Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames
Encyclopedia
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were a noted British rhythm and blues
/soul/jazz/ska/pop group of the 1960s. They had been the backing band for Billy Fury
but, after being dismissed at the end of 1961, their pianist Georgie Fame
took over as vocalist and they went on to enjoy great success.
to back Billy Fury
. Green and Fame (then Clive Powell) had first worked together in Colin Green's Beat Boys, who had accompanied Gene Vincent
and Eddie Cochran
when in the UK. They were dismissed in February 1962 for being "too jazzy" for Fury, to be replaced by The Tornados
, and Fame took over on vocals. Green left for a while, replaced first by Joe Moretti and then John McLaughlin
who held the post until April 1963, when McLaughlin joined The Graham Bond Organisation and the band was without a guitarist until Green returned in October 1964. In that time Boots Slade had taken over on bass from Makins for some time while the latter toured with Johnny Halliday.
Reece remained a constant until he became ill in 1964 after the group's second album appeared: he was followed by Tommy Frost and Roy Mills then Jimmie Nicol, who quickly left to replace Ringo Starr
on The Beatles
' tour. Phil Seamen
and Micky Waller
helped out until Bill Eyden
was taken on in September 1964. Eyden and Makins remained as the group's rhythm section until the group's last line-up, when they were replaced in December 1965 by Cliff Barton and Mitch Mitchell
: the group was augmented by Ghanaian
percussionist Neeomi "Speedy" Acquaye, who was with the band from May 1962 until shortly before it folded on the same day that Mitchell joined The Jimi Hendrix Experience
.
The Blue Flames always featured saxophones: Mick Eve joined in 1962 and left in July 1964, having been joined by Johnny Marshall and then, in 1964, Peter Coe. Coe remained, eventually joined by Glenn Hughes and then by Eddie Thornton (trumpet), who had for some time appeared occasionally with the group.
's Wardour Street
, home of The Flamingo Club
. The club's owner, Rik Gunnell, became the group's manager. In August 1963 the band took a weekly Friday night spot at "The Scene" on Great Windmill Street
and they also performed at The Roaring Twenties club near Carnaby Street
, run by Jamaican DJ Count Suckle. They were often playing several sets per night on the weekend and at Klooks Kleek
, The Ricky Tick in Windsor
and The Scene during the week.
They were influenced by the jazz of Jon Hendricks
, Mose Allison
and blues
musicians such as Willie Mabon
and by the ska
music then heard in Jamaican cafes in and around Ladbroke Grove
. The group's trumpeter Eddie Thornton
was Jamaican. During their three-year residency at the Flamingo American soldiers who visited the club would play the latest jazz and blues releases from America: it was "Green Onions
" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s
that caused Fame to change to the Hammond organ
.
The group recorded its debut album Rhythm And Blues At the Flamingo in September 1963. Produced by Ian Samwell
and engineered by Glyn Johns
, the album was released on the EMI
Columbia
label. It failed to appear on the charts, and first three singles, released in 1964, 'Do The Dog', 'Do Re Mi', and 'Bend A Little', also didn't go very far.
In 1964 Fame and the band appeared on five episodes of ITV
's Ready Steady Go!
. The October 1964 follow-up album Fame At Last reached No. 15 on the UK chart. Their version of the song "Yeh Yeh
", a tune by Mongo Santamaria
with lyrics by Jon Hendricks, released on 14 January 1965, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the UK singles chart and a total of 12 weeks on the chart. Fame also appeared on television in 1965 in the "New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert" held at the Empire Pool, Wembley
on 11 April 1965, playing "Yeh Yeh" and Rufus Thomas
' "Walking The Dog
".
The follow-up "In The Meantime" (February 1965) only scraped the top twenty and the next two offerings were little heard. Then "Getaway
", released on 21 July 1966, did very well reaching the top of the UK chart for a week and spending 11 weeks on the chart in all. The song, originally recorded with a view to using it as an television jingle for a petrol advertisement, was later used as the theme tune for a quiz show on Australian television. The two subsequent singles, "Sunny" and "Sitting in the Park" made number 13 and 12 respectively. At this point, after 1966's album Sweet Thing was released, Fame broke up the band, signed to CBS and went on to record solo, having been advised by his management to pursue an "all-round entertainment" career, somewhat as Manfred Mann
's Paul Jones was then doing.
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were the only act from the UK invited to perform with the first Motown Review in the UK in the mid-1960s. The 'Tamla Motown Package Show' was a 21-date UK tour featuring, amongst others, The Supremes
, Stevie Wonder
and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. Cat Stevens
, who had released his first hit song "I Love My Dog
", opened with Fame on 26 December 1966 for three weeks in the "Fame in '67 Show" at London's Saville Theatre
.
In later years Fame was billed again with the Blue Flames: in the early 2000s he led a new line-up including his son.
British rhythm and blues
British rhythm and blues developed as a major musical movement in the early 1960s in London and other urban centres in the UK as predominately young white male musicians attempted to emulate the style and recordings of African American rhythm and blues artists...
/soul/jazz/ska/pop group of the 1960s. They had been the backing band for Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
but, after being dismissed at the end of 1961, their pianist Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
took over as vocalist and they went on to enjoy great success.
Personnel
Georgie Fame, drummer Red Reece, bassist Tex Makins and guitarist Colin Green were rehearsing with singer Clay Nicholls in 1961 when they were hired by Larry ParnesLarry Parnes
Laurence Maurice "Larry" Parnes was an English pop manager and impresario. He has been described as "the first major British rock manager... Parnes' stable encompassed most of the most successful pre-Beatles British rock singers."...
to back Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
. Green and Fame (then Clive Powell) had first worked together in Colin Green's Beat Boys, who had accompanied Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
and Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
when in the UK. They were dismissed in February 1962 for being "too jazzy" for Fury, to be replaced by The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
, and Fame took over on vocals. Green left for a while, replaced first by Joe Moretti and then John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
who held the post until April 1963, when McLaughlin joined The Graham Bond Organisation and the band was without a guitarist until Green returned in October 1964. In that time Boots Slade had taken over on bass from Makins for some time while the latter toured with Johnny Halliday.
Reece remained a constant until he became ill in 1964 after the group's second album appeared: he was followed by Tommy Frost and Roy Mills then Jimmie Nicol, who quickly left to replace Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
on The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' tour. Phil Seamen
Phil Seamen
Phillip William "Phil" Seamen was an English jazz drummer.With a solid background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s British jazz...
and Micky Waller
Micky Waller
Micky Waller was an English drummer, who played with many of the biggest names on the UK rock and blues scene, after he became a professional musician in 1960...
helped out until Bill Eyden
Bill Eyden
Bill Eyden was a renowned English jazz drummer....
was taken on in September 1964. Eyden and Makins remained as the group's rhythm section until the group's last line-up, when they were replaced in December 1965 by Cliff Barton and Mitch Mitchell
Mitch Mitchell
John Ronald "Mitch" Mitchell was an English drummer, best known for his work in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.-Early life and the Jimi Hendrix Experience:...
: the group was augmented by Ghanaian
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
percussionist Neeomi "Speedy" Acquaye, who was with the band from May 1962 until shortly before it folded on the same day that Mitchell joined The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
.
The Blue Flames always featured saxophones: Mick Eve joined in 1962 and left in July 1964, having been joined by Johnny Marshall and then, in 1964, Peter Coe. Coe remained, eventually joined by Glenn Hughes and then by Eddie Thornton (trumpet), who had for some time appeared occasionally with the group.
History
The group were resident at a number of London clubs such as The Whiskey-A-Go-Go in SohoSoho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
's Wardour Street
Wardour Street
Wardour Street is a street in Soho, London. It is a one-way street south to north from Leicester Square, up through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street.-History:...
, home of The Flamingo Club
Flamingo Club (London)
The Flamingo Club was a nightclub that operated in Soho, London, between 1952 and the late 1960s. It was located at 33-37 Wardour Street from 1957 onwards, and played an important role in the development of British rhythm and blues and jazz....
. The club's owner, Rik Gunnell, became the group's manager. In August 1963 the band took a weekly Friday night spot at "The Scene" on Great Windmill Street
Great Windmill Street
Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north-south in Soho, London, England. It is dissected by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street took its name from the windmill on the site which was first recorded 1585 and was demolished during the 1690s...
and they also performed at The Roaring Twenties club near Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...
, run by Jamaican DJ Count Suckle. They were often playing several sets per night on the weekend and at Klooks Kleek
Klooks Kleek
Klooks Kleek was a jazz/R&B club in the 1960s, based in The Railway Hotel, West Hampstead , North West London, next to the Decca Records studio. The club was named after a 1956 album by Kenny Clarke .-History:...
, The Ricky Tick in Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
and The Scene during the week.
They were influenced by the jazz of Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
, Mose Allison
Mose Allison
Mose John Allison, Jr. is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musicians such as Willie Mabon
Willie Mabon
Willie Mabon was an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist.-Career:Born Willie James Mabon, and brought up in Hollywood, Memphis, Tennessee, he had become known as a singer and pianist by the time he moved to Chicago in 1942. He formed a group, the Blues Rockers, and in 1949 began recording...
and by the ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
music then heard in Jamaican cafes in and around Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is a road in west London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is also sometimes the name given informally to the immediate area surrounding the road. Running from Notting Hill in the south to Kensal Green in the north, it is located in North Kensington and straddles...
. The group's trumpeter Eddie Thornton
Eddie Thornton
Edward Thornton , better known as "Tan Tan", is a Jamaican trumpeter whose career began in the 1950s.-Biography:Thornton was born in 1932 and attended the Alpha Boys School. In the 1950s, he played in the Roy Coulton band along with Don Drummond...
was Jamaican. During their three-year residency at the Flamingo American soldiers who visited the club would play the latest jazz and blues releases from America: it was "Green Onions
Green Onions
Green Onions is the debut album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in October of 1962. It reached number 33 on the Pop Albums chart in the month of its release...
" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones , Steve Cropper , Lewie Steinberg , and Al Jackson, Jr....
that caused Fame to change to the Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
.
The group recorded its debut album Rhythm And Blues At the Flamingo in September 1963. Produced by Ian Samwell
Ian Samwell
Ian "Sammy" Samwell was an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard's debut hit "Move It" and his association with the rock band America with whom he had his biggest commercial success with their hit single "A Horse With No Name"...
and engineered by Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
, the album was released on the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Columbia
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
label. It failed to appear on the charts, and first three singles, released in 1964, 'Do The Dog', 'Do Re Mi', and 'Bend A Little', also didn't go very far.
In 1964 Fame and the band appeared on five episodes of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go! or simply RSG! was one of the UK's first rock/pop music TV programmes. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the producer. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966...
. The October 1964 follow-up album Fame At Last reached No. 15 on the UK chart. Their version of the song "Yeh Yeh
Yeh Yeh
"Yeh Yeh" is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man . Lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. This version of...
", a tune by Mongo Santamaria
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
with lyrics by Jon Hendricks, released on 14 January 1965, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the UK singles chart and a total of 12 weeks on the chart. Fame also appeared on television in 1965 in the "New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert" held at the Empire Pool, Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
on 11 April 1965, playing "Yeh Yeh" and Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
' "Walking The Dog
Walking the Dog
"Walking the Dog" is a Rufus Thomas song. It was released on his 1963 album Walking the Dog. It was his signature hit and also his biggest, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1963 and remaining on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks...
".
The follow-up "In The Meantime" (February 1965) only scraped the top twenty and the next two offerings were little heard. Then "Getaway
Getaway (Georgie Fame song)
"Getaway" is a number-one single for Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. It topped the UK singles chart in July 1966 for one week, and was the second number one for Georgie Fame, who would mark his final number-one single at the beginning of 1968 with "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde"....
", released on 21 July 1966, did very well reaching the top of the UK chart for a week and spending 11 weeks on the chart in all. The song, originally recorded with a view to using it as an television jingle for a petrol advertisement, was later used as the theme tune for a quiz show on Australian television. The two subsequent singles, "Sunny" and "Sitting in the Park" made number 13 and 12 respectively. At this point, after 1966's album Sweet Thing was released, Fame broke up the band, signed to CBS and went on to record solo, having been advised by his management to pursue an "all-round entertainment" career, somewhat as Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
's Paul Jones was then doing.
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were the only act from the UK invited to perform with the first Motown Review in the UK in the mid-1960s. The 'Tamla Motown Package Show' was a 21-date UK tour featuring, amongst others, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, who had released his first hit song "I Love My Dog
I Love My Dog
I Love My Dog is a song written by Cat Stevens, and it was his first single , showing up on his debut album, Matthew and Son...
", opened with Fame on 26 December 1966 for three weeks in the "Fame in '67 Show" at London's Saville Theatre
Saville Theatre
The Saville Theatre is a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s, finally being converted to a cinema in 1970.-Theatre years:...
.
In later years Fame was billed again with the Blue Flames: in the early 2000s he led a new line-up including his son.
45rpm singles
- "Do The Dog"/"Shop Around" (Columbia DB 7193, January 1964)
- "Do-Re-Mi"/"Green Onions" (Columbia DB 7255, April 1964)
- "Yeh, Yeh"/"Preach And Teach" (Columbia DB 7428, December 1964)
- "In The Meantime"/"Telegram" (Columbia DB 7494, February 1965)
- "Like We Used To Be"/"It Ain't Right" Columbia DB 7633, July 1965)
- "Something"/"Outrage" (Columbia DB 7727, 15 October 1965)
- "Getaway"/"El Bandido" (Columbia DB 7946, 17 June 1966)
- "Sunny"/"Don't Make Promises" (Columbia DB8015, 1966)
- "Sitting In The Park"/"Many Happy Returns" (Columbia DB 8096, 16 December 1966)
45rpm EPs
- Rhythm And Bluebeat - "Madness"/"Tom Hark Goes Blue Beat"/"Humpty Dumpty"/"One Whole Year, Baby" (Columbia SEG8334, 1964)
- Rhythm & Blues at The Flamingo - "Night Train"/"Parchman Farm"/"Work Song"/"Baby Please Don't Go" (Columbia SEG 8382, November 1964)
- Fame At Last - "Get On The Right Track Baby"/"Point Of No Return"/"I Love The Life I Live"/"Gimme That Wine" (Columbia SEG 8393, February 1965)
- Fats For Fame - "No No"/"Blue Monday"/"So Long"/"Sick And Tired" (Columbia SEG 8406, 1965)
- Move It On Over - "Move It On Over"/"Walking The Dog"/"High Heel Sneakers"/"Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu" (Columbia SEG 8454, October 1965)
- Getaway - "Getaway"/"See-Saw"/"Ride Your Pony"/Sitting In The Park" (Columbia SEG8518, 1966)