respectively, The Searchers and Kim Carnes. Since 2009, DeShannon has been an entertainment broadcast correspondent reporting Beatles band members' news for the radio program ''Breakfast with the Beatles''. Early life and education DeShannon was born in Hazel, Kentucky, the daughter of musically inclined farming parents, James Erwin Myers and the former Sandra Jeanne Laporte. By age six, she was singing country tunes on a local radio show. By age 11, she was hosting her own radio program. When life on ...
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Sugar And Spice (The Searchers Song)
"Sugar and Spice" is a 1963 song by Merseybeat band The Searchers written by Tony Hatch under the pseudonym Fred Nightingale. It made #2 on the UK charts (on Pye), #44 in the USA charts, and #11 in the Canadian CHUM Charts. The Searchers recorded a German interpretation of the song entitled ''Süß ist sie' and also the French rendering ''C'est De Notre Age'' released in both countries by French Record Label, Disques Vogue. Background The composer and producer of "Sugar and Spice", Tony Hatch, had produced the precedent Searchers' single: a cover of the Drifters' "Sweets for My Sweet", which had afforded the Searchers a #1 UK hit. Hatch, having written "Sugar and Spice" on the template of "Sweets for My Sweet", pitched his original song to the Searchers as the work of an as-yet unknown songwriter named Fred Nightingale, as Hatch felt the group might be dismissive of the song if they knew it to be their producer's work. The first line of the chorus,"Sugar and spice and all things ...
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Sweets For My Sweet
"Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, originally recorded by American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group the Drifters. The Drifters version The group's first single featuring Charlie Thomas on lead vocal, "Sweets for My Sweet" reached 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 10 on the R&B chart, in October 1961. This was one of the few post-1958 Drifters singles that did not feature a string section. The song has a strong piano and bongo-led Cuban-style cha-cha rhythm. It also featured Jimmy Radcliffe and four female backup vocalists, all of whom would later have hit records: Cissy Houston, Doris Troy, Dionne Warwick, and Dee Dee Warwick. The recording also features an up-in-front piano provided by co-writer Mort Shuman. Other musicians on the recording included George Barnes and Allan Hanlon on guitar, Abie Baker on bass, Ed Shaughnessy and Gary Chester on drums and Bobby Rosengarden and Ray Kessler on percussion. Th ...
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British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Pop and rock groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, the Kinks, Small Faces, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, the Hollies, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, the Yardbirds, the Who and Them, as well as solo singers like Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Tom Jones and Donovan, were at the forefront of the "invasion". Background The rebellious tone and image of US rock and roll and blues musicians became popular with British youth in the late 1950s. While early commercial attempts to replicate US rock and roll mostly failed, the trad jazz–inspired skiffle craze, with its do it yourself attitude, produced two top ten hits in the US by Lonnie Done ...
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