The V.I.P.'s were a British R&B musical group formed in

Carlisle, Cumberland Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve castra, forts along Hadrian's ...

, England in late 1963, out of an earlier outfit known as The Ramrods, who had formed in Carlisle in 1960. From a musical reorientation the band changed their name to Art in 1967, and released the album ''

Supernatural Fairy Tales ''Supernatural Fairy Tales'' is the only album by Art, who were formerly known as The V.I.P.'s (band), The V.I.P.'s. The album contains mostly band (music), band compositions plus a cover version, cover of The Young Rascals' "Come on Up" and Bu ...

''.

Career

The band members at various times were: Mike Harrison (lead vocals) (ex Dino and the Danubes, The Dakotas, The Ramrods); Greg Ridley (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

) (ex Dino and the Danubes, The Dakotas); Frank Kenyon (

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

) (1963–67) (born 12 October 1945, Carlisle) (ex The Teenages, The Ramrods); Jimmy Henshaw (

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 featur ...

) (1963–67) (born James Henshaw, 20 October 1941, in

Newarthill Newarthill is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, situated roughly three miles north-east of the town of Motherwell. It has a population of around 6,200. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Holytown and Ne ...

, near

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, Scotland died 1 May 2007, Carlisle) (ex The Ramrods);

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He be ...

(

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

) (ex-Gary Farr & The T-Bones) (1966–1967); Luther Grosvenor (lead guitar) (1967); Walter Johnstone (

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

) (1963–67) (born 11 March 1943, Carlisle) (ex The Teenages, The Ramrods); and

Mike Kellie Michael Alexander Kellie (24 March 1947 – 18 January 2017) was an English musician, composer and record producer. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Kellie was a member of the rock bands the V.I.P.s, Spooky Tooth and the Only ...

(drummer) (1967). When Emerson left in early 1967 to form

The Nice The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music. Keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist Lee Jackson (bassist), Lee Jackson, guitarist David O'List, and drummer Ian Hague ori ...

, Harrison, Ridley, Grosvenor and Kellie changed their name to 'Art', and released one album, ''

'', produced by Guy Stevens, covering Stephen Stills' " What's That Sound (For What It's Worth)" and Felix Cavaliere's "Come on Up". The group then disbanded, with all four members of the group's final line-up forming

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England, in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding ...

, with the addition of the American musician

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (April 26, 1943 – September 4, 2023) was an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive". Wright's breakthrough album, '' The Dream Weaver'' (1975), came after he h ...

, later that same year. They also participated in a psychedelic album entitled ''Featuring The Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids'' by a collective known as Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, formed by Guy Stevens and an influential British graphic design and avant-garde musical partnership between Michael English and Nigel Waymouth. The musicians involved in that project were Mike Harrison on keys and vocals, Luther Grosvenor on guitars, Greg Ridley on bass and

on drums, as well as Stevens, English and Waymouth. It was the first time that the term 'heavy metal' was ever used in music, even though that album had nothing to do with

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

, being closer to

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...

. The album was issued in 1967 by

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

, and contained only five songs from two minutes to more than 15 minutes of psychedelic and almost meditative state kind of music.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

1967 – as 'Art')

Compilation albums

*''The Complete V.I.P.s'' (2 CDs, 28 tracks) (

Repertoire Repertory or repertoire () is the list or set of works a person or company is accustomed to performing. Whether the English or French spelling is used has no bearing, but it was the French word, with an accent on the first e, , that first took ho ...

)

EPs

*'' Stagger Lee'', Fontana, France *''What's That Sound (For What It's Worth)'', Fontana, France *''I Wanna Be Free'', Fontana, France *''Straight Down to the Bottom'', Fontana, France

Singles

*"Don't Keep Shouting at Me" (UK

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

, 1964) *" Mercy, Mercy" (as The Vipps), U.S. only single, produced by Derek Lawrence) *"Wintertime" (as The Vipps, CBS) *"I Wanna Be Free" (

) *"Straight Down to the Bottom" (Island) *" What's That Sound (For What It's Worth)" (Island – as 'Art')

References

External links

The V.I.P.s at MyspaceGreg Ridley
* * as 'Art' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vips, The Musical groups established in 1963 Musical groups disestablished in 1967 1963 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England English rock music groups British rhythm and blues musical groups Beat groups Island Records artists