By Pete Langford WHOA: is it really coming up to 60 years for us Barron Knights. So many things, going back all those years, have stuck in my mind and will always be there. I was 15 when I bought my first guitar and luckily I met Butch who lived only three miles away.His dad taught him banjo but he soon got good on the guitar and...
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By Pat Murphy Looking back a half-century, 1969 was a pretty decent year for pop music. Here are 10 records to prove the point. The organisation is chronological, based on my recollection of when I first heard them on Toronto radio. The Fifth Dimension: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In Although I wasn’t initially keen on this, it did...
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By Martin Hutchinson FINALLY it has happened. The Zombies have at last been inducted into the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. The award, voted for by fans and peers, comes after the band has undergone a bit of a change following bassist Jim Rodford’s passing last January. “Jim was a mentor to me,” said founder-member...
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By Derek Mead JUDITH DURHAM was born Judith Mavis Cock in Essendon, Victoria, Australia on July 3, 1943. Until 1950, she lived in Essendon and attended the primary school there. From early 1950 she lived in Taroona, Hobart, Tasmania, before returning to Melbourne in 1956. There, she attended Ruyton Girls School before enrolling at...
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By Pat Murphy With 124 Top 40 hits under his belt – 68 of which were Top 10 – it’s inevitable people associate Cliff with his hit records. To many, that’s who he is: nothing less but nothing more. In reality, though, there’s much more. In this sixth and concluding instalment of a series acknowledging Cliff’s 60th anniversary in...
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60s Retro Night: The Fortunes, David Hamilton HELPING raise money for Vari- ety Wessex, a 60s Retro event stars The Fortunes, with a retro 60s disco hosted by former Radio 1 DJ David Diddy Hamilton. The Fortunes, one of the UK’s premier harmony groups with a string of hit records including You’ve Got Your Troubles, Here...
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Review by music historian and author Peter Checksfield THE HIGHEST point for me recently was the publication in July of my first book, Channelling The Beat!, which received almost unanimous glowing reviews. I was now really looking forward to what is almost becoming an annual event, the Sixties Gold show, which I would watch at...
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The return of the Martians By Martin Hutchinson NO-ONE would have believed that, in 2015, after a sixth sell-out UK tour, when Jeff Wayne said that that was the final ‘War Of The Worlds’ tour, that he’d be back. “It was genuinely thought to be the last.” Jeff said. “We had just signed to do a West End run and for that, the show had...
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By Martin Hutchinson THE OSMONDS are back – well, two of the singing brothers are heading back to the UK with their band to recreate the joy of their Christmas shows – but with a difference. The group, famous for hits Love me For A Reason, Let Me In and of course Crazy Horses, has been performing in some guise or other for six...
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By Martin Hutchinson YES, it’s that time again. The annual Sensational 60s Experience from October to Spring. It gathers arguably some of the best of the sixties artists, half a dozen of them – as well as the terrific New Amen Corner, who back the solo acts. Mike Pender, original voice of The Searchers who – with his trusty...
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By James Stewart Marty Balin, Jefferson Airplane guitarist and co-founder has died, aged 76. The San Francisco psychedelic rock band was founded in 1965 and Marty helped create their 1960s albums, including Surrealistic Pillow and Volunteers. Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady said: “He was a great songwriter and singer who...
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By Jim Stewart On August 16, we lost someone special: Aretha Franklin, has been like an ever-present friend of mine for the past 55 years. A true legend, the like of which we will never see again. Music is only part of her legacy; she was also prominent in the Civil Rights struggle, continuing to work and challenge for equality...
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By Robert Ruiz John Verity began his music career in the 1960s. By the spring of 1970, John was living and working in the US, doing prestigious support slots with many of the big names of the day, including Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Canned Heat, Savoy Brown, and Janis Joplin. The John Verity Band, formed in Miami later that year. On...
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A young band used family inspiration to revive the sounds of the 60s. The Tyneside band celebrates 60s music but the members were born in the 80s. Now a professional 60s tribute band, The Moonbeats, are four Tyneside based musicians in their late 20s and early 30s. Inspiration from their parents and a love of the music of the time...
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By Pat Murphy The fifth installment in an occasional series marking Cliff’s 60th anniversary in the music business. The focus this time is on Cliff the duetist, a career dimension that blossomed in the 1980s. Interestingly, all of the tracks mentioned are ones where Cliff was invited to guest on other people’s projects. While the...
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THE BLACK funk music sounds of six off-white Scottish musicians has been arousing a deal of enthusiastic comment. By Richard Green IN TERMS of hard work, the Average White Band must be near the top of the big league lately. Almost exactly a year ago they were invited to America to back Bonnie Bramlett on her solo album, they began...
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THE BAND SAILOR’S last chart entry – the humorous One Drink Too Many, in 1977, possibly led to their break-up in 1980. Georg formed the eclectic band Data, Grant became a teacher, Henry composed music for film and TV, and Phil Pickett had success as keyboard player with Culture Club, and co-wrote their massive hit Karma...
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THE BEAT, starring Dave Wakeling, performed around the UK from May 25 to June 17. From the late seventies into the early eighties, The Beat was one of the biggest bands around. Their first two albums got to No.3 in the charts and they garnered no less than five Top Ten singles hits, including Mirror In The Bathroom and a brace of...
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THE LATE Dean Martin is a legend, an absolute all- time great comedian, singer and actor. He was born and named Dino Paul Crocetti on June 17, 1917, in Ohio, USA to Italian immigrant parents. At the age of 17, he started singing and enjoyed doing it very much. In the late 1930s, after singing for about four years under his real...
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‘A BEAUTIFUL NOISE’ is a lavish new production celebrating the life and music of Neil Diamond, and the show is about to tour the UK and Eire throughout October and November. This joyful celebration will be delivered with an assured virtuosity by the award-winning singer Fisher Stevens. The music of Neil Diamond has been with us for...
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