Grimsby Groups 1960/90
Have a look at the new Grimsby Groups site here
Last updated April 17th 2011
Help to keep the memories alive.
If you have any information or photos of the Grimsby group scene, between 1950 til 1990,
you would like to share,you can contact me on email address,
sailortown@gmail.com
Grimsby has had a full and varied group scene from the late fifties up to the present day.
These are just some of the groups that have helped us pass away the hours over the years.
I think most of the early bands can recall playing The Cafe Dansant, The Winter Garden,
The Beachcomber and the many Grimsby and Cleethorpes pubs with live music, then there was
the many working mens clubs, the Mariners,the Alexander club and the Bowling Alley.
These are just a few of the Grimsby bands over the years.
Some of the Grimsby groups on the go in the sixties were Chicago Line 1966, The Echos 1961,
The Iotas 1969, King Bee 1967, Pink Effluence 1967.
The Aztecs The Aztecs 1967/68
Brian Clifford rythm guitar, Barry Milner drums, Geoff Miller bass, Tony Forth lead guitar and
Andy Johnson vocals and harmonica.
Aztecs 1967/68
The group featured Barry Milner on drums
Tony Houseman on bass
Brian Clifford on Rhythm guitar
Noel Skelton on lead guitar and
Andy Johnson on vocals
Tony Forth was the original lead guitarist, before being replaced by Noel Skelton
The Aztecs began doing what most did at that time, covers of Kinks, Hermans Hermits, Beatles, Animals etc,
but the early stones type blues became more of the song list, including Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf,
Bo Diddly etc. This was updated as the years went on until the change of both style and personnel
evolved to the late 60s style blues of Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Chicken Shack and a good few of
their own songs, generally blues influenced. The Aztecs played at just about every club in the area
and were very sought after and therefore very busy. They played as support act to the Pretty Things
and the Unit 4 +2 at the Memorial Hall and Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, and also Billy J Kramer at
the Winter Gardens.
Blind Lemon 1969
The group consisted of Roger Wentworth on drums
Simon Richard on bass
John Chessman on lead
Mike Argumont on vocals
Ian Fee on harmonica and
Brian Ledard on slide guitar
They were a blues rock band
The Winter Gardens in all it's splendour. Calmen Waters 1968/70
The group evolved from 'The Aztecs' and featured
Tony Housman (Wolf) on bass
Barry Milner (the Dog) on drums
John Chessman on lead
Brian Clifford (Bip) on Rhythm
Noel Skelton on lead guitar
Noel would be later replaced by Mick Dyche on lead
Andy Johnson on vocals
The group played electric blues music.
Mick Dyche who went on to play with Sniff and the Tears and Wild Turkey
Calmen Waters
Calmen Waters
Calmen Waters 1968/70
Tony Houseman (wolf) bass guitar, Brian Clifford (bip) rhythm guitar, Barry Milner (The Dog) Drums, Mick Dytche lead and slide guitar and Andy Johnson vocals and harmonica.
The Calmen Waters played more out of town, especially blues clubs and universitys but were also very
popular at the Jaz Club in Dial Square in Grimsby. They even did a tour of london
clubs and also played at the Marque Club in June 1969.
The Beat'n'Blues, Back - Steve and Frank Davidson, Ron Cowling, Sitting, Keith Arnold, Dave CrowderWith their Bedford 15 cwt van, the favourite mode of transportfor groups of the period.Note the 30 watt "Linear" wire-caged amp, these heavy valve ampswere the mainstay of a lot of groups in the sixties, the combined amp and speakertype Selmer and Vox amps were still very rare and very expensive. This Geneation 1969
The group featured Dave Taylor on bass
Geoff Byman on drums
Robert Hinchcliffe on lead
The group played 'Cream' numbers and turned pro, they later changed their name
to 'Black Jasper'and played progressive rock.
Grimsby group 'chicago line' blues band
'Jamie and the Raiders' were a grimsby group although they played many times in the Scunthorpe area. 'Jamie and the Raiders' were active for about 6-9 months in 1963.They played many local venues including Boston Gliderdrome, Cafe Dansant Cleethorpes, Mecca Ballroom Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Thorne, Doncaster and Hull and many local working mens clubs. Supported Screaming Lord Sutch, Wayne Fontana & Mindbenders,. The Rockin' Berries, Dave Berry's Cruisers etc. Played at the 'Waterloo' public house Laceby once a fortnight on a Sunday lunchtime. Won local groups contest in August 1963 at the Mecca Ballroom Grimsby but split up not long after. Jamie and the Raiders 1963 The band featured Jamie (lead singer) Cliff Liles (Lead guitar) Ray Carter (rhythm guitar) Byron Oldridge (Bass guitar) Bernie Hoggett (Drums). Music played late 50,s early 60's chart hits (Cliff Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Coasters etc.)
Gaiety ballroom ticket 1963with The Raiders supporting Act Shane Fenton and the Fentones
The Rumble Band 1967/71
The group consisted of Keith Line on drums
Noel Skelton on lead
Steve Curry on bass
Phil Wyatt on sax
Dave Ranshaw on guitar/vocals
A later member would be Geoff Mackrill on lead
The band released a single entitled 'Rich man, Poor man'.
The Rumble Band at The Winter Gardens in 2007
Bazzar 1973/74
Bazzar 1973/74, Kevin Chapman drums, Chris Riley lead guitar, John Downes bass guitar and Andy Johnson vocals/hamonica.
Bazzar was formed in late 1972 and soon were busy on the road. The original line up was founder member Pete Williams (keyboards), John Downes (bass), Kevin Chapman (drums), Phil Wade (lead guitar) & Andy Johnson (vocals). They did their rehearsals at Kevins Fathers fish house on the docks and all stunk for days. The music was covers of all the popular music of the 70s, with a bit of obscure material to make things interesting.
After a year the line up changed with Pete leaving and Phil being replaced by Chris Riley. They played all over the surrounding towns, I`m told their favourite gig being the old Harvest Moon, until their break up in 1975, their reasons unknown
Breakaway were mainly a Grimsby group, all the guys except Gordon Blundell, were from Grimsby. Lynette the vocalist, was from Hull. They played middle of the road popular songs of the time.
BREAKAWAY (third version), Bob Bean (guitar), Gordon Blundell,(bass), Brian Slater (lead guitar), and Richard Grice (drums) and Lynette? (vocals).
Sandra and the Boyfriends 1953
The group were from Grimsby and were on the go in the early 1950's.
They played the Grimsby and Scunthorpe scene and started life as the 'The Drifters', playing skiffle, and featured Dusty Rhodes,Tony Farrow and 2 other guys, one on T-chest bass and the other on washboard.
They then formed up as Sandra and the Boyfriends, which became a very successful touring and recording group.
Sandra and the BoyfriendsThe lineup featured,Sandra Norgan on vocals Dusty Rhodes on guitar and vocals, Tony (Faz) Farrow on lead. 'Noot 'St.Clair was the bass player and Paul McGrath was the drummer, Paul had previously been the drummer with another popular Grimsby group the 'Nitehawks' Dusty Rhodes had a home made electric guitar with a really cool body shape that
he later sold to "Filbert" Sowerby, the original lead player with The Echoes.
Dusty has sadly passed away and Filbert sadly died in his teens of leukemia.
A couple of the discs recorded by Sandra and the Boyfriends
Sandra and the Boyfriends about 1959 They played regularly at Cleethorpes pier, and did several years at various Butlin Holiday camps including Filey.
They would finish of their night spot at Filey, with Dusty giving a rendering of 'The Party's Over', which was a reminder to the holidaymakers, that they were soon going home and back to the daily toil.
The groups did extensive touring all over the UK.
They moved to London and were managed by Gary Brown, it was from him that Sandra took her stage name of Sandra Brown. They had a recording contract with the legendary producer George Martin of Beatles fame. One
one occasion, they were playing at Birkenhead with George Martin in attendance. George advised them, that
in between spots, a unknown group, he was going to record, were going to do a couple of songs. Tony offered
the new guys the loan of the Boyfriends gear to save them having to set up their own gear. The group were rather rude and refused the offer, they played their short spot and left. The group turned out to be 'Gerry and the Pacemakers', several years later while playing the London Palladium, Gerry and Co. were also on that night, Gerry approached Tony,(having recoginised him) and apoligised for his behaviour on their first meeting, he explained it by saying they were, so nervious and scared of the audition, they were not themselves, so all's well that ends well.
Tony Farrow made his own guitars,( it was almost impossible to get a decent electric guitar in the Fifties), he made Telecasters, Strats and Fender Basses among other things, ( by the way, if anyone still has one of Tony's homemade guitars, or know anyone who has one, he would love to hear from you, you can get in touch by the email address at the top of the page). Tony has joined up with Brian Hockley (formerly with the Nitehawks) and they both play acoustic guitar jazz together, at many of the jazz festivals up to the present day.
Sandra and the Boyfriends called it a day in the mid sixties, after several years touring the
country and recording a couple of records, they felt they had gone as far as they could.
Sandra went on to pursue a solo career before returning to Grimsby and singing with
a couple of the resident band there. Tony Farrow turned his talent to variety, playing guitar
with a popular Harmonica Band of the time, he went on to tour with the band all over the
world, playing the London Pallidum and appearing on many variety TV shows. He finally
tired of the constant touring and returned to Grimsby to undertake another of his passions
namely, boat building, he built numerous boats, one which can be seen in the opening
sequence of the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale. In later years he turned his guitar
playing talent to playing accoustic jazz guitar, He teamed up with another Grimsby musican
from the Fifties, Brian (Huffley) Hockley, who played in The Nitehawks. They can be heard
in the local jazz clubs playing some excellent duet guitar.
You can hear a track on the player below, unfortunately you need to have Firefox internet
browser loaded, i am working to rectify this niggling problem.
Faz & Huffley
Front centre is Colin Chamley with Julie Dalton and Sandra Norgan (nee Browne) and Tony Farrow, of Sandra And The Boyfriends. Taken at a reunion bash 2010Another popular group of the sixties were 'Julie and the Jaguars' with Colin Chamley with Julie Dalton
'The Broadside' consisted of John Conolly, Bill Meek, Brian Dawson,
Mike Lee and Tom Smith who at the time of this album were the organisers
of the Grimsby Folk Song Club.
Grimsby Nite Life, Dave Crowder, Tony Forth, Frank and Steve Davidson
Night Life, Dave Crowder, Frank and Steve Davidson as a trio.'The Hooks' were early sixties band (1964), which evolved into 'Reflection', which were around for about five years, with Ted Crunkhurn on guitar, briefly joined by John Shelton also on guitar,
Ray Rayworth on bass, Tony Smith on drums, and either Ron Stead ( formally of Drew and the Concords ) or Charlie Coulam on vocals ( each vocalist was with the band at least twice during the five year period ).
Reflection evolved into 'Mosaic', with Ted Crunkhurn and Ron Stead joined by a variety of bass players and drummers in the short life of the band.
The Illusions were probably Grimsbys top band between 1965 and 1971, winning several awards, starting with original lineup of Dave Gardiner on vocals, John Howden on drums, Pete Harrowing and Mick Gallant.
There were many members that came and went in the band over the years but the popularity was created by the original group.They played alongside many of the biggest names around at that time who came to this area to perform.
Pete Harrowing and John Howden still play in a reformed version of 'The Illusions' to present day.
John Howden was replaced by John Bradsell on drums, ( who briefly rejoined for the last few months of the band after Dennis left ) and later by Dennis Cator. Pete Garside was replaced by Paul Avison, who stayed for the life of the band. Viv Peterson Joined and later was replaced by Chris Line on guitar, and later by Paul Ellis. Ted Crunkhurn replaced Paul Ellis for the last year on guitar until January 1972, when Dave Gardiner left, and the band changed to
'Spiral' with Ted Crunkhurn on guitar, Paul Avison on bass, John Bradsell on drums, and his brother Tony Bradsell on vocals.
After about nine months, Paul and Ted left, with Ted forming 'Good News' with Geoff Mackrill on guitars, Geoff's brother Chris on bass and Les Johnson on drums.
John Howden
After leaving the first version of 'The Illusions' John joined Hull band 'The Hammer' in 1967, this had originally been called 'Roger Blooms Hammer'. The band featured John Howden on drums, the late Stan Saye on bass, Geoff Ramsdale on guitar, Ian Gray on trumpet, Daryll Adams on sax and Scunthorpe vocalist (Peighton Checks) John Parker. The line up changed, losing the brass section and introducing Rod Temperton(of Michael Jackson Thriller fame) on keyboards and Alan Tinkler on guitar.They played Germany Top Ten Club and many other night spots including the Carousel in Copenhagen. Rod Temperton later moved to Los Angeles and became one of the highest earning songwriters of all time.
The Hammer 1967Hammer 1967/8 Ian Gray ,Stan Saye, Geoff Ramsdale, John Parker, John Howden and Daryll Adams at the bottom front The Hammer 1968The pictures were taken just before their Europe and uk tourwith the Impressions in 1968Rowndabout 1970
Rowndabout consisted of Viv Peterson, lead guitar, John Howden on drums, Dave Crowder on bass
and Julie Dalton on vocals. Steve Davidson took over from Julie on vocals and guitar.
Rowndabout got a 'residency' at the Cleethorpes Winter Gardens on Thursday evenings backing
another local band, "The Rumble Band".
John Howden left and was replaced by Mick Horsfall.
Dave Crowder left and was replaced by Ron Rothwell on bass.
Pete Fisk later joined the group playing keyboards.
Viv Peterson left and was replaced by Vick Pascoe.
Mick Horsfall was later replaced by Steve Hall.
'Arrival'1975
'Rowndabout' changed their name to 'Arrival'in the mid seventies, Ron Rothwell left and was replaced
by Keith Barnes-Wallis. Keith was later replaced by Bob Woodhouse, another good bassist and vocalist.
Pete Fisk left for pastures new and they reverted back to a traditional 4 piece line-up.
They had a Friday night residency spot at the Sands Night Club in Cleethorpes.
Eventually, in the late 80s Vic left and they continued working as a 3 piece, still happily doing the clubs.
The Gatlin Boys 1980 Unknown, Steve Jackson, Unknown, Johnny Tasker
The Midbeats Sound, Frank Davidson, Paul Bristow, Steve Davidson and Paul Aldred The Midbeats at All Saints Church Hall, Grimsby early 1960'sSecond Nature 1999/present day, with RICK - KEYBOARDS + VOCALS
TED Crunkhurn - LEAD GUITAR + VOCALS
SPIKE - BASS GUITAR + BACKING VOCALS
LENNIE - DRUMS + PERCUSSION
SECOND NATURE are a 4 piece band playing rock covers, mainly from the 70's / 80's. They began
in 1996 playing a wide variety of pop covers. The band then began a more themed approach towards
melodic classic rock putting their own stamp on covers by Pink Floyd, Gary Moore, The Eagles,
Whitesnake and Rainbow (to name a few) and soon began to create a decent following with like
minded audiences who enjoy quality rock over and above the "crash bang wallop" approach!
Ted Crunkhurn's Grimsby bandsTed Crunkhurn has played lead guitar over the years for the following Grimsby BandsThe Hooks, Reflection, Mosaic,Illusions, Spiral,Good news, Butterfly and Lincs.1965/1987 He has also played drums for vocal harmony trio 'Harvest' 1987/1999In 1973, Ted Crunkhurn joined 'Butterfly' with John Howden on drums, and Doug Ormonde on bass. 'Butterfly' were a very successful band in the 70's And we introduced comedy into an also very tight musical three piece who played all over Yorkshire and Derbyshire, one of Ted's all time favourite bands.
After 'Butterfly' Ted Crunkhurn joined 'Lincs', with bass player Paul Avison, drummer vocalist Howard Tilling, and Bob Bean on guitar. the band later carried on as a three piece without Bob and carried on until 1981.
Ted Crunkhurn joined 'Harvest' in 1982 as drummer, with Tony Foad on guitar and Kevin Green on bass. Harvest specialised in vocal harmony, with the band being very successful around the country, in clubs and dinner dance work. the band also did dedicated 'country' nights in specialist country music clubs around the lincolnshire, Nottinghanshire, and Derbyshire areas. the band carried on with the same lineup for 13years, with a brief period at the end as a 4 piece with Ted on guitar, Tony on guitar and keyboard, Kevin on bass, and temporary drummers.
After a two year break, Ted Crunkhurn joined present band 'Second Nature' in december 1997, and they still play today with the same lineup, mainly now playing classic rock in pubs, though with occasional club and dinner dance work.
Bankrupt mid 1970's
The Blue Dakotas with Dave Kopke 1983
The Blue Dakotas were formed in 1982. The original lineup was - Carl Thompson (rhythm guitar and vocals) Steve Blythin (lead guitar), Nick Salmon (Bass) and Paul Whittingham (Drums). That lineup played for a few months, and took part in the first (I believe) Rock Open at Scunthorpe Baths in 1982 (following a couple of years at Tiffany's), disbanding shortly afterwards. The new lineup in 1983 was Carl Thompson (Rhythm Guitar and Vocals) Tony (Tubbs) Watson (Lead Guitar), Dave Kopke (Double Bass), and Steve Setterfield (Drums).
The lineup stayed together for 4 years until 1987.
Other groups over the years were
Rooster, Gambler, Hot Toddy, Sneeky Feet, After Dark, Slip of the Tongue, Tongue in Cheek, Shot in the Dark
The Nitehawks 1955The Nitehawks 1955
The Nitehawks were another very popular group of the mid nineteen fifties. The lineup was
Brian Hockley on lead
Mick Miles on bass
Jeff Lofts on vocals
Paul McGrath on drums, Paul would later move to Sandra and the Boyfriends
Pat Volley Group 1957
I know very little about this group except the vocalist was Pat Volley and the drummer was Jimmy Willis.
Can anyone help?
The Shocks 1972
Shocks 1972 Steve Jackson,Paul Johnson, Ivan Codd and Mick Withersall
Curl 1997 Curl 1997 John Love guitar, Mark Daynes guitar/vocals, Mike Tyson drums and Graham Albery bass
View a great video of the guys at Curl Video
Local Grimsby bands at a charity gig late 90's
Grimsby Mecca resident band early 70's.Back row,George Miller sax, Roy Norton trumpet,Pete Baxter bass guitar,Stan Shreeve keyboard.Front row,Tony Farrow lead guitar,Julie Dalton singer,Roy Lee drums.Does anyone remember 'passion alley' (round the side of the Mecca) ! Grimsby Mecca resident band early 70's
The Riotrockers 1970/90'sThe Riot Rockers. This picture is of the original lineup - Ray Firth (Guitar), Johnny Fox (Sax and Vocals), Paul Whittingham (Drums), and Reg Scargall (Bass). The band played pretty much constantly from the early 70's to the late 90's.