The Shadows
Encyclopedia
The Shadows are a British
pop
group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard
and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'.
The Shadows were also successful in the British EP charts that were compiled by several different publications during the 1960s based on sales statistics from a limited number of retailers around the country. The Shadows and Cliff Richard & the Shadows each had four No.1 selling EPs.
According to British Hit Singles & Albums (19th edition), the Shadows are the third most successful UK charted hit-singles act, behind Elvis Presley
and Cliff Richard.
Pioneers of the four-member rock-group format (consisting of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums) in the UK, the group enjoyed a second spell of success and interest in their music from the late seventies until disbandment in 1990. Their unique guitar sound was originally produced by a combination of American Fender
guitars, British amplifiers made by Vox
and echo units Meazzi Echomatic tape and Binson
magnetic disc.
With singer Cliff Richard, the Shadows dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s (i.e. the five-year "Before-Beatles" period: 1958–1962), before The Beatles
' first full year in the charts in 1963.
John Lennon
once claimed that "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music." As the first backing band to emerge as stars in their own right, they were early trailblazers for the beat-group boom that eclipsed them. – The Times 30 November 2005.
and Bruce Welch
, both inspired by US pop music; and The Vipers Skiffle Group
(on Parlophone records) who supplied Jet Harris
and Tony Meehan
from London, both inspired by UK jazz
–skiffle
music. The Shadows, although originally the live and recording backing band for Cliff Richard, were later marketed as an instrumental combo, following their explosive chart success with the Jerry Lordan
composition "Apache." In the US and Canada, they were briefly marketed as a 'surf' group with two special compilation albums on Atlantic records, The Shadows Know and Surfing with The Shadows, to compete with The Ventures
and The Surfaris
. Although both these albums failed to chart in America, the band had hits worldwide.
The group was created in 1958 out of Cliff Richard
's urgent need for a set of permanent backing musicians, after the success of his "Move It
" single, which had been recorded with a mixture of his own "The Five Chesternuts" (later "The Drifters") electrified skiffle group, plus session players. According to Norrie Paramor
, their first producer, the Shadows' first studio album was dogged throughout its creation by clashes within the band. Harris and Meehan eventually recorded under their own names for Decca Records after, first Meehan and then Harris, left The Shadows following clashes. Meehan was replaced by ex-Krew Kats drummer Brian Bennett, Harris by bassist Brian ("Licorice") Locking, and later John Rostill who stayed with them until the late 60s.
The Shadows disbanded in 1968 but Marvin and Welch subsequently formed a vocal–guitar trio Marvin Welch & Farrar. Because of low sales and fans demanding Shadows numbers at MW&F gigs, The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Brian Bennett as a full member and various extra musicians. The group permanently disbanded in 1990 but temporarily reformed in 2004-05 for a UK and European tour (the reunion being instigated in 2001 by Roger Field, a guitarist friend of Hank Marvin), and again during 2008–10 to tour with Cliff Richard.
on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard
) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It
", which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows." Two session players, guitarist Ernie Shear and bassist Frank Clark, played on the "Move It" / "Schoolboy Crush" single on producer Norrie Paramor's insistence to ensure a strong sound.
The Drifters signed for Jack Good's
Oh Boy! television series. Paramor
of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho
's 2i's coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle
) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan
. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who played guitar well and had on Buddy Holly
glasses.
Hank Marvin
had played in a school skiffle band with Bruce Welch
. The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris
. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan
. The Drifters' professional lineup now complete, became The Shadows in early 1959 to avoid confusion with the contemporary American R&B vocal group The Drifters
. None of the original UK Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows. Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.
The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959 ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"). The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge
released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.
In the spring of the same year the US soul group The Drifters
threatened legal action against the British group 'The Drifters' after the release and subsequent immediate withdrawal of the "Feelin Fine" single in the US. The second single "Jet Black" was released in the US under the name 'The Four Jets' as a temporary move to avoid further legal aggravation but a new band name was becoming a matter of urgency if they were to progress. The new band name The Shadows was invented by Jet Harris (apparently unaware of Bobby Vee's backing group) while he and Marvin were relaxing at the Six Bells pub in Ruislip in July 1959.
," an instrumental by Jerry Lordan
, which topped the charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than "Apache" (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one. The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows," had seven hits.
In October 1961 Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Harris was replaced by Brian Locking
, also known as Licorice. Bennett and Licorice were friends from the 2I's who had both previously been in Marty Wilde's backing group The Wildcats who also recorded instrumentals as The Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up also produced seven hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted 18 months.
In October 1963 Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill
on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to take over. This final and longest-lasting lineup was also the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced impressive albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had ten hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt
," was also the first of those ten.
During the 1960s the group appeared with Cliff Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson
film Thunderbirds Are GO
. They starred in a short humorous B-movie film called Rhythm 'n Greens which became the basis of a music book and an "EP." They appeared on stage in pantomime
. Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium
with Arthur Askey
as Widow Twankey
, Richard as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Toshee. Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest film, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill. In 1967 The Shadows used Olivia Newton-John
to feature on one track The Day I Met Marie on their album From Hank Bruce Brian and John (SX6199/SCX6199).
The line-up split in December 1968, after the tenth anniversary album Established 1958, a mixture of tracks (7 plus 7) with Richard, and instrumentals featuring just The Shadows. All were written by the group. Welch left. This was almost the end, although an album (Shades of Rock) in 1970 and a tour of Japan in 1969 followed with Alan Hawkshaw
on keyboards; in Marvin's words, they did it 'for the Yen.' The live LP of the tour features a long version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
" in which Marvin plays acoustic and electric guitar.
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
, performing "Apache" and backing Cliff Richard for "Bachelor Boy," live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on 31 December 1969. This was followed by Hank and a reconstituted Shadows becoming the resident guests on Cliff Richard's debut TV series for the BBC, It's Cliff Richard!. During the early 1970s, Marvin and Welch had a second career as vocal group Marvin Welch & Farrar with Australian John Farrar
as third vocalist. Farrar provided a distinctive, high falsetto vocal style and skill as an arranger. They recorded two acclaimed albums and several singles and, without Welch, a third album Marvin and Farrar, which Marvin described as "Frankenstein meets The Beach Boys". Live performances were hampered by audiences expecting the Shadows' greatest hits. Marvin said (interviewed in Guitar Greats by John Tobler), "In the Batley Variety Club we walked off stage to the sound of our own footsteps!"
The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Welch on rhythm guitar and Farrar on guitar and vocals. Following the death of John Rostill, the group booked session bassists for recordings and tours. Dave Richmond and Alan Tarney
, who had each provided bass for Marvin, Welch & Farrar, continued for the reformed Shadows. An album, Rockin' with Curly Leads
featured Marvin using contemporary guitar fuzz effects to modify his sound. Some tracks used Farrar as second lead guitarist, giving this album a very different sound from previous recordings.
1974 was a gap year for the Shadows although they did record some new material for Specs Appeal
album and other material which was only released on CD during the 1990s.
The group were chosen by BBC
Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton
to perform the Song for Europe
in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest
. The Shadows recorded six options, seen each week on a weekly television show It's Lulu, televised on BBC1 and hosted by Lulu
, a former Eurovision winner herself. Unusually for the format, instead of presenting each song live in the studio on a weekly basis and then presenting all six songs consecutively in a 'special' edition on week seven, the group pre-taped all six performances separately in the TV studio, before the series itself began, with the video then being cut into the weekly show. For the presentation of the songs on week seven and the announcement of the result on week eight, the pre-recorded performances were run again. Two of the songs ("No, No Nina" and "This House Runs On Sunshine") were co-penned by members of the group themselves. The public however voted for "Let Me Be The One," composed by Paul Curtis
, to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm
. There, the group came second to the Dutch entry, Teach-In
's "Ding-A-Dong
". Having long since stepped out of Cliff Richard’s ‘shadow’, this was a rare excursion into lyrics for a band better known for instrumentals (however they had cut vocal tracks on most albums, plus some singles 'B' sides, and had two charting vocal singles in the sixties). Bruce Welch had lead vocal duties, and let the world know when he forgot a couple of words when he turned to his colleagues and said “I knew it” in range of his microphone. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor
notes in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History that they were not a popular choice to represent the UK and the viewers' postal vote was the lowest recorded in the 'Song For Europe' history. But the contest re-established The Shadows and the single climbed to number 12 in the UK charts. An album of new material, including both vocal and instrumental tracks Specs Appeal was released to coincide with their Eurovision appearance.
In 1975 EMI also released the live album "Live at the Paris Olympia" which was originally scheduled to have been a double live album with a gatefold sleeve but this was slimmed down to a single vinyl album at the last minute resulting in all the tracks being resequenced. Subsequently in 1992 EMI records reissued the full concert on CD with the tracks in the correct order as at the original concert.
In 1976 EMI released a compilation album of recordings from 1962 to 1970: Rarities with sleeve notes written by John Friesen. The first half of the album was by The Shadows and the second half was from Hank Marvin's solo career.
Following the rare vocal single 'It'll Be Me, Babe' (written and sung by Marvin & Farrar) John Farrar departed the band that year, quite amicably relocating to the USA to successfully Produce Olivia Newton-John. Among her hits Farrar would write 'You're The One That I Want' (covered by The Shadows in 1979) for Olivia & John Travolta for the film 'Grease'.
The packaging of the group's greatest hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977 prompted the group to reform yet again for a tour featuring Francis Monkman
from Sky
on keyboards, leading to a number one album and a top ten hit single "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." Francis left after that tour and the line-up settled as Marvin, Welch and Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass).
1978 was a relatively quiet year other than a one-off concert in London where Don't Cry For Me Argentina was recorded and then over-dubbed and remixed and released as a single with George Ford on Bass.
In 1979 they initially recorded their version of Cavatina
which became another hit single and then they recorded ten more tracks (with Alan Jones
on Bass) for the String of Hits
album on EMI which topped the album charts causing EMI to moot a follow up compilation album akin to a 'String of Hits-volume 2' with 11 old (plus one unreleased) tracks culled from albums previously released in 1970, 1973, 1975 and 1977 of various cover versions of hit singles which was eventually released as Another String of Hot Hits in 1980.
. The recordings were made using analogue equipment but digitally mastered, with instruments, amplifiers, and arrangements close to the original recordings. This has allowed the group to package and market their own compilation albums, featuring old hits as well as new.
Other albums, such as Diamonds, feature no new material, being compiled from recent albums. The line-up remained until Alan Jones in 1985 had a car accident and Mark Griffiths
of Plainsong (band)
and the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. Brian Bennett resigned from the band some 6 months ahead of the final tour and their contract with Polydor up for renewal. He and Jones shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Marvin played solo again.
(OBE) but Hank Marvin
declined his.
The group reformed in 2004 to mount a farewell tour, and they recorded a new track, "Life Story," (written by the late Jerry Lordan
) to accompany a new greatest hits package of the same name which featured '80s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Cliff Hall and on bass by Mark Griffiths
, was so successful that they extended the tour to Europe in 2005. The line-up was almost the same, but Warren Bennett
, son of Brian, came in on keyboards instead of Hall. On 27 November 2008, a concert tour, with Cliff Richard, for 2009 was announced. On 11 December 2008, Cliff Richard and the Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance
at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour. The tour commenced in September 2009 with 36 shows throughout the UK and Europe and extended to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 2010.
- September 1963
Unlike later groups such as The Beatles
, The Shadows never used the logo on the front of the bass-drum, preferring to allow their two drummers, Tony Meehan
and Brian Bennett, to use their names instead. Belatedly, the logo was used once on the front artwork of the 1975 original studio album, Specs Appeal. As of 2009, the logo still remains untrademarked and uncopyrighted.
In lieu of proper band logo instead four silhouettes of the original line up, in ascending order of height, were used as a pseudo-band logo on concert program covers and various artwork projects such as sheet music, EP and album covers. From left to right after the drum-kit there was Tony Meehan, Jet Harris, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch. The original artwork group silhouette was modified each time a band member was changed. The last version of the Shadows group-silhouette featured Brian Bennett and John Rostill in the late 1960s. During the 1970s EMI dropped the use of the group silhouettes preferring to use silhouettes or light-induced shadows of three guitar necks or color photos of the Shadows for promotion. During the latter half of the 1980s Polydor records used a red Fender Stratocaster (with white scratch plate) guitar as a symbol for the Shadows.
The Shadows developed a number of movement sequences using their bodies and guitars in tempo with the music played, such as the 'walk'. As seen on BBC
's Top of the Pops
this 'walk' has been copied by numerous groups as part of their TOTP presentation e.g. Mud
, The Rubettes
, Showaddywaddy
, Yellow Dog
. The walk consists of three steps contained within a 60-60-60 degree triangle formation with a reverse right-heel back-kick with optional can-can finale. This simple choreographed routine was varied throughout a typical gig during certain numbers, for example, "FBI."
During the 1980s, rather than playing their instruments in a static posture, during an instrumental number, or using "the Shadows' walk," their live act was further refined to include another routine stage movement effect. This featured Marvin, Welch and the bassist synchronising all their guitars in unison as a threesome to move them in time, or in sequence, with critical note or chord changes.
Occasionally, during other instrumentals, this guitars in-step presentation mode is re-engineered with Marvin and Welch acting out of sequence or alternating with each other.
or Adam Faith
). Several members of the original "Cliff Richard and The Shadows" line-up changed their birth names to stage names; Harry Webb became Cliff Richard, Brian Rankin became Hank Marvin, Terrence Harris became Jet Harris, and Bruce Cripps became Bruce Welch. Subsequently the names "Cliff Richard" and "Hank Brian Marvin" were confirmed by deed poll
.
, David Gilmour
, Tony Iommi
, Mark Knopfler
, Neil Young
, Steve Clark
and Randy Bachman
.
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...
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...
group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'.
The Shadows were also successful in the British EP charts that were compiled by several different publications during the 1960s based on sales statistics from a limited number of retailers around the country. The Shadows and Cliff Richard & the Shadows each had four No.1 selling EPs.
According to British Hit Singles & Albums (19th edition), the Shadows are the third most successful UK charted hit-singles act, behind Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Cliff Richard.
Pioneers of the four-member rock-group format (consisting of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums) in the UK, the group enjoyed a second spell of success and interest in their music from the late seventies until disbandment in 1990. Their unique guitar sound was originally produced by a combination of American Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
guitars, British amplifiers made by Vox
Vox (musical equipment)
Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Continental electric organ, and a series of innovative but commercially unsuccessful electric guitars and bass guitars...
and echo units Meazzi Echomatic tape and Binson
Binson
Binson was an early manufacturer of echo machines. Unlike most other analog echo machines, they used an analog magnetic drum recorder instead of a tape loop. Their most famous product was the Binson Echorec....
magnetic disc.
With singer Cliff Richard, the Shadows dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s (i.e. the five-year "Before-Beatles" period: 1958–1962), before 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...
' first full year in the charts in 1963.
John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
once claimed that "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music." As the first backing band to emerge as stars in their own right, they were early trailblazers for the beat-group boom that eclipsed them. – The Times 30 November 2005.
Overview
The Shadows were formed from members of several late 1950s UK skiffle groups: the Newcastle-based "Railroaders" (and also The Five Chesternuts on Columbia Records) who supplied Hank MarvinHank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
and Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch OBE, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows.-Biography:...
, both inspired by US pop music; and The Vipers Skiffle Group
The Vipers Skiffle Group
The Vipers Skiffle Group – later known simply as The Vipers - were one of the leading British groups during the skiffle period of the mid to late 1950s, and were important in the careers of radio and television presenter Wally Whyton, coffee bar manager Johnny Martyn, wire salesman Jean Van den...
(on Parlophone records) who supplied Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
and Tony Meehan
Tony Meehan
Daniel Joseph Anthony "Tony" Meehan was a founder member of the British group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch...
from London, both inspired by UK jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
–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...
music. The Shadows, although originally the live and recording backing band for Cliff Richard, were later marketed as an instrumental combo, following their explosive chart success with the Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan , born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, west London, was an English songwriter, composer and singer.-Career:...
composition "Apache." In the US and Canada, they were briefly marketed as a 'surf' group with two special compilation albums on Atlantic records, The Shadows Know and Surfing with The Shadows, to compete with The Ventures
The Ventures
The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
and The Surfaris
The Surfaris
The Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...
. Although both these albums failed to chart in America, the band had hits worldwide.
The group was created in 1958 out of Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's urgent need for a set of permanent backing musicians, after the success of his "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...
" single, which had been recorded with a mixture of his own "The Five Chesternuts" (later "The Drifters") electrified skiffle group, plus session players. According to Norrie Paramor
Norrie Paramor
Norrie Paramor was a British record producer, composer, arranger, and orchestral conductor.Although the term "producer" was not in circulation at the time Paramor started producing records , he effectively began this role in 1952 when he became Recording Director for EMI's Columbia...
, their first producer, the Shadows' first studio album was dogged throughout its creation by clashes within the band. Harris and Meehan eventually recorded under their own names for Decca Records after, first Meehan and then Harris, left The Shadows following clashes. Meehan was replaced by ex-Krew Kats drummer Brian Bennett, Harris by bassist Brian ("Licorice") Locking, and later John Rostill who stayed with them until the late 60s.
The Shadows disbanded in 1968 but Marvin and Welch subsequently formed a vocal–guitar trio Marvin Welch & Farrar. Because of low sales and fans demanding Shadows numbers at MW&F gigs, The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Brian Bennett as a full member and various extra musicians. The group permanently disbanded in 1990 but temporarily reformed in 2004-05 for a UK and European tour (the reunion being instigated in 2001 by Roger Field, a guitarist friend of Hank Marvin), and again during 2008–10 to tour with Cliff Richard.
History
Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters, the members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian SamwellIan 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"...
on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "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...
", which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows." Two session players, guitarist Ernie Shear and bassist Frank Clark, played on the "Move It" / "Schoolboy Crush" single on producer Norrie Paramor's insistence to ensure a strong sound.
The Drifters signed for Jack Good's
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
Oh Boy! television series. Paramor
Norrie Paramor
Norrie Paramor was a British record producer, composer, arranger, and orchestral conductor.Although the term "producer" was not in circulation at the time Paramor started producing records , he effectively began this role in 1952 when he became Recording Director for EMI's Columbia...
of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho
Soho
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 2i's coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in 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...
) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who played guitar well and had on Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
glasses.
Hank Marvin
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
had played in a school skiffle band with Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch OBE, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows.-Biography:...
. The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan
Tony Meehan
Daniel Joseph Anthony "Tony" Meehan was a founder member of the British group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch...
. The Drifters' professional lineup now complete, became The Shadows in early 1959 to avoid confusion with the contemporary American R&B vocal group The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
. None of the original UK Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows. Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.
The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959 ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"). The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge
Serious Charge (1959 film)
Serious Charge is a 1959 film now most notable for being Cliff Richard’s screen acting début in a very minor supporting role, playing a layabout teenage musician called Curley Thompson.The film was adapted from a stage play written by Philip King...
released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.
In the spring of the same year the US soul group The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
threatened legal action against the British group 'The Drifters' after the release and subsequent immediate withdrawal of the "Feelin Fine" single in the US. The second single "Jet Black" was released in the US under the name 'The Four Jets' as a temporary move to avoid further legal aggravation but a new band name was becoming a matter of urgency if they were to progress. The new band name The Shadows was invented by Jet Harris (apparently unaware of Bobby Vee's backing group) while he and Marvin were relaxing at the Six Bells pub in Ruislip in July 1959.
From "The Story of The Shadows"...with a combination of the American situation, Cliff Richard's runaway success (Living Doll had by now sold over a million copies in Britain alone) and a bit of nudging from Norrie Paramor, we set about finding a permanent name, which arrived out of the blue one summer's day in July 1959 (maybe the 19th.) When Hank Marvin and Jet Harris took off to their scooters up to the Six Bells pub at Ruislip. Jet hit upon a name straight away. 'What about the Shadows?' The lad was a genius! So we became the Shadows for the first time on Cliff's sixth single "Travellin' Light".
1960s
In 1960, the band released "ApacheApache (instrumental)
"Apache" is an instrumental written by Jerry Lordan. It has been recorded by many people, but the first released version was recorded by British group The Shadows in June 1960 and released the following month. The song topped the UK singles chart for five weeks...
," an instrumental by Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan , born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, west London, was an English songwriter, composer and singer.-Career:...
, which topped the charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than "Apache" (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one. The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows," had seven hits.
In October 1961 Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Harris was replaced by Brian Locking
Brian Locking
Brian "Licorice" Locking was the bass guitarist with The Shadows between 1962-1963.- Career :...
, also known as Licorice. Bennett and Licorice were friends from the 2I's who had both previously been in Marty Wilde's backing group The Wildcats who also recorded instrumentals as The Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up also produced seven hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted 18 months.
In October 1963 Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill
John Rostill
John Henry Rostill was an English bassist and composer, recruited by The Shadows to replace Brian Locking.-Biography:...
on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to take over. This final and longest-lasting lineup was also the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced impressive albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had ten hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt
The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt
The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt is an instrumental by the British guitar group, The Shadows. It went to number 5 in the UK. The character Flingel Bunt is an imaginary character invented by the actor Richard O'Sullivan, a friend of The Shadows...
," was also the first of those ten.
During the 1960s the group appeared with Cliff Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
film Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science-fiction film based on Thunderbirds, a 1960s television series starring marionette puppets and featuring scale model effects in a filming process dubbed "Supermarionation"...
. They starred in a short humorous B-movie film called Rhythm 'n Greens which became the basis of a music book and an "EP." They appeared on stage in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
. Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
with Arthur Askey
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey CBE was a prominent English comedian.- Life and career :Askey was born at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the eldest child and only son of Samuel Askey , secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden , of Knutsford, Cheshire...
as Widow Twankey
Widow Twankey
Widow Twankey is a female character in the pantomime Aladdin. The character is a pantomime dame, portrayed by a man; and is a comic foil to the principal boy, Aladdin – played by an actress.-History:...
, Richard as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Toshee. Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest film, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill. In 1967 The Shadows used Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
to feature on one track The Day I Met Marie on their album From Hank Bruce Brian and John (SX6199/SCX6199).
The line-up split in December 1968, after the tenth anniversary album Established 1958, a mixture of tracks (7 plus 7) with Richard, and instrumentals featuring just The Shadows. All were written by the group. Welch left. This was almost the end, although an album (Shades of Rock) in 1970 and a tour of Japan in 1969 followed with Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw is a British composer and performer, particularly of themes for movies and television programmes...
on keyboards; in Marvin's words, they did it 'for the Yen.' The live LP of the tour features a long version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers and choreography by George Balanchine. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart's 1936 Broadway musical comedy On Your Toes. Slaughter is the story of a hoofer who falls in love with a dance hall girl who is then shot and killed...
" in which Marvin plays acoustic and electric guitar.
1970s
The group began 1970 by appearing on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties! was a one-off, seventy five-minute TV special originally broadcast in colour on 31 December 1969, to celebrate the major pop hits of the 1960s. The show was a co-production between the United Kingdom's BBC and Germany's ZDF broadcasters...
, performing "Apache" and backing Cliff Richard for "Bachelor Boy," live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on 31 December 1969. This was followed by Hank and a reconstituted Shadows becoming the resident guests on Cliff Richard's debut TV series for the BBC, It's Cliff Richard!. During the early 1970s, Marvin and Welch had a second career as vocal group Marvin Welch & Farrar with Australian John Farrar
John Farrar
John Farrar is a music producer, songwriter, music arranger, singer and guitarist who is best known for his work with Olivia Newton-John with whom he wrote and produced many hit songs....
as third vocalist. Farrar provided a distinctive, high falsetto vocal style and skill as an arranger. They recorded two acclaimed albums and several singles and, without Welch, a third album Marvin and Farrar, which Marvin described as "Frankenstein meets The Beach Boys". Live performances were hampered by audiences expecting the Shadows' greatest hits. Marvin said (interviewed in Guitar Greats by John Tobler), "In the Batley Variety Club we walked off stage to the sound of our own footsteps!"
The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Welch on rhythm guitar and Farrar on guitar and vocals. Following the death of John Rostill, the group booked session bassists for recordings and tours. Dave Richmond and Alan Tarney
Tarney-Spencer Band
Tarney-Spencer Band was an Australian rock band composed of Trevor Spencer and Alan Tarney in the late 1970s. The band recorded three albums, and is notable for the song "No Time to Lose" which received substantial air-play in the USA on Album-oriented rock radio stations, and charted twice on the...
, who had each provided bass for Marvin, Welch & Farrar, continued for the reformed Shadows. An album, Rockin' with Curly Leads
Rockin' with Curly Leads
Rockin' with Curly Leads is the ninth rock album by British instrumental group The Shadows, released in 1973 through Columbia .-Track listing:-Personnel:*Electric & acoustic guitars - Hank Marvin, John Farrar & Bruce Welch...
featured Marvin using contemporary guitar fuzz effects to modify his sound. Some tracks used Farrar as second lead guitarist, giving this album a very different sound from previous recordings.
1974 was a gap year for the Shadows although they did record some new material for Specs Appeal
Specs Appeal
Specs Appeal is the tenth rock album by British instrumental group The Shadows, released in 1975 through Columbia .-Track listing:-Personnel:*Electric & acoustic guitars - Hank Marvin, John Farrar & Bruce Welch...
album and other material which was only released on CD during the 1990s.
The group were chosen by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton
Bill Cotton
Sir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
to perform the Song for Europe
A Song for Europe
A Song for Europe may refer to:*A Song for Europe, former name of British pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Eurovision: Your Country Needs You...
in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the contest hosted by SR and held in Stockholm, Sweden. The arena for the event was the newly built Stockholm International Fairs in Älvsjö in southern Stockholm. ABBA's victory in Brighton the previous year gave Sweden the right to host the...
. The Shadows recorded six options, seen each week on a weekly television show It's Lulu, televised on BBC1 and hosted by Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, a former Eurovision winner herself. Unusually for the format, instead of presenting each song live in the studio on a weekly basis and then presenting all six songs consecutively in a 'special' edition on week seven, the group pre-taped all six performances separately in the TV studio, before the series itself began, with the video then being cut into the weekly show. For the presentation of the songs on week seven and the announcement of the result on week eight, the pre-recorded performances were run again. Two of the songs ("No, No Nina" and "This House Runs On Sunshine") were co-penned by members of the group themselves. The public however voted for "Let Me Be The One," composed by Paul Curtis
Paul Curtis (musician)
Paul Michael Curtis is an English singer, songwriter, record producer from London, who holds the record for the most number of songs to make the finals of the A Song for Europe contest, the BBC's annual competition to choose the UK entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, competing with 22 separate...
, to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. There, the group came second to the Dutch entry, Teach-In
Teach-In
Teach-In was a Dutch band, best known for winning Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song Ding-A-Dong. The band was founded in 1969 and parted in 1980. Throughout this time there were several changes in lineup.-History:...
's "Ding-A-Dong
Ding-A-Dong
Ding-A-Dong was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975...
". Having long since stepped out of Cliff Richard’s ‘shadow’, this was a rare excursion into lyrics for a band better known for instrumentals (however they had cut vocal tracks on most albums, plus some singles 'B' sides, and had two charting vocal singles in the sixties). Bruce Welch had lead vocal duties, and let the world know when he forgot a couple of words when he turned to his colleagues and said “I knew it” in range of his microphone. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor
John Kennedy O'Connor
John Kennedy O'Connor is an author, entertainment and political commentator, based in the United States. Born in North London, United Kingdom, he has written, reported and broadcast for numerous media organizations, as well as writing, creating and producing media events for a number of...
notes in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History that they were not a popular choice to represent the UK and the viewers' postal vote was the lowest recorded in the 'Song For Europe' history. But the contest re-established The Shadows and the single climbed to number 12 in the UK charts. An album of new material, including both vocal and instrumental tracks Specs Appeal was released to coincide with their Eurovision appearance.
In 1975 EMI also released the live album "Live at the Paris Olympia" which was originally scheduled to have been a double live album with a gatefold sleeve but this was slimmed down to a single vinyl album at the last minute resulting in all the tracks being resequenced. Subsequently in 1992 EMI records reissued the full concert on CD with the tracks in the correct order as at the original concert.
In 1976 EMI released a compilation album of recordings from 1962 to 1970: Rarities with sleeve notes written by John Friesen. The first half of the album was by The Shadows and the second half was from Hank Marvin's solo career.
Following the rare vocal single 'It'll Be Me, Babe' (written and sung by Marvin & Farrar) John Farrar departed the band that year, quite amicably relocating to the USA to successfully Produce Olivia Newton-John. Among her hits Farrar would write 'You're The One That I Want' (covered by The Shadows in 1979) for Olivia & John Travolta for the film 'Grease'.
The packaging of the group's greatest hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977 prompted the group to reform yet again for a tour featuring Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
from Sky
Sky (band)
Sky was a British instrumental group that specialised in fusing a variety of musical styles including light rock, progressive rock, classical and jazz. The group's best known members were classical guitarist John Williams, bass player Herbie Flowers Sky was a British instrumental group that...
on keyboards, leading to a number one album and a top ten hit single "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." Francis left after that tour and the line-up settled as Marvin, Welch and Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass).
1978 was a relatively quiet year other than a one-off concert in London where Don't Cry For Me Argentina was recorded and then over-dubbed and remixed and released as a single with George Ford on Bass.
In 1979 they initially recorded their version of Cavatina
Cavatina
Cavatina is a musical term, originally a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air...
which became another hit single and then they recorded ten more tracks (with Alan Jones
Alan Jones
Alan Jones may refer to:* Alan Jones , Ulster architect* Alan Jones , cinematographer active 1984–1996, see Love Is All There Is* Alan Jones , Welsh cricketer...
on Bass) for the String of Hits
String of Hits
String of Hits is the twelfth rock album by British instrumental group The Shadows, released in 1979 through Columbia .The album was certified Platinum on the 25th of January, 1980.-Track listing:-Personnel:...
album on EMI which topped the album charts causing EMI to moot a follow up compilation album akin to a 'String of Hits-volume 2' with 11 old (plus one unreleased) tracks culled from albums previously released in 1970, 1973, 1975 and 1977 of various cover versions of hit singles which was eventually released as Another String of Hot Hits in 1980.
1980s
The group performed and recorded until 1990, with most of their 1980s albums performing well in the charts. With the exception of Guardian Angel, an album of almost 100% new material, most of 1980s albums featured covers of pop songs, with little original material. The group moved in 1980 from EMI to Polydor with Change of Address. EMI would not agree to a tape leasing scheme, whereby the group would retain copyright of recordings, but the company would be licensed to publish them for individual albums. This resulted in the group re-recording much of its catalogue of 1960s EMI hits for Polydor with the 1989 album At Their Very BestAt Their Very Best
At Their Very Best is an album released by British pop group The Shadows released on April 4, 2000. The tracks were recorded in 1989.-Musicians:*Hank Marvin - guitar*Bruce Welch - guitar*Brian Bennett - Drums/percussion*Mark Griffiths - Bass...
. The recordings were made using analogue equipment but digitally mastered, with instruments, amplifiers, and arrangements close to the original recordings. This has allowed the group to package and market their own compilation albums, featuring old hits as well as new.
Other albums, such as Diamonds, feature no new material, being compiled from recent albums. The line-up remained until Alan Jones in 1985 had a car accident and Mark Griffiths
Mark Griffiths
Mark Griffiths is a British musician famous for touring with Neil Innes in his touring ensemble of the fictional Beatles parody The Rutles where he performs Rutles songs and other songs from his career such as his songs from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He also plays with Cliff Richard's backing...
of Plainsong (band)
Plainsong (band)
Plainsong was originally a British country rock/folk rock band, formed in early 1972 by Ian Matthews, formerly of Fairport Convention; Andy Roberts, previously of The Liverpool Scene; Dave Richards; and Bob Ronga...
and the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. Brian Bennett resigned from the band some 6 months ahead of the final tour and their contract with Polydor up for renewal. He and Jones shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Marvin played solo again.
2000s
In December 2004 The Shadows were each awarded the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) but Hank Marvin
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
declined his.
The group reformed in 2004 to mount a farewell tour, and they recorded a new track, "Life Story," (written by the late Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan
Jerry Lordan , born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, west London, was an English songwriter, composer and singer.-Career:...
) to accompany a new greatest hits package of the same name which featured '80s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Cliff Hall and on bass by Mark Griffiths
Mark Griffiths
Mark Griffiths is a British musician famous for touring with Neil Innes in his touring ensemble of the fictional Beatles parody The Rutles where he performs Rutles songs and other songs from his career such as his songs from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He also plays with Cliff Richard's backing...
, was so successful that they extended the tour to Europe in 2005. The line-up was almost the same, but Warren Bennett
Warren Bennett
Warren Bennett is an English professional golfer.Bennett was born in Ashford, Surrey and is the son of former footballer Peter Bennett. In 1994, he won the Australian Amateur and was the leading amateur at The Open Championship...
, son of Brian, came in on keyboards instead of Hall. On 27 November 2008, a concert tour, with Cliff Richard, for 2009 was announced. On 11 December 2008, Cliff Richard and the Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour. The tour commenced in September 2009 with 36 shows throughout the UK and Europe and extended to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 2010.
Style and image
NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
- September 1963
Band logo
As pioneers in British rock-music The Shadows and their management were naïve in terms of exploiting commercial opportunities such as self-promotion via artwork. They allowed Vox amplification to produce small metallic badges, using an italicised Tahoma type font, with the group name to be positioned on the front bottom right corner of all three Vox cabinets sometime during the early 1960s for gig usage. This badge became the "default" band logo but was never commercially exploited by the group.Unlike later groups such as 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...
, The Shadows never used the logo on the front of the bass-drum, preferring to allow their two drummers, Tony Meehan
Tony Meehan
Daniel Joseph Anthony "Tony" Meehan was a founder member of the British group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch...
and Brian Bennett, to use their names instead. Belatedly, the logo was used once on the front artwork of the 1975 original studio album, Specs Appeal. As of 2009, the logo still remains untrademarked and uncopyrighted.
In lieu of proper band logo instead four silhouettes of the original line up, in ascending order of height, were used as a pseudo-band logo on concert program covers and various artwork projects such as sheet music, EP and album covers. From left to right after the drum-kit there was Tony Meehan, Jet Harris, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch. The original artwork group silhouette was modified each time a band member was changed. The last version of the Shadows group-silhouette featured Brian Bennett and John Rostill in the late 1960s. During the 1970s EMI dropped the use of the group silhouettes preferring to use silhouettes or light-induced shadows of three guitar necks or color photos of the Shadows for promotion. During the latter half of the 1980s Polydor records used a red Fender Stratocaster (with white scratch plate) guitar as a symbol for the Shadows.
The Shadows' 'walk'
In 1958 Bruce Welch went to see a concert as part of the ill-fated 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis tour of the UK of which he later said:
On the show was this black American band called The TreniersThe TreniersThe Treniers were an American R&B and jump blues musical group, led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. Their Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra included Don Hill on saxophone, Shifty Henry and later James Johnson on bass, Henry Green on drums and Gene Gilbeaux on piano, with the Treniers Twins and...
. Hank Marvin and I were at the back, and we were really impressed at the way the sax players moved in unison, taken, I suppose, from the Glenn Miller days. It looked fantastic and we thought, "We must do something like that because it looks so interesting from the front."
The Shadows developed a number of movement sequences using their bodies and guitars in tempo with the music played, such as the 'walk'. As seen on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
this 'walk' has been copied by numerous groups as part of their TOTP presentation e.g. Mud
Mud (band)
Mud were an English glam rock band, formed in February 1968, best remembered for their single "Tiger Feet", which was the UK's best-selling single of 1974...
, The Rubettes
The Rubettes
The Rubettes were an English pop band assembled in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, then the head of A&R at Polydor Records, and his co-songwriter, Tony Waddington, after their doo-wop and 1950s American pop-influenced songs had been rejected by a number of existing acts...
, Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, England. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.-History:...
, Yellow Dog
Yellow dog
- Animals :* Yellow Dog or Carolina Dog, wild dog variety in the southern United States* Nureongi, a Korean dog raised for its meat* Old Yeller, novel about a yellow dog* Yellow Dog Dingo, a character in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories- Arts :...
. The walk consists of three steps contained within a 60-60-60 degree triangle formation with a reverse right-heel back-kick with optional can-can finale. This simple choreographed routine was varied throughout a typical gig during certain numbers, for example, "FBI."
During the 1980s, rather than playing their instruments in a static posture, during an instrumental number, or using "the Shadows' walk," their live act was further refined to include another routine stage movement effect. This featured Marvin, Welch and the bassist synchronising all their guitars in unison as a threesome to move them in time, or in sequence, with critical note or chord changes.
Occasionally, during other instrumentals, this guitars in-step presentation mode is re-engineered with Marvin and Welch acting out of sequence or alternating with each other.
Stage names
During the late 1950s in the UK many pop stars were expected to undergo a name change to a 'stage' name, (as in the case of Billy FuryBilly 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...
or Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
). Several members of the original "Cliff Richard and The Shadows" line-up changed their birth names to stage names; Harry Webb became Cliff Richard, Brian Rankin became Hank Marvin, Terrence Harris became Jet Harris, and Bruce Cripps became Bruce Welch. Subsequently the names "Cliff Richard" and "Hank Brian Marvin" were confirmed by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
.
Legacy and influence
The Shadows have been cited as a major influence on some American guitarists but also many British, Australian, Canadian and European guitarists, including Eric ClaptonEric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, Steve Clark
Steve Clark
Stephen Maynard Clark was an English musician, co-lead guitarist for the British hard rock band Def Leppard up until his death in 1991 due to a combination of alcohol and multiple prescription drugs...
and Randy Bachman
Randy Bachman
Randolph Charles "Randy" Bachman, OC, OM is a Canadian musician best known as lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s–70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive...
.
Remakes and cover versions
- Apache, by Jørgen IngmannJørgen IngmannJørgen Ingmann is a musician from Copenhagen, Denmark.He worked with Svend Asmussen, the jazz violinist, during the 1940s and part of the 1950s....
, Tony Iommi, Fat Boy Slim, The VenturesThe VenturesThe Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
, Bert Weedon and many others. - The Savage, by The Ventures.
- Peace Pipe, by the Ventures.
- FBI, by Status Quo and Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
. - Man of Mystery, by Chet AtkinsChet AtkinsChester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
and Muse.
Further reading
- Driftin' with Cliff Richard, by J. Harris, R. Ellis and C. Richard. 1959. no ISBN.
- The Cliff Richard Story by G.Tremlett, Futura Pub Limited, London, 1975, ISBN 0 8600 7232 0
- The Shadows by Themselves by Royston Ellis with The Shadows. Consul Books. 1961. No ISBN
- The Story of the Shadows by Mike Read. 1983. Elm Tree books. ISBN 0-241-10861-6
- Rock 'n' Roll, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life—A Life In The Shadows by Bruce Welch. ISBN 0-670-82705-3 (Penguin Books)
- That Sound (From Move It on, the story of the magic sound of The Shadows), by R.Pistolesi, M.Addey & M.Mazzini. Publ: Vanni Lisanti. June 2000. No ISBN
- A pocket guide to Shadow music, by M.Campbell, R.Bradford, L.Woosey. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-4-3
- A guide to The Shadows and Hank Marvin on CD, by M.Cambell & L.Woosey. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-3-5
- The Shadows at Polydor, by M.Campbell. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-2-7
- The Shadows at EMI, by M.Campbell. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-1-9
- The Complete Rock Family Rock Trees, by Pete Frame. Omnibus. ISBN 0711968799
- 17 Watts, by Mo Foster. ISBN ?
- The Shadows Discography, by John Friesen. No ISBN
- The Shadows Discography, by George Geddes. No ISBN
- Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles & Albums (19th Edn), David Roberts. ISBN 1-904994-10-5
- The Complete Book of the British Charts Singles and Albums, by Neil Warwick, Jon Kutner & Tony Brown, 3rd Edn. ISBN 978-1844490585
- John Farrar—Music makes my day, (A Shadsfax-Tribute-40pp-booklet), by T.Hoffman, A.Hardwick, S.Duffy, G.Jermy, A.Lewis, J.Auman. No ISBN
- John Rostill—Funny old world, (Tribute-60pp-booklet), by Robert Bradford. No ISBN
- Jet Harris—Survivor, by Dave Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-9562679-0-0, 31 Oct 2009.
- Meet the Shadows, by ?. No ISBN.
- Meet Jet and Tony, by ?. No ISBN.
- The Shadows Complete, by ?.
- Revolution in the head, by I.MacDonald. ISBN 978-0099526797.
External links
- cliffandshads.co.uk Cliff Richard and The Shadows discography
- Sounding discography by The Shadows
- World News Network article with photo of Hank Marvin and Roger C. Field, the instigator of the reunion.
- ftvdb.bfi.org.uk - The Shadows in films (BFI database)