Plastic Penny
Encyclopedia
Plastic Penny was a UK
1960s pop
band
, formed in November 1967 before splitting up in August 1968. They had one hit
single
, early in 1968, with the song
"Everything I Am". Most of the members went on to greater fame with other bands or in session work.
pop, with leanings towards a prog rock
sound on some of their album tracks. The majority of their material was written by three of the band members, Brian Keith, Paul Raymond
and Tony Murray. Keith later left the band leaving it a quartet, and Raymond took over vocal duties. Plastic Penny's output was released on the Page One Records
label
. The band's swansong was appearing at the first Isle of Wight Festival
, held on 31 August 1968.
"Everything I Am" reached a high of number six in the UK Singles Chart
. The song, enhanced with a string
arrangement
, was a slow ballad
version of a song originally recorded
by the Box Tops
. It was written by Spooner Oldham
and Dan Penn
.
Several of the members went on to greater fame. Mick Grabham
(then billed as Mick Graham) moved on to play with Cochise
, and then Procol Harum
. Keith later became the lead vocalist with Congregation
, who share the unwanted one-hit wonder
tag with Plastic Penny. Raymond replaced Christine Perfect
in Chicken Shack
, and later played several spells with the long-lived rock band
, UFO
. Nigel Olsson
became an in-demand session musician
, most notably drumming on much of Elton John
's early work. He also worked with the Spencer Davis Group
, Uriah Heep
, Kiki Dee
, Neil Sedaka
, Rod Stewart
and Leo Sayer
.
The group's third and final album, Heads I Win, Tails You Lose was a collage
of the band's more obscure recordings
, issued after the group had disbanded.
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...
1960s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, formed in November 1967 before splitting up in August 1968. They had one hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, early in 1968, with the song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"Everything I Am". Most of the members went on to greater fame with other bands or in session work.
Career
Most of their material was psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
pop, with leanings towards a prog rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
sound on some of their album tracks. The majority of their material was written by three of the band members, Brian Keith, Paul Raymond
Paul Raymond (musician)
Paul Martin Raymond is an English keyboardist/guitarist.Raymond began his musical career as a keyboardist/vocalist for the band, Plastic Penny, in 1967. He left after the band split up in 1968. He replaced Christine Perfect in British blues band Chicken Shack when she left to join Fleetwood Mac...
and Tony Murray. Keith later left the band leaving it a quartet, and Raymond took over vocal duties. Plastic Penny's output was released on the Page One Records
Page One Records
Page One Records, established in 1966, was the UK record label owned by the producer/manager Larry Page, during his successful period as a hitmaker in the 1960s....
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. The band's swansong was appearing at the first Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
, held on 31 August 1968.
"Everything I Am" reached a high of number six in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The song, enhanced with a string
Strings (music)
A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...
arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, was a slow ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
version of a song originally recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by the Box Tops
Box Tops
The Box Tops were a Memphis rock group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow," "Soul Deep," "I Met Her in Church," and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period...
. It was written by Spooner Oldham
Spooner Oldham
Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and at FAME Studios on such hit R&B songs as "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett and "I Never Loved a Man" by Aretha...
and Dan Penn
Dan Penn
Dan Penn is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby"...
.
Several of the members went on to greater fame. Mick Grabham
Mick Grabham
Mick Grabham played lead guitar for Procol Harum after the departure of Dave Ball, beginning with their album, Grand Hotel through to Something Magic...
(then billed as Mick Graham) moved on to play with Cochise
Cochise (band)
Cochise was an English country rock band that performed in the 1970s.This band is more significant for who they included than what they produced. Singer Stewart Brown had grown up with Reggie Dwight, later Elton John, and co-founded the band Bluesology with him. After the demise of Cochise, Mick...
, and then Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
. Keith later became the lead vocalist with Congregation
English Congregation
English Congregation were a British pop ensemble. They formed in England under the name The Congregation English Congregation were a British pop ensemble. They formed in England under the name The Congregation English Congregation were a British pop ensemble. They formed in England under the name...
, who share the unwanted one-hit wonder
One-hit wonders in the UK
This is a list of artists who have achieved one #1 hit on the UK Singles Chart and no other entry whatsoever on the chart. The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles uses this definition of "one-hit wonder", which is a controversial term with various other proposed definitions.-Methodology:A hit is...
tag with Plastic Penny. Raymond replaced Christine Perfect
Christine McVie
Christine McVie is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums...
in Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb , Andy Silvester , and Alan Morley , who were later joined by Christine Perfect in 1968.-Career:...
, and later played several spells with the long-lived rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
, UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
. Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson is an English rock drummer, who is best known for his work with Elton John. Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as one of the first members of John's band, on drums, percussion and backing vocals. When not working with Elton, Olsson has taken up the role of a session musician...
became an in-demand session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, most notably drumming on much of Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's early work. He also worked with the Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
, Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
, Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, 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....
and Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
.
The group's third and final album, Heads I Win, Tails You Lose was a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of the band's more obscure recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, issued after the group had disbanded.
Band members
- Brian Keith (born Brian O'Shea, 22 September 1942, Port GlasgowPort GlasgowPort Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...
, West RenfrewshireWest RenfrewshireWest Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire West may mean or refer to:* West Renfrewshire * West Renfrewshire...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) - Vocalist - Paul RaymondPaul Raymond (musician)Paul Martin Raymond is an English keyboardist/guitarist.Raymond began his musical career as a keyboardist/vocalist for the band, Plastic Penny, in 1967. He left after the band split up in 1968. He replaced Christine Perfect in British blues band Chicken Shack when she left to join Fleetwood Mac...
(born Paul Martin Raymond, 16 November 1945, St AlbansSt AlbansSt Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
, HertfordshireHertfordshireHertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
) - KeyboardistKeyboardistA keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
/ GuitaristGuitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely... - Mick GrahamMick GrabhamMick Grabham played lead guitar for Procol Harum after the departure of Dave Ball, beginning with their album, Grand Hotel through to Something Magic...
(born Michael Grabham, 22 January 1948, Sunderland, County DurhamCounty DurhamCounty Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
) - Guitarist - Nigel OlssonNigel OlssonNigel Olsson is an English rock drummer, who is best known for his work with Elton John. Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as one of the first members of John's band, on drums, percussion and backing vocals. When not working with Elton, Olsson has taken up the role of a session musician...
(born 10 February 1949, WallaseyWallaseyWallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
, CheshireCheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
) - DrummerDrummerA drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a... - Tony Murray (born Anthony Murray, 26 April 1943, Dublin, County DublinCounty DublinCounty Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
) - BassistBassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Albums
- 2 Sides of a Penny - 1968
- Currency - 1969
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose - 1970
External links
- [ Plastic Penny biography at Allmusic]
- Mick Grabham biography at the Musicians’ Olympus website
- Nigel Olsson fan site