Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters. The members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It" which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". None of the original Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows.
Shortly after first manager Johnny Foster discovered them, the name was changed to Cliff Richard and The Shadows due to a name clash with the American group The Drifters. They signed for Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho's 2i coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who was tall, good looking, played guitar well and had Buddy Holly glasses.
Hank Marvin was playing in a skiffle band with Bruce Welch and as well in 1958 in
"The Five Chesternuts" a band with one known single:
7"single - "Jean Dorothy"/"Teenage love" on Columbia
Gerry Hurst (v), Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Neil Johnson (b) and Pete Chester (drums)
The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch would also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan. The Drifters' professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.
The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959. ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"), The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.
In 1960, the band released "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, which topped the charts for 5 weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than Apache (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one (1 week). The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows" had seven hits.
FROM:
www.cliff-shadowsmeeting.nl
more info
here
a compilation of 28 songs
(This compilation stops somewhere in 1959 with the 'Serious Charge' Ep, which includes songs credited to "The Drifters" and "Cliff Richard & The Drifters)
The "live" tracks were indeed recorded live at Abbey Road Studios in February 1959 with The Shadows, then known as The Drifters, in front of an invited audience of 200 to 300 fans. It features live recordings of Cliff's hit single "Move It" and both sides of the yet to be released Drifters' instrumental single "Jet Black"/"Driftin'" as well as a number of rock 'n' roll standards.
(That's Cliff's first album!)
Maybe the first Mexican Surf group ever. Active between 1961/62-1964 and remembered for their song "Chica Cruel" a Spanish/Mexican version of Surfin USA.
Ricky King is today famous for covering songs from classical music up to Top Ten hits. Everything with string arrangements, pan flutes, chorus and drum-machines - in an absolute clean and dead plastic sound. That's really for the dustbin.
"Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet" were a Canadian instrumental rock band, formed in 1984. They remain best-known for the track "Having an Average Weekend," which was used as the theme to the Canadian sketch comedy TV show The Kids in the Hall. They are commonly classified as a surf band, though they rejected the label, going so far as to release a track called "We're Not a Fucking Surf Band".
Hot Rod compilation featuring actor Robert Mitchum and 50s Rockabilly musician Jimmy Dolan as well as some usual suspects.
Another vinyl reprint of Sundazed this year. And they offer this album also as download. Ok, vinyl is vinyl, and hard to handle in these digital times, but I suppose if you download this album you won't get the artwork. Mayby one of those useless small pictures.
"The Ventures knock me out" was my first Ventures album and responsible for my deep negotation of The Ventures for decades, because I prefered the original versions, and always thought: what a strange band, they're remaking instro covers of real hits ... I bought the second Ventures album roundabout 20 years later.
Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters. The members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It" which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". None of the original Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows.
During the mid-1950s, King played around the Chicago area with bands like The Sonny Cooper Band and Earlee Payton's Blues Cats while also playing recording sessions for labels like Parrot and Chess Records. King formed his first band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, with guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson and drummer Sonny Scott. King recorded his first single, "Country Boy," for the little independent El-Bee Records label in 1957, with Robert Junior Lockwood adding guitar to King's duet with Margaret Whitfield.
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