The Kestrels
Encyclopedia
The Kestrels were a vocal harmony quartet from Bristol
, England, most notable as the group through which the songwriting team of Roger Cook
and Roger Greenaway
first met and started composing jointly. They were one of the busiest vocal groups in England during the late 1950s and early 1960s, singing back-up behind Joe Brown
, Billy Fury
, Eden Kane
, and Benny Hill
, among many others, and made dozens of television appearances between 1958 and 1964.
, Roger Greenaway, and Roger Maggs' earliest influences were skiffle
and rock and roll
, and they began getting booked to play local dances. The trio expanded to a quartet with the addition to Geoff Williams, who extended their harmonies upward into the falsetto range. They quickly started to focus on singing and became established as a harmony vocal group rather than a skiffle outfit. Their main influences were American rhythm and blues
harmony groups such as The Platters
and The Penguins
, whom they did their best to emulate vocally.
The group members went through the Army
at the same time, continuing to work together whenever possible, and it was during this period that they got their name. They initially started working together as the Beltones and the Hi-Fi's, but their manager, taking his lead from the manufacturer of the pencil he had in his hand at the time, decreed that they should become The Kestrels. It also fit in with an American tradition of harmony vocal groups that were named after birds (the Crows, the Penguins etc.)
This was not just a conceit. Listening to their records 40 years on, it is possible to hear the quality and dedication of their music making. Comparing themselves to The Platters
might seem overly ambitious, especially as they also later covered country numbers like "Wolverton Mountain" as well as they did, but there is respect there for the sound of groups like The Platters and The Penguins. They were definitely English, not American, but they had a fresher sound than virtually any rival singing group in England.
The Kestrels' debut single
for Pye Records
, "In The Chapel In The Moonlight," originally released as the B-side
of their cover
of Jack Scott's "There Comes A Time," came close to charting and probably would have if they had been able to promote it. The Army came first, however, and it just missed getting them on the charts in late 1959.
The group bounced briefly over to Decca before returning to Pye Records, and a long-term contract to record for that label's Piccadilly imprint. Their subsequent releases failed to chart, but they remained busy on their own performances and also backing Pye's resident star, Lonnie Donegan
, on some of his records (including the 1962 gospel album Sing Hallelujah) and his live performances. The Kestrels finished their military service early in 1960, and were able to resume their music work full-time. They carried on, trying several different approaches to choosing their songs, but mostly covering American hits, which may have been part of their problem.
By 1964, it was clear that any moment that the Kestrels might have seized as their own was past. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Kinks, and the other new wave of rock and roll artists were playing a heavier, more formidable brand of music than the Kestrels could ever emulate. There were still live engagements and lots of session work, however, and when Pete Gullane left, he was replaced by Roger Cook.
Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway went on to form one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the late 1960s, initially providing material to The Fortunes
, a harmony group remarkably similar to (but luckier than) the Kestrels, in the form of "You've Got Your Troubles," a #2 UK hit, and even tried their hand at recording as a duo, christened David and Jonathan
, through which they enjoyed a short string of their own hit records. Tony Burrows
sang lead with The Flower Pot Men, and also became a busy session singer whose work included recordings by Elton John
(including the Madman Across the Water
album) and Matthew Fisher
, among numerous others.
In 1998, Sequel Records brought out a double album
pairing thirty songs by The Kestrels, with thirty songs from fellow Bristol
ian group The Eagles
.
They had a reunion in 1997, and over the subsequent years have raised substantial funds for charity. In 2009 they released a Charity CD (produced by Roger Greenaway) entitled The Kestrels, Still Flying After 50 Years.
Sadly, Geoff Williams, one of the original quartet, suffered a heart attack and died on 20 August 2010 while on holiday in Crete.
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England, most notable as the group through which the songwriting team of Roger Cook
Roger Cook (songwriter)
Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...
and Roger Greenaway
Roger Greenaway
Roger Greenaway , is a popular English songwriter, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook.-Career:...
first met and started composing jointly. They were one of the busiest vocal groups in England during the late 1950s and early 1960s, singing back-up behind Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, 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...
, Eden Kane
Eden Kane
Eden Kane is an early 1960s British pop singer.-Life and career:Like Cliff Richard, Pete Best, and Engelbert Humperdinck, Eden Kane was born in India, but returned to Britain as a child...
, and Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
, among many others, and made dozens of television appearances between 1958 and 1964.
Career
The quartet's origins go back to the mid 1950s, when they were in their early teens at school together. Tony BurrowsTony Burrows
Anthony "Tony" Burrows is a British session singer. He has been credited with singing lead on hit singles for more groups than any other recording artist, both on the UK Singles Chart and the U.S...
, Roger Greenaway, and Roger Maggs' earliest influences were 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...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, and they began getting booked to play local dances. The trio expanded to a quartet with the addition to Geoff Williams, who extended their harmonies upward into the falsetto range. They quickly started to focus on singing and became established as a harmony vocal group rather than a skiffle outfit. Their main influences were American 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...
harmony groups such as The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
and The Penguins
The Penguins
The Penguins were an American doo-wop group of the 1950s and early 1960s, best remembered for their only Top 40 hit, "Earth Angel ", which was one of the first rhythm and blues hits to cross over to the pop charts...
, whom they did their best to emulate vocally.
The group members went through the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at the same time, continuing to work together whenever possible, and it was during this period that they got their name. They initially started working together as the Beltones and the Hi-Fi's, but their manager, taking his lead from the manufacturer of the pencil he had in his hand at the time, decreed that they should become The Kestrels. It also fit in with an American tradition of harmony vocal groups that were named after birds (the Crows, the Penguins etc.)
This was not just a conceit. Listening to their records 40 years on, it is possible to hear the quality and dedication of their music making. Comparing themselves to The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
might seem overly ambitious, especially as they also later covered country numbers like "Wolverton Mountain" as well as they did, but there is respect there for the sound of groups like The Platters and The Penguins. They were definitely English, not American, but they had a fresher sound than virtually any rival singing group in England.
The Kestrels' debut 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...
for 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...
, "In The Chapel In The Moonlight," originally released as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of their cover
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 Jack Scott's "There Comes A Time," came close to charting and probably would have if they had been able to promote it. The Army came first, however, and it just missed getting them on the charts in late 1959.
The group bounced briefly over to Decca before returning to Pye Records, and a long-term contract to record for that label's Piccadilly imprint. Their subsequent releases failed to chart, but they remained busy on their own performances and also backing Pye's resident star, Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, on some of his records (including the 1962 gospel album Sing Hallelujah) and his live performances. The Kestrels finished their military service early in 1960, and were able to resume their music work full-time. They carried on, trying several different approaches to choosing their songs, but mostly covering American hits, which may have been part of their problem.
By 1964, it was clear that any moment that the Kestrels might have seized as their own was past. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Kinks, and the other new wave of rock and roll artists were playing a heavier, more formidable brand of music than the Kestrels could ever emulate. There were still live engagements and lots of session work, however, and when Pete Gullane left, he was replaced by Roger Cook.
Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway went on to form one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the late 1960s, initially providing material to The Fortunes
The Fortunes
The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, The Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s...
, a harmony group remarkably similar to (but luckier than) the Kestrels, in the form of "You've Got Your Troubles," a #2 UK hit, and even tried their hand at recording as a duo, christened David and Jonathan
David and Jonathan
David and Jonathan were heroic figures of the Kingdom of Israel, whose covenant was recorded favourably in the books of Samuel. Jonathan was the son of Saul, king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and David was the son of Jesse of Bethlehem and Jonathan's presumed rival for the crown...
, through which they enjoyed a short string of their own hit records. Tony Burrows
Tony Burrows
Anthony "Tony" Burrows is a British session singer. He has been credited with singing lead on hit singles for more groups than any other recording artist, both on the UK Singles Chart and the U.S...
sang lead with The Flower Pot Men, and also became a busy session singer whose work included recordings by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
(including the Madman Across the Water
Madman Across the Water
Madman Across the Water is the fourth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1971 through DJM/Uni Records. The title song, "Madman Across the Water", was set to be released on Elton John's previous album Tumbleweed Connection. However, it was set aside and would...
album) and Matthew Fisher
Matthew Fisher
Matthew Fisher is an English organist and singer-songwriter, and was responsible for the organ sound on the 1967 single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum.-Biography:...
, among numerous others.
In 1998, Sequel Records brought out a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
pairing thirty songs by The Kestrels, with thirty songs from fellow Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
ian group The Eagles
The Eagles (UK band)
The Eagles were a British music quartet active from 1958 until the mid 1960s. They formed in 1958, at the Eagle House youth club in Knowle West, Bristol....
.
They had a reunion in 1997, and over the subsequent years have raised substantial funds for charity. In 2009 they released a Charity CD (produced by Roger Greenaway) entitled The Kestrels, Still Flying After 50 Years.
Sadly, Geoff Williams, one of the original quartet, suffered a heart attack and died on 20 August 2010 while on holiday in Crete.
See also
- Roger GreenawayRoger GreenawayRoger Greenaway , is a popular English songwriter, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook.-Career:...
- Tony BurrowsTony BurrowsAnthony "Tony" Burrows is a British session singer. He has been credited with singing lead on hit singles for more groups than any other recording artist, both on the UK Singles Chart and the U.S...
- Roger CookRoger Cook (songwriter)Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...
- List of Bands from Bristol
- Culture of BristolCulture of BristolBristol is a city in South West England. As the largest city in the region it is a centre for the arts and sport. The region has a distinct West Country dialect.-Events:...
External links
- Listen to Lonnie Donegan and The Kestrels at last.fm
- [ The Kestrels at Allmusic]
- Group discography at Discogs.com