Jump to content

The Shadows

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 193.19.158.199 (talk) at 15:47, 6 April 2010 (→‎1970s: added note on single and album). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the band. For their eponymous album, see The Shadows (album).
The Shadows

The Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a total of 69 UK hit charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' plus 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s.

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.

The Shadows were pioneers of the four-member rock-group format (consisting of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums) in the UK. They enjoyed a second wave revival spell of success and interest in their music from the late seventies until disbandment in 1990. Their unique[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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.[1]

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 Marvin and Bruce Welch, both inspired by USA-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 USA 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 Harris and then Meehan, 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 Hank Marvin and Bruce 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. They 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),[2][3][4][5]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 Samwell 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, play 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. Producer Norrie 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 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 was now complete, and they 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. Johnny 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 1959 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 USA. The 2nd single "Jet Black" was released in the USA by '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 Hank 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 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".[6]

1960s

In 1960, the band released "Apache", 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 (1 week). 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 10 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 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.

The line-up split in December 1968, after the tenth anniversary album Established 1958, a mixture of tracks 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) and a tour of Japan 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.

1970s

The group began 1970 by appearing on the BBC'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 December 31, 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".[citation needed] 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, Rocking 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.

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". 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.[7] 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. Other records followed.

In 1976 EMI released a compilation album of recordings from 1962 to 1970: "Rarities" with sleeve notes written by John Friesen.

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).

1980s

The Shadows Live At Abbey Road

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 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 EMI hits for Polydor . 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 Jones had a car accident and Mark Griffiths of the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. He and Jones shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Marvin played solo again.

2000s

The group reformed in 2004 – healing a rift of over 10 years — 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 1980s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Hall and on bass by 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.[8]. 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.

Newspaper articles

The Times

On 24th March 1962, some 9 months before the Beatles broke into the UK music charts, The Times published an article about The Shadows:

Notes On Broadcasting FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Not least among the cultural revolutions of the past 10 years is the revolution in popular music that began with skiffle. In America, where the word originated, it means a rent party (i.e. a performance put on for friends by destitute musicians to pay the rent). But in England it refers strictly to the native style that brought Mr. Lonnie Donegan to fame...But the actual playing of numbers like "Apache " and " Wonderful Land" (227.000 copies sold) had a rhythmic bite and variety of tone colour that placed it at a very distant remove from the raw monotonous blur from which it used to be so hard to escape. What came out very clearly was the players' total absorption in the music; they obviously felt they were doing something beautiful.

The Daily Telegraph

On 25th Sept 2009, The Daily Telegraph published an article about The Shadows' reunion with Cliff Richard (2009-10 World Tour) titled: Hank Marvin: 'We should have taken Harrison's advice and sung'. The Shadows were "idiots" to remain an instrumental-only group, lead guitarist Hank Marvin has said as he disclosed that Beatle George Harrison once advised them to start singing on their records.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph[9], Marvin said The Shadows deserve recognition for being Britain's first rock and roll act, but the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are always given the credit. "It does seem to begin with the Beatles and the Stones. [The Press] seem unaware that we had an international career, and had a massive influence everywhere in the world except for the USA." Marvin blamed the band's management for taking them in an old-fashioned direction. "Our managers, our agents, everyone around us were much older men and they were all saying rock'n'roll wouldn't last. We were kids... and we went along with it. Suddenly it was TV shows and dancers and the Royal Variety Show. That's what people like us did."


Style and image

Band logo

As pioneers in British rock-music The Shadows and their management were naïve in terms of commercial exploitation opportunities such as self-promotion via artwork etc. 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 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 remains untrademarked and uncopyrighted.

In lieu of a 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: (Drum-kit,) 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 1960's. During the 1970's EMI dropped the use of the group silhouettes preferring to use silhouettes or light induced shadows of 3 guitar necks or color photos of the Shadows for promotion. During the latter half of the 1980's Polydor records used a red fender stratocaster (with white scratch plate) guitar as a symbol for the Shadows.

By contrast, thanks to its proactive management, The Beatles' band-logo with its dropped 'T' was commercially exploited to great effect, not only on the kick-drum but also as an artwork icon in its own right, such as on stationery, posters and album releases Since the invention, and subsequent wide ranging usage, of the Beatles' logo (created by Eddie Stokes in 1963), all successful UK bands have, with the aid of graphics or art-work specialists in this field, produced a band-logo often as an artwork piece of work (e.g. The Who with an arrow-head on top of the 'h') to further promote their group throughout its career often trade-marking it to protect it from copyright infringement.

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 Treniers. 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."[10]

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, etc. The walk consists of a 3 step walk 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 e.g. 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 stage movement routine effect. This featured Marvin, Welch and the bassist synchronizing 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, (e.g. Billy Fury 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.[11][12]

Legacy

According to the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums (19th edition), The Shadows are the 3rd most successful UK charted hit-singles act, behind Elvis Presley (1st – 136 hits) and Cliff Richard(2nd – 125 hits). In addition, in terms of UK No. 1 hit singles The Shadows are, with 12 No.1's, the 6th most successful chart act, behind Elvis Presley (1st – 21 no.1's), The Beatles (2nd – 17 no.1's), Cliff Richard (3rd – 16 no.1's), Westlife (4th – 14 no.1's), and Madonna (5th – 13 no.1's). The band were also a major influence on Black Sabbath guitarist, Tony Iommi.[13]

As a result of two early 1960s special USA made compilation vinyl-albums "The Shadows Know" and "Surf with The Shadows", several notable American guitarists have also cited The Shadows as a primary influence in their music career choice e.g. Carlos Santana, Neil Young, Randy Bachman[citation needed]. There are at least 2 more USA made/produced Shadows-tribute albums: "The Shadows are go!" (on Scamp/Caroline records) and "Twang—a tribute to Hank Marvin and The Shadows" on Pangea Music records.

Band members

The Drifters (Mar 1958-Aug 1959)
  • Mar 1958 - Cliff Richard (vocals/guitar), Ian Samwell (guitar), Terry Smart (drums) [no recordings]
  • Apr 1958 - Cliff Richard (vocals/guitar), Ken Pavey (guitar), Ian Samwell (guitar), Terry Smart (drums) [no recordings]
  • Jun 1958 - Cliff Richard (vocals/guitar), Norman Mitcham (guitar), Ian Samwell (bass), Terry Smart (drums) [HMV-Acetate]
  • Jul 1958 - Ian Samwell (bass), Terry Smart (drums) & E.Shears (guitar), F. Clarke (guitar) [Move it/High class baby]
  • Sep 1958 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Ian Samwell (bass), Terry Smart(drums) [no recordings]
  • Nov 1958 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass guitar), Terry Smart(drums) [Livin lovin doll]
  • Jan 1959 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass guitar), Tony Meehan (drums) [Mean streak++/album/Live(UK/ab)]
  • Aug 1959 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass guitar), Laurie Jay (drums) [Live(ab)]
The Shadows 1959-1970
  • Sep 1959 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass guitar), Tony Meehan (drums) [album/EP/7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • Sep 1961 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass guitar), Brian Bennett (drums) [album/EP/7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • Mar 1962 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Locking (bass guitar), Brian Bennett (drums) [album/EP/7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • Nov 1963 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Rostill (bass guitar), Brian Bennett (drums) [album/EP/7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • Jan 1968 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Locking (bass guitar) [LiveUK]
  • Jan 1968 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Locking (bass guitar), Tony Meehan (drums) [LiveUK]
  • Feb 1968 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Rostill (bass guitar), Brian Bennett (drums) [album/7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • Feb 1968 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards), John Rostill (bass guitar), Brian Bennett( drums) [7"/live(UK/ab)]
  • ??? 1970 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards), Brian Bennett (drums), Herbie Flowers (b), B.Odgers (bass guitar) [album]
Marvin Welch and Farrar 1970-71
  • Nov 1970 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), [live(UK/ab)]
  • ??? 1970 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), D. Richmond (b)=[album/7"]
  • ??? 1971 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), G. Atherton (bass guitar) [live(BBCR1)]
  • ??? 1971 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Tarney (bass guitar) [live(UK/ab)]
  • ??? 1971 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Dave Richmond (bass guitar) [album/7"]
Marvin and Farrar 1973
  • ??? 1973 - Hank Marvin (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), D. Olney (bass guitar), A. Steele (drums) [live(UK/ab)]
  • ??? 1973 - Hank Marvin (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Alan Tarney (bass guitar), T. Spencer (drums) [album/7"]
The Shadows 1973-1986
  • Dec 1973 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Mo Foster (bass guitar) [live(BBCR2)]
  • ??? 1973 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Tarney (bass guitar) [album/7"]
  • ??? 1974 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Dave Richmond (bass guitar), J. Fiddy (keyboards) [album/7"]
  • ??? 1975 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), John Farrar (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Tarney (bass guitar) [album/7"/liveUK/ab]
  • ??? 1977 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Jones (bass guitar), Francis Monkman (keyboards) [live(UK)]
  • ??? 1978 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Mo Foster (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [live(UK)]
  • ??? 1979 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Jones (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [album/7"/live(UK)]
  • ??? 1980 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), George Ford (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [live(ab)]
  • ??? 1981 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Alan Jones (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [album/live(UK)]
  • ??? 1986 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Paul Westwood (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [album]
  • ??? 1986 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Mark Griffiths (bass guitar), Cliff Hall (keyboards) [album/live(UK/ab)]
The Shadows 2004
  • ??? 2004 - Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Brian Bennett (drums), Mark Griffiths (bass guitar), Warrren Bennett (keyboards) live(UK/ab)]

Current members

Session musicians (Studio)

Concert tours/gigs

See The Shadows concert tours

Discography

For discography including sheet music, see The Shadows discography

Appendix – A

Producers
Engineers
  • Malcolm Addey (1958–1962)
  • Peter Vince (1963–1979)
Management
Publicity
  • Leslie Perrin Associates(1960-?)
Tour manager
  • Sid Maurice(1960-?)
Agency
  • Eddie Jarrett (1960–1990)
Administration/Coordinator
  • David Bryce (1960–1990)
Promotion (Tour)
  • The Grade Organization (1960–1990)
  • Mel Bush (2004–2005)
Band manager
  • Sam Curtis (1959-196?)
Guitar Technician/roadie
  • Sam Curtis (1959-196?)
  • John 'Lionel' Ward (1973–2005)
Driver(Bedford van-362DYH).
  • Joe Lee
Guitars (Lead#1 – Marvin)
Guitars (Lead#2 – Farrar)
Guitars (Rhythm – Welch)
Amplifiers (Lead#1 – Marvin)
Amplifiers (Lead#2 – Farrar)
Amplifiers (Rhythm – Welch)
Guitar SFX(Lead#1 – Marvin)
Bass
Drums
  • 1959-1961: Ajax. (Tony Meehan)
  • 1961-1961: Gretsch. (Tony Meehan)
  • 1961-1964: Trixon (Brian Bennett)
  • 1964-1968: Ludwig black (Brian Bennett)
  • 1964-1968: Ludwig sparkle (Brian Bennett)
  • 1973–1990: Premier (Brian Bennett)
  • 2000–2010: Zildjian. (Brian Bennett)
Keyboards
  • 1969-1970: ? (Alan Hawkshaw)
  • 1973-1974: ? (John Fiddy)
  • 1975-1976: Piano/Yamaha (Alan Tarney)
  • 1977-1977: ? (Francis Monkman)
  • 1978-1990: Yamaha. (Cliff Hall)
  • 2004  : Roland XP80, Roland XP30 (Cliff Hall) UK Tour 2004
  • 2004-2010: Roland XP50 (Warren Bennett)(European Tour 2004)

Appendix – B

Early promotional moto

To promote the original Shadows line-up Leslie Perrin Associates coined the phrase (the) "Awesome Foursome" in 1960 some 3 years ahead of the Beatles' well known moto (the) "Fab Four".

Unique all-time achievement in UK Charts

The Shadows are the only group (or chart act for that matter)[citation needed] to top all 3 (singles, EPs, and albums) UK charts with a single ("Kon-Tiki"), an EP ("The Shadows") and an album ("The Shadows To The Fore") all at No.1 in the same week in 1961.

"The Shadows" but not THE Shadows!
  • 1958: USA pop band: Bobby Vee and The Shadows (Featuring Bob Dylan)
  • 1993: USA rock band: The Shadows
  • 197?: WI ska band: The Shadows (Trojan label)
Videography
  • 1978: Thank You Very Much (VHS) – 1st reunion with Cliff Richard
  • 1984: Together With Cliff & The Shadows (VHS) – 2nd reunion with Cliff Richard
  • 1984: EP (VHS/DVD)
  • 1985: Knebworth - mini reunion with Cliff Richard VHS/LD)
  • 1989: Live at Liverpool (VHS/12" Laserdisc)
  • 2004: Final Tour (VHS/DVD)
  • 2009: Reunited (DVD) – 3rd reunion with Cliff Richard
Film & Pantomimes Appearances
Pantomime Appearances
Film music contributions
Fans
  • UK-Convention: Shadowmania(1998–2008), Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey,UK
  • WW-Fan-base: 5000 (estimated worldwide completists)
  • UK-Fan-club: Shadsfax [previous: Shadows Circle of friends(Australia) and Record Scene(UK)]
Fan Club

Due to misgivings from within the group concerning the likelihood of any official Shadows fan-club going bust, The Shadows' founder members during the early 1960's never 'encouraged' any official or unofficial fan club in the UK, thus perhaps resulting in inevitable lost opportunities and other consequences (q. v. non-charting 1967 studio album: "From Hank Bruce Brian and John"). Thus fans had to source the UK music press or the official Cliff Richard UK fan club for group news or new release information.

During the period 1970–85 "The Record Scene" shop in Ashford in Middlesex managed by a fan John Freisen, in lieu of any fan club, acted as a focal meeting point for committed fans and completists keen to plug gaps in their collections. This shop gained kudos when the members of the group made occasional personal appearances. In more recent times their attitude towards any Shadows based fan club has relaxed somewhat.

In more recent years unofficial fan clubs have been created to act as a data source and debating forum: in Australia, The Shadows circle of friends, and in the UK, Shadsfax. After the collapse of the Record Scene shop, another UK based record shop, Leo's Den, took over from where Record Scene left off until it became an internet only dealer in the mid/late-1990's.

In the 21st century, up-to-date CD/DVD releases and news bulletins are currently handled by www.leosden.co.uk.

All time Top 50 UK Chart (singles sales)

In 2005 the Official UK Charts Company with Channel4 TV published an all-time top 50 UK singles chart based on career aggregate sales of both hits and misses of the top selling 50 artists/groups of all time.

The Shadows with only 5 million sales were 43rd in this chart but were not credited at all with any of their joint-collaboration 34 hit singles with Cliff Richard (q. v. "Cliff Richard and The Shadows" or "Cliff Richard and The Drifters"). Coincidentally, The Supremes, without Diana Ross written on the label, with career sales approaching 5 millions also finished in the bottom 10 places of this chart despite having had considerably more than 30 hit singles during their career both as "The Supremes" (including Diana Ross within the trio but not named on the label) and "Diana Ross and The Supremes". Other UK pop-music publications interprete these joint-collaboration matters differently. These anomalies are 'corrected' in the later (e.g. 16th and onwards) editions of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums published by Guinness Books and in fact several other well known UK chart type books published in the UK follow the Guinness methodology.

In this chart, all other joint collaboration-singles were duly credited to both parties: q. v. 'and', 'feat(uring)', 'with', etc., on the label A side. Groups and soloists in this top 50 chart that have had at least one or more joint-collaboration, either as the 1st or 2nd named artist on the A sided label, singles include: Queen, Status Quo, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, George Michael, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John, Phil Collins, Shaking Stevens, Tom Jones, Celine Dion, Robbie Williams, etc.

An obvious example is the hit DJM single "Slow Rivers" by Cliff Richard and Elton John which is double-counted in this chart. Elton John's, Cliff Richard's (post-"Cliff Richard and The Shadows" career) and Diana Ross's (solo; and as an un-named member of The Supremes trio and "Diana Ross and the Supremes") careers, to name but a few, heavily feature numerous duets with many famous other pop-stars.

Tribute Bands

Bruce Welch’s Shadows; Tangent; Echoes; The Rapiers; The Runaways; The Foot Tappers; Reflection; UB Hank Band; The Apaches; The Bootleg Shadows; Out of the Shadows; The Moonlight shadows; The Five O’clock Shadows; Bungelflint; Shadtastic; Lost For Words; The Evening Shadows; Shadoogie; The Young Ones; The Midnight Shadows; The Shadows tribute band; Legend; The Epitones; Guitar ZZ; Los Jets; The Saunters; FBI; The Vibratos; Indra and Move it; The Local Heroes; ‘1961’; The Silhoutes; The Shadsfaxers; The Lefties; Sentone and the shadow caster; Nivram; The Backbeats; Guitar Syndicate; Shotgun Ltd; The Beat-Shadows; The Marvingers; The Ryders; Fiesta Red; The Red Strats; The Sleepwalkers; The Shadmasters; The Light Valley Shadows; Atlantis; The Past Masters; Shadivarius; The Shadowcasters; The Sangrounders; Shaboogie; Shazam; The Shadders; The Shudders; The Silver Shadows; The Shadtones; Tom Jet and the MTGs; The Delsonics; Beyond the Shadows; Cliff Richard and The Shadows Club Italia band; Rich Clifford and The Saddows; Wodash (pre-internet); Zoe McCulloch (solo); Matilda (solo); James McSkimming (solo); Chris Watts (solo); Peter Williams (solo); Pierre Teodori (solo); Guitar George (solo); Jean-Pierre Danel (solo); Mark Griffiths (solo); Warren Bennett (solo); Cliff Hall (solo)

Innovation

As innovators in rock music The Shadows invented the bass solo and the drum solo that is now common usage by some rock bands e.g. Fleetwood Mac.

  • Bass solo: Nivram (live and studio)
  • Drum solo (studio): See you in my drums (Meehan); Little B (Bennett); Big B (Bennett)
  • Drum solo (live): Little B (Bennett); Honourable puff-puff (Bennett); Arty's Party (Bennett); Captain Haddock (Bennett)
Major Awards
  • 1978: Nordorf-Robbins: Lifetime achievement (as Cliff Richard and The Shadows)
  • 1983: Ivor-Novello: Songwriting
  • 1989: BPI (Brits): Lifetime achievement. (as Cliff Richard and The Shadows)
  • 199?: SCALA: Brian Bennett, Bruce Welch – Song writing
  • 2005: O.B.E. (Hank Marvin refused his OBE)
Sampled

The Shadows' Apache track has been sampled several times by American hip-hop musicians since the mid-1980s. "Wonderful Land" has also been sampled.

Record Sales

Despite of the fact that over 260 different CD-albums and hundreds of vinyl-albums (both mostly compilations of singles hits) have been manufactured for The Shadows around the world, statistics of record sales by The Shadows are complicated by a unique circumstance in that the Shadows' worldwide record sales have not, so far, been career-aggregated by their 2 record labels: EMI records and Polydor records (Universal Music) or by the Official UK Chart Company. This situation is likely to remain so for some time to come due to prior commitments by all parties who hold the raw data. This situation is further complicated by the fact that The Shadows spent their first 10 years assisting Cliff Richard's successful career helping him to amass sales figs of 260 millions around the world.

Apache around the world

EMI records (via their US branch: Capitol Records) failed at all to promote The Shadows version of Apache in the USA despite it being a hit around the rest of the world. The Ventures used their version of Apache as an album track. Bert Weedon recorded his version of Apache before the Shadows' version but only belatedly rush released his in the wake of the Shadows version fast climbing the UK charts in Summer of 1960. In the USA, Danish guitarist, Jorgen Ingmann had a major Billboard no1 hit with his version of Apache.

USA tour in 1960.

During January 1960, some 5 years ahead of Beatlemania in the USA in 1964, Cliff Richard and The Shadows toured the USA and Canada using a Greyhound bus in the wake of Cliff Richard's USA Billboard hit single Living Doll.

"They were booked to appear on a 'Biggest Show of Stars 1960 Winter Edition' along side singers like Sammy Turner, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Freddy Cannon and Johnny and The Hurricanes (plus The Clovers and The Isley Brothers)...Ahead of them lay the excitement of their first American tour and appearances on Network TV programmes with Perry Como and Pat Boone...In the deep south, though, we came across the colour question, which created problems, as both our compare and our American road manager were black. We thought that the two guys were great because they refused to let it upset them, and while he was in Norfolk, Virginia, Cliff announced that he'd never record in the States because the Musicians' Union wouldn't allow him to use his own group".

The Shadows never returned to tour the USA or Canada again but Cliff Richard toured the USA in the late 1970's (with help from Elton John) and again in the 1980's (with support from Olivia Newton-John) in the wake of USA hits Devil Woman, We Don't Talk Anymore and Suddenly.[14].

EMI's Abbey Road Studio 2

Some 5 years ahead of Beatlemania in the UK, thanks to the pioneering work of their first producer, Norrie Paramor, The Shadows and Cliff Richard then had unrestricted access to and usage of EMI's now world famous Abbey Road Studios. By 1963 and onwards the Cliff and The Shadows had to share this world class recording facility with The Beatles, The Hollies, etc and then in the 1970's with Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Olivia Newton-John and Kate Bush.[15].

Other notable achievements
  • 1960: First promo film (video) made for Apache single (group mimed to their instruments).
  • 1961: Experienced mass hysteria in South Africa.
  • 1963: "the Shadows" mentioned on sleeve notes of Please Please Me by The Beatles.
  • 1967: First solo album by Brian Bennett Change of Direction.
  • 1975: First group entry for Eurovision Song Contest.
  • 1976: First group to have a Rarities album.

References

  1. ^ Anon. "Tony Meehan". Spectropop remembers. Retrieved 04 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ Otago Daily Times, New Zealand, June 2, 2001 newspaper article with Jet Harris stating Field's intention to reunite The Shadows (article "Scoop, from out of left field")
  3. ^ Classical Guitar Magazine, UK June 2005, page 40 (Detailed account of Field reuniting The Shadows)
  4. ^ Gitarre & Bass Magazine, Germany September 2004, page 88 (Field and The Shadows included in this article)
  5. ^ Newcastle Evening Chronicle "Pal Returns Shadows to Fame," May 1, 2004
  6. ^ http://www.ruislip.co.uk/pubs/sixbells.htm
  7. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  8. ^ Cliff and The Shadows to reunite
  9. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/6231899/Hank-Marvin-We-should-have-taken-Harrisons-advice-and-sung.html
  10. ^ Leigh, Spencer (24 November 2003). "Obituary: Claude Trenier:". The Independent. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 09 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ Adelson, Martin. "The Shadows". The Penguin Biographies. Martin and Lisa Adelson. Retrieved 09 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Cliff Richard Biography". yuddy.com. Yuddy, LLC. 2008. Retrieved 09 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  13. ^ Gill, Chris (December 2008). "The Eternal Idol". Guitar World.
  14. ^ Book: The Story of the Shadows,p76.
  15. ^ Book: That Sound, Ch5-'Behind the scenes at Abbey Road studios',by Malcolm Addey,p44-56.

Further reading

  • Driftin' with Cliff Richard, by J. Harris, R. Ellis and C. Richard
  • 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, 31st Oct 2009.
  • Meet the Shadows, by ?. No ISBN.
  • Meet Jet and Tony, by ?. No ISBN.
  • The Shadows Complete, by ?.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Shadows.
Preceded by UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
1975 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Shadows&oldid=354337050"