The Scorpions were formed in 1959 in Battersea

Battersea

Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...

, South West

SW postcode area

The SW postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of postcode districts covering part of southwest London, England. The area originates from the South Western and Battersea districts of the London post town.-Postal administration:The postcode area originated in 1857 as...

 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...

, and released two singles

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...

 in 1961. Founder members were brothers Ted Barber (born Edward Joseph Barber, 17 November 1940, Molesey, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

) - lead guitar

Lead guitar

Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

; John Barber (born John Alan Barber, 30 December 1944, Battersea, South West London) - bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

; Mick LeDieu - drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s; Ivor Knight (born Ivor Kenneth Knight, 16 September 1941, Battersea, South West London) - a drummer who joined in November 1959. They were the first rock band to use the name.

The Scorpions recorded two singles at Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

, which were released on the Parlophone

Parlophone

Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

 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,...

.

They recorded three songs with Joe Meek

Joe Meek

Robert George "Joe" Meek was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter....

, "Two Brothers", "Summer Holliday" and "Love On Your Lips", that would have been released as by 'The Ferridays' (in honour of Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

' birthplace), but these only were released in the 1990s, thanks to the on-going interest in Meek's 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...

.

Singles

• February 61: "Riders in the Sky
  Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend
  " Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a country and cowboy-style song. It was written on June 5, 1948 by Stan Jones. A number of versions were crossover hits on the pop charts in 1949...
  
  " / "Torquay" (Parlophone R4740)
• May 61: "Rockin' At The Phil" / "Scorpio" (Parlophone R4768) ("Rockin' At The Phil" was the first UK
  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...
  
   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 a 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...
  
   release by a rock band).

Albums

• The Scorpions Anthology (Wooden Hill
  Wooden Hill
  Wooden Hill is a suburb of Bracknell, in Berkshire, England.The settlement lies west of the A3095 road and is approximately south-west of Bracknell town centre....
  
   CD WHCD004, UK 1996)

"Move It

Move It

"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...

" / "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans

Way Down Yonder In New Orleans

"Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" is a popular song with music by John Turner Layton, Jr. and lyrics by Henry Creamer. First published in 1922, Creamer and Layton advertised it as "A Southern Song, without A Mammy, A Mule, Or A Moon", a dig at some of the Tin Pan Alley clichés of the era.It was...

" / "Twenty Flight Rock

Twenty Flight Rock

"Twenty Flight Rock" is a song originally performed by Eddie Cochran in the 1956 film comedy The Girl Can't Help It, and released as a single in 1957. Cochran's biographer notes Cochran was granted a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a standard ego-salving arrangement between publishers and...

" / "Mean Woman Blues" / "Be Bop a Lula" / "Guitar Boogie" / "Worrying Kind" / "Something Else" / "Mystery Train

Mystery Train

"Mystery Train" is a song written by Junior Parker and Sam Phillips. It was first recorded in Phillip's Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee in 1953. Raymond Hill plays tenor sax and Matt Murphy plays lead guitar with Bill Johnson on piano, Pat Hare on...

" / "The Wayward Wind

The Wayward Wind

"The Wayward Wind" is a country song written by Stanley Lebowsky and Herb Newman.In 1956 versions were recorded by Gogi Grant, Tex Ritter, and Jimmy Young, of which Grant's was the biggest seller in the United States and Ritter's in the United Kingdom...

" / "Ting A Ling" / "Fin" / "Scorpio" / "Rockin' at the Phil" * / "Riders in the Sky" / "Torquay" / "Temptation" / "Hot Rod Breakdown" / "Three Coins in the Fountain

Three Coins in the Fountain (song)

"Three Coins in the Fountain" is a popular song which received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1954.The melody was written by Jule Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was written for the romance film, Three Coins in the Fountain and refers to the act of throwing a coin into the Trevi...

" * / "Last Chance" / "Lonesome Road" / "Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus

Hocus pocus, hocus-pocus, or hokus pokus is a term used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change.It may also refer to:-Books:* Hocus Pocus , a 1990 novel by Kurt Vonnegut...

" / "Two Brothers" / "Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday is a British musical released in February 1963, featuring singer Cliff Richard in his best-known film. The musical was directed by Peter Yates and was produced by Kenneth Harper for the Associated British Studios at Elstree. The original screenplay was written by Peter Myers and...

" / "Love On Your Lips" / "High Noon

High Noon

High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...

" / "Sunny Weekend" / "What To Say" / "Sing Me a Love Song" / "I've Lost You" / "Yours Are Not The Eyes" (all tracks previously unreleased).

External links

• www.thescorpions.co.uk - Official website