Jimmy Powell (singer)
Encyclopedia
Jimmy Powell is a British
former soul
and rhythm and blues
singer who recorded and performed throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, and is best remembered as the lead singer of Jimmy Powell & The 5 Dimensions, a group that briefly included Rod Stewart
.
, Birmingham
and attended Turves Green School
in the city. He began singing in his teens with a local skiffle
group, and then a beat
group, The Jumping Jacks, before forming his own band, The Detours, around 1959. In 1961, he became a professional singer when he joined The Rockin' Berries
. The group toured and performed in clubs in Germany
, including a residency at the Star-Club
in Hamburg
, before returning to London
where they were auditioned by producer Jack Good
. Good offered Powell a solo recording contract, and Powell left the group a few months later. His first record, a cover version
of Buster Brown
's US
rhythm and blues hit "Sugar Babe", with guitar by Big Jim Sullivan
and produced by Chris Blackwell
, was released by Decca
in 1962. It did not chart, and nor did two subsequent singles on Decca, "Tom Hark" (1962) and "Remember Then" (1963).
, where British musicians such as Alexis Korner
and Cyril Davies
performed. His new manager, Malcolm Nixon, auditioned groups to act as his backing band, and offered the role to The Dimensions. They were a London-based group who had been formed the previous year by guitarist Gary Leport, bassist Louis Cennamo
, and drummer Brian "Chick" Kattenhorn, and who, at the time of the audition, had recently added rhythm guitarist Mike Webb and singer and harmonica
player Rod Stewart. Leport and Stewart were old school friends, and had played together previously in a north London band, The Raiders, who (without Stewart) subsequently became instrumental group The Moontrekkers
and recorded with Joe Meek
. With the group being renamed as Jimmy Powell and The 5 Dimensions, they toured Scotland and played club dates in London and elsewhere in England in the autumn of 1963. However, Stewart was frustrated by the fact that he was allowed few opportunities to sing, and left in December 1963. Leport and Webb also left, and the three were replaced by Kenny White and Martin Shaw (guitars), and Pete Hogman (harmonica and supporting vocals).
Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions continued to perform together, becoming a regular attraction at the Crawdaddy Club
in Richmond. They signed a recording deal with Pye Records
, who released "That's Alright", written by Powell, as a single in June 1964. They were also hired to provide backing for Jamaica
n singer Millie Small on her recording of "My Boy Lollipop
". Later rumours suggested - incorrectly - that Rod Stewart played harmonica on the record, but it remains disputed whether the solo was played by Pete Hogman or by Powell himself. Powell also claimed to have played harmonica on P.J. Proby's hit, "Hold Me". The group appeared on the TV shows Ready Steady Go!
and Thank Your Lucky Stars
, and live at the All Night Rave at the Alexandra Palace
on a bill with The Rolling Stones
, John Lee Hooker
, John Mayall's Blues Breakers and others, before Powell and the group parted company later in the year. Cennamo, Kattenhorn and Hogman, with other musicians, remained together for several months, billed as The 5 Dimensions and working as a backing band for Sister Rosetta Tharpe
and Chuck Berry
, before themselves splitting up in 1965.
In the meantime, Powell recorded a solo single, a reworked version of "Sugar Babe" on which he was backed by session musicians Jimmy Page
(guitar), John Paul Jones
(bass) and Clem Cattini
(drums). He then formed a new band, also called The Five Dimensions (the two identically-named bands apparently existed simultaneously for several months), which included guitarists Kenny White and Martin Shaw from his old band together with Tim Munns (bass - previously a member of The Rockin' Berries with Powell), B.J. Wilson
(drums) (later replaced by Peter Knight), and a keyboard player. They toured the club circuit, but broke up in early 1966.
group called The Puzzle - Steve Bolton (lead guitar), Alan Stone (bass), Paul Smith (tenor sax) and Mick Green (drums) - and so formed Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions (without the number "Five"). They soon split up, and Powell formed a new Dimensions band, comprising Dave Fullford (guitar), Rod Godwin (guitar), Willy Morris (bass - later replaced by Tony Lucas), Alan "Ted" Sheperd (sax, flute), Stan Byers (keyboards), and Tom "Duke" Russell (drums). They performed together regularly on the British club circuit until 1968. However, according to Bruce Eder at Allmusic, "their singles failed to register with the public despite a high-energy sound strongly reminiscent of the early Stones, solid attack on their instruments... and a good feel for the blues." Powell continued to record, at first on the short-lived Strike label set up by writer and producer Miki Dallon
and, from 1967, back at Decca where he released three singles in 1967-68.
Powell formed a new version of the Dimensions in 1968, with Ray Spiteri (guitar), Bob Spiteri (bass) and Derek Bunt (drums). They performed in Germany and on the UK college circuit. Powell released four singles in 1969-70, again without success, on the Young Blood label, also established by Dallon. He also recorded two albums for the label, Come On Down To My House (1969) and Hold On (1973, released in Germany), most of the songs on which were self-penned.
Later in the 1970s, Powell worked as the part-time manager of a furniture company, as well as performing in pubs with a band, The Survivors. In the 1990s he moved to live in Leighton Buzzard
, Bedfordshire
, and established a successful car park management business.
Compilation CDs of Powell's recordings with the Dimensions and as a solo artist have included The R'n'B Sensation (See For Miles
, 1992) and Sugar Babe (Castle Music, 2003). Another compilation, Progressive Talking Blues, was issued in 2007.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
former soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer who recorded and performed throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, and is best remembered as the lead singer of Jimmy Powell & The 5 Dimensions, a group that briefly included Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
.
Early life and career
Powell was born in Selly OakSelly Oak
Selly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and attended Turves Green School
Turves Green Boys' School
Turves Green Boys' Technology and Humanities College is a secondary school in the Northfield area of Birmingham, England. It is approximately 70 years old. The school is an all boys school with Technology College and Humanities College status. It received Technology College status in 1995....
in the city. He began singing in his teens with a local skiffle
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
group, and then a beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
group, The Jumping Jacks, before forming his own band, The Detours, around 1959. In 1961, he became a professional singer when he joined The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries are a pop group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.-History:...
. The group toured and performed in clubs in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, including a residency at the Star-Club
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany that opened Friday 13 April 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the sixties, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 31 December 1969 and the building it occupied was...
in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, before returning to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where they were auditioned by producer Jack Good
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
. Good offered Powell a solo recording contract, and Powell left the group a few months later. His first record, a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
's US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rhythm and blues hit "Sugar Babe", with guitar by Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
and produced by Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, was released by Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in 1962. It did not chart, and nor did two subsequent singles on Decca, "Tom Hark" (1962) and "Remember Then" (1963).
Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions
In 1963, Powell moved from Birmingham to London and starting visiting the Marquee ClubMarquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
, where British musicians such as Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
and Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies was one of the first British blues harmonica players and blues musician.-Biography:Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, he was the son of William Albert Davies, a labourer, and his wife Margaret Mary...
performed. His new manager, Malcolm Nixon, auditioned groups to act as his backing band, and offered the role to The Dimensions. They were a London-based group who had been formed the previous year by guitarist Gary Leport, bassist Louis Cennamo
Louis Cennamo
Louis David Cennamo was bass guitarist with an early line up of The Herd, the original line-up of Renaissance and later Colosseum, Steamhammer, Armageddon and Illusion . He also worked with Jim McCarty in Stairway. The song "Bullet", on the first Renaissance album, includes an extended...
, and drummer Brian "Chick" Kattenhorn, and who, at the time of the audition, had recently added rhythm guitarist Mike Webb and singer and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
player Rod Stewart. Leport and Stewart were old school friends, and had played together previously in a north London band, The Raiders, who (without Stewart) subsequently became instrumental group The Moontrekkers
The Moontrekkers
The Moontrekkers were a British instrumental rock and roll band in the early 1960s, who are best known for their minor chart hit "Night of the Vampire", arranged and produced by Joe Meek, and for their peripheral involvement in the early career of singer Rod Stewart.-Career:The origins of the group...
and recorded with Joe Meek
Joe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter....
. With the group being renamed as Jimmy Powell and The 5 Dimensions, they toured Scotland and played club dates in London and elsewhere in England in the autumn of 1963. However, Stewart was frustrated by the fact that he was allowed few opportunities to sing, and left in December 1963. Leport and Webb also left, and the three were replaced by Kenny White and Martin Shaw (guitars), and Pete Hogman (harmonica and supporting vocals).
Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions continued to perform together, becoming a regular attraction at the Crawdaddy Club
Crawdaddy Club
The Crawdaddy Club was a 1960s music venue in Richmond, Surrey, England. Several other seminal British blues and rhythm and blues acts also played there....
in Richmond. They signed a recording deal with Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
, who released "That's Alright", written by Powell, as a single in June 1964. They were also hired to provide backing for Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n singer Millie Small on her recording of "My Boy Lollipop
My Boy Lollipop
"My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and usually credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. It was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye...
". Later rumours suggested - incorrectly - that Rod Stewart played harmonica on the record, but it remains disputed whether the solo was played by Pete Hogman or by Powell himself. Powell also claimed to have played harmonica on P.J. Proby's hit, "Hold Me". The group appeared on the TV shows 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...
and Thank Your Lucky Stars
Thank Your Lucky Stars (TV series)
Thank Your Lucky Stars was a British television pop music show made by ABC Television, and broadcast on ITV from 1961 to 1966. Many of the top bands performed on it, and for millions of British teenagers it was essential viewing...
, and live at the All Night Rave at the Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
on a bill with The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, John Mayall's Blues Breakers and others, before Powell and the group parted company later in the year. Cennamo, Kattenhorn and Hogman, with other musicians, remained together for several months, billed as The 5 Dimensions and working as a backing band for Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an Amercian pioneering gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment...
and Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, before themselves splitting up in 1965.
In the meantime, Powell recorded a solo single, a reworked version of "Sugar Babe" on which he was backed by session musicians Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
(guitar), John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
(bass) and Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini , is an English rock and roll drummer who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician...
(drums). He then formed a new band, also called The Five Dimensions (the two identically-named bands apparently existed simultaneously for several months), which included guitarists Kenny White and Martin Shaw from his old band together with Tim Munns (bass - previously a member of The Rockin' Berries with Powell), B.J. Wilson
B.J. Wilson
Barrie James "B.J." Wilson was an English rock drummer.-Career:Born in Edmonton, London, England, Wilson was the drummer for Procol Harum. He did not play on their first hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" , but joined the group soon afterwards...
(drums) (later replaced by Peter Knight), and a keyboard player. They toured the club circuit, but broke up in early 1966.
Later career
In 1966, Powell recruited an existing ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
group called The Puzzle - Steve Bolton (lead guitar), Alan Stone (bass), Paul Smith (tenor sax) and Mick Green (drums) - and so formed Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions (without the number "Five"). They soon split up, and Powell formed a new Dimensions band, comprising Dave Fullford (guitar), Rod Godwin (guitar), Willy Morris (bass - later replaced by Tony Lucas), Alan "Ted" Sheperd (sax, flute), Stan Byers (keyboards), and Tom "Duke" Russell (drums). They performed together regularly on the British club circuit until 1968. However, according to Bruce Eder at Allmusic, "their singles failed to register with the public despite a high-energy sound strongly reminiscent of the early Stones, solid attack on their instruments... and a good feel for the blues." Powell continued to record, at first on the short-lived Strike label set up by writer and producer Miki Dallon
Miki Dallon
Miki Dallon is an English musician, songwriter and producer . Miki's first published work was a Mickie Most b-side called "That’s Alright" on which Miki also played piano. One success of his was the song "Take A Heart" by The Sorrows...
and, from 1967, back at Decca where he released three singles in 1967-68.
Powell formed a new version of the Dimensions in 1968, with Ray Spiteri (guitar), Bob Spiteri (bass) and Derek Bunt (drums). They performed in Germany and on the UK college circuit. Powell released four singles in 1969-70, again without success, on the Young Blood label, also established by Dallon. He also recorded two albums for the label, Come On Down To My House (1969) and Hold On (1973, released in Germany), most of the songs on which were self-penned.
Later in the 1970s, Powell worked as the part-time manager of a furniture company, as well as performing in pubs with a band, The Survivors. In the 1990s he moved to live in Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard
-Lower schools:*Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way*Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Road*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road...
, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, and established a successful car park management business.
Compilation CDs of Powell's recordings with the Dimensions and as a solo artist have included The R'n'B Sensation (See For Miles
See For Miles Records
See for Miles Records is a British record label which distributed some of the records of Dandelion Records on CD in the 1990s. The name hints both to its owner Colin Miles and The Who's "I Can See for Miles."...
, 1992) and Sugar Babe (Castle Music, 2003). Another compilation, Progressive Talking Blues, was issued in 2007.