Grimsby Groups 1

If you have any old 60s, 70s or 80s Grimsby group photos (scans), titbits, stories or general information,they would be most welcome.

Send any pics and info to

musiclincs@gmail.com

Site created by James Gourley

Has anyone got a copy of a radio show featuring Sandra Browne

The program was

Saturday Swings that was broadcast on December 29, 1964

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.

The Aztecs

Brian Clifford rythm guitar, Barry Milner drums, Geoff Miller bass, Tony Forth lead guitar and

Andy Johnson vocals and harmonica.

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 universities 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 Crowder

With their Bedford 15 cwt van, the favourite mode of transport for groups of the period.

Note the 30 watt "Linear" wire-caged amp, these heavy valve amps were the mainstay of a lot of groups in the sixties, the combined amp and speaker type Selmer and Vox amps were still very rare and very expensive.

Dave went on to play in Airborne, McArthur Park and Blue Water

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.

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,

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

Sandra and the Boyfriends

Grimsby's premier group of the late fifties till the mid sixties

The 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.

Faz & Huffley

Front centre is Colin Chamley with Julie Dalton and Sandra Norgan (nee Browne) and Tony Farrow, ofSandra And The Boyfriends. Taken at a reunion bash 2010

Another 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.

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.