On This Day 11/04/1968 The Tremeloes

On this day, 11 April 1968, pop band the Tremeloes played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. Also on the bill were, Headiners The Kinks and The Herd.

The Tremeloes (formerly Brian Poole and The Tremeloes) are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me".

The band achieved their greatest success after Poole's departure in 1966. The band reformed as a four-piece that year with Chip Hawkes on bass, Rick Westwood on lead guitar, Alan Blakley on rhythm guitar, and Dave Munden on drums. All four members sang, with most of the leads being sung by Hawkes and Munden. The quartet had 13 top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart between 1967 and 1971

On This Day 09/04/1966 Small Faces

On this day, 9 April 1966, rock and pop band The Small Faces played Sophia Gardens supported by Lou Christie, Martha & The Vandellas, Slade Brothers, The Koobas, Fran & Alan and Alan Field & The Time Box.

The band had recently released their biggest hit so far in their career with Sha-La-La-La-Lee which peaked at #3 in the UK singles chart.
Because Small Faces' previous song release, the Marriott/Lane composition "I've Got Mine," failed to chart in the UK, their manager, Don Arden, determined that the Small Faces would not be one hit wonders, decided to bring in well-known songwriters Kenny Lynch and Mort Shuman to make sure the group's next single would be a success.

"Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was recorded on 13 December 1965 at IBC Studios in London with audio engineer John Pantry.

Following the huge success of this song, the band developed a large female fan base, like many of their contemporaries. This situation would ultimately end in Marriott becoming so disenchanted that he would leave The Small Faces in 1969 in a bid to be seen as a serious musician and form his next group, the heavier rock- and blues-sounding Humble Pie.

On This Day 05/04/1964 The Bachelors

On this day, 5 April 1964, Irish popular music group The Bachelors played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Support was provided by Bern Elliott & The Fenmen.

The group had recently scored their first #1 hit in the UK singles chart with the song “Diane”.

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, but based primarily in the United Kingdom. They had several international hits during the 1960s, including eight top-ten singles in the UK between 1963 and 1966.

On This Day 16/03/1964 The Searchers

On this day, 16 March 1964, pop group The Searchers played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on a package that included Dusty Springfield and Bobby Vee. The band had recently released their massive No 1 hit Needles and Pins.

The Pye Records single was released on January 7, 1964.It was number one in the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. Soon after, in April 1964, "Needles and Pins" appeared on the Searchers' next album, It's the Searchers.

Audible during the Searchers' recording of "Needles and Pins" is a faulty bass drum pedal, which squeaks throughout the song. It is particularly noticeable during the opening of the number.

On This Day 10/04/1965 Bobby Vee

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On this day, 10 April 1965, American singer Bobby Vee played Sophia Gardens. Also featured on the bill were, Dusty Springfield, The Zombies, The Searchers, Tony Jackson & The Vibrations, Heinz & The Wild Boys, Echoes.

Dusty Springfield and Bobby Vee

Known primarily as a performer of so-called "Brill Building pop" material,[6] Vee went on to record a string of international hits in the 1960s, including "More Than I Can Say" (1961, UK number 4), "Run to Him" (1961, US number 2; UK number 6), "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" (1963, US number 3; UK number 3) and "Come Back When You Grow Up" (1967, US number 3).

On the recording of "Come Back When You Grow Up", Bobby Vee and The Strangers are credited. However, that was merely the record label giving a name to the studio musicians working that day. Bobby's original band, The Shadows, backed him on the road; upon learning of the UK band The Shadows who backed Cliff Richard, the band changed its name to The Strangers. In 1961 Vee recorded a version of the song "Lollipop", originally by Ronald & Ruby, which also became a success. Vee had a total of ten hit singles in the UK, ending with "Bobby Tomorrow" (UK number 21) in 1963.

In 1963, American Bandstand signed Vee to headline Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars national U.S. tour, scheduled to perform its 15th show on the night of November 22, 1963, at the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, Texas. The Friday evening event was cancelled after U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated that afternoon while touring Dallas in an open car caravan.

Vee was also a pioneer in the music video genre, appearing in several musical films and in the Scopitone series of early film-and-music jukebox recordings.

On This Day 12/03/1969 Engelbert Humperdinck

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On this day, 12 March 1969, British singer Engelbert Humperdinck played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. Support was provided by comedian Ted Rogers with special guest the Welsh songstress Mary Hopkin.

Starting as a performer in the late 1950s under the name "Gerry Dorsey", he later adopted the name of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name and found success after he partnered with manager Gordon Mills in 1965.

His recordings of the ballads "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967, selling more than a million copies each. Humperdinck scored further major hits in rapid succession, including "There Goes My Everything" (1967), "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1968) and "A Man Without Love" (1968). In the process, he attained a large following, with some of his most devoted fans calling themselves "Humperdinckers". Two of his singles were among the best-selling of the 1960s in the United Kingdom.

In early 1967, the changes paid off when Humperdinck's version of "Release Me" topped the charts in the United Kingdom and hit No. 4 on the US Billboard 100. Arranged by Charles Blackwell in an "orchestral country music" style, with Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page as session musicians and a full chorus joining Humperdinck on the third refrain, the record kept the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" from the top slot in the United Kingdom (for the first time since 1963).

The B-side of "Release Me", "Ten Guitars", continues to be enormously popular in New Zealand. "Release Me" spent 56 weeks in the Top 50 in a continuous chart run, and was believed to have sold 85,000 copies a day at the height of its popularity. The song has remained at the core of Humperdinck's repertoire ever since. Humperdinck's easygoing style and good looks soon earned him a large following, particularly among women. His hardcore female fans called themselves "Humperdinckers". "Release Me" was succeeded by two more hit ballads: "There Goes My Everything" and "The Last Waltz", earning him a reputation as a crooner, a description which he disputed. As Humperdinck told Hollywood Reporter writer Rick Sherwood:

"f you are not a crooner it's something you don't want to be called. No crooner has the range I have. I can hit notes a bank could not cash. What I am is a contemporary singer, a stylised performer."

On This Day 15/01/1968 The Herd

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On this day, 15 January 1968, rock band The Herd played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

The Herd were founded in 1965 in south London, and recorded three unsuccessful singles with Parlophone. In 1966 three members in succession (Terry Clark, Louis Cennamo and Mick Underwood) quit the group and the group got the line-up that made it famous.

The singer, Peter Frampton, was 16 when he joined the group in 1966 and had just left school. The other members were a few years older. Parlophone did not want to go on with them, but Fontana were willing to give them a try. They also sent their manager Billy Gaff away and brought in the songwriters/producers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley instead. This pair had been largely responsible for a string of hits by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.

In October 1967 they supported the Jimi Hendrix Experience at The Saville Theatre, London. Their greatest success came with "I Don't Want Our Loving to Die", (March 1968) a number five UK hit single.

With his boyish photogenic looks, Frampton was dubbed "The Face of ’68" by teen magazine Rave.

The last months of 1968 were tempestuous times for the group. Steele left the group, to be replaced by Henry Spinetti. The group dumped their managers Howard and Blaikley, and briefly found a new mentor in Harvey Lisberg who after three months found himself so bogged down with their personnel problems that he politely withdrew his services. Most songs on their first and only album Paradise Lost were written by Peter Frampton and Andy Bown, just like their next single, "Sunshine Cottage".

Dissatisfied with mere teen idol status, and disappointed with the failure of "Sunshine Cottage", Frampton left by the end of 1968 to form Humble Pie with Steve Marriott.

On This Day 24/02/1968 Tom Jones/Frank Sinatra

On This day, 24 February 1968, it was reported that one of America’s biggest stars was showing interest in Welsh singing sensation Tom Jones.

In America last week it was reported that Tom had spent 30 minutes on the phone to Sinatra followed by a 10 minute conversation between Sinatra and Jones’s manager Gordon Mills.

Mills said on his return to the UK ; “Sinatra’s taking an interest in Tom’s career. He may even adopt the boy like he does with some artists.”

Mills denied however, that there would be any business tie-up between Sinatra and Jones. Sinatra has invited Millsa and Tom Jones to visit him in Los Angeles.

Jones said “ Sinatra sounded like a guy and a half and certainly didn’t sound like a man just out of serious injury. He asked me about my opening at the Copa and how people had received me.”

Jones’s new single ‘Delilah’ was being released this week.