The following list of Newcastle City Hall concert dates was compiled from several sources including advertisements in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and various band gig diaries.

1965

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1966

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1967

Many thanks to John Jobling for supplying most of the ticket stubs featured in the Newcastle City Hall pages.

Go to 1968 to 1970
Go to 1971 to 1972

The post Newcastle City Hall Gigs – 1965 to 1967 appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

The following list of Newcastle City Hall concert dates was compiled from several sources including advertisements in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and various band gig diaries.

1968

______________________________________________________________

1969

________________________________________________________________

1970

Many thanks to John Jobling for supplying most of the ticket stubs featured in the Newcastle City Hall pages.

Go to 1965 to 1967
Go to 1971 to 1972

The post Newcastle City Hall Gigs – 1968 to 1970 appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

The following list of Newcastle City Hall concert dates was compiled from several sources including advertisements in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and various band gig diaries.

1971

________________________________________________________________

1972

Many thanks to John Jobling for supplying most of the ticket stubs featured in the Newcastle City Hall pages.

Go to 1965 to 1967
Go to 1968 to 1970

The post Newcastle City Hall Gigs – 1971 to 1972 appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

“Right back where we started from” in the context of this web site is a return to 1965, the year that both the Mayfair Ballroom and the Club A’Gogo were two of the best music venues in Newcastle.

If you are a regular visitor to Ready Steady Gone or are familiar with its main theme (the north east music scene from 1965 to 1972) then you should be aware of some, if not all, of the great venues that were in existence back in the sixties and early seventies.

I no longer live in the north east, I’m about 320 miles from Newcastle, so it was quite by chance that I found out about two separate projects that will come to fruition shortly. Each one will attempt to recreate the feel of an iconic defunct north east venue; the Club A’Gogo and the Mayfair Ballrroom. Both the original venues are featured in Ready Steady Gone. In fact, the Club A’Gogo page is the most visited page on the site. At the present time there are 492 comments about the Gogo, mostly written by ex-Club A’Gogo regulars who paint a picture of the great times people had at the club in its heyday.

The Club A’Gogo revival nights are to take place at the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle next year. The original Club A’Gogo was in existence between 1962 and 1968. From around 1964 the club became a magnet for Mods and that’s the audience that the organisers are hoping to attract to their revival evenings. In an interview with the Evening Chronicle, Paul Donnelly one of the organisers said: –

“The music we will feature is late-1950s/pre-1964 R’n’B, with later 1960s songs thrown in as the DJs feel. So you’re talking the likes of Slim Harpo, Howlin’ Wolf, early Rolling Stones, The Animals, Muddy Waters, The Yardbirds and more. The events we go to around the UK have a varied age range, from 18-year-olds discovering mod for the first time, 1980s mods who are now in their late 40s and 50s, and original 1960s mods who are in their 70s.”

Whereas, the Club A’Gogo revival will try and recreate the music and dancing of the era as well as encourage some of the old Gogo regulars to come and talk about their experiences, the Mayfair project is a bit different.

The owners of the new Mayfair bar are hoping that its proximity to the site of the original Mayfair Ballroom on Newgate Street and a makeover inspired by the Mayfair’s past will draw in crowds who enjoyed the rock venue’s heyday as well as a new generation of diners and drinkers. There will be a live DJ playing on a Friday and Saturday evening and there will be a soul session every Sunday (Souled out Sunday) between 4pm and 8pm.

An artist’s impression of the new Mayfair Bar & Kitchen on Newgate Street

A few weeks ago a representative from the Mayfair team contacted me to find out if I had any photos of the original Mayfair’s interior and its clientele in the late sixties or early seventies. The idea was to decorate the new bar with some nostalgic photos of the original venue. Very few people had good cameras back then so I wasn’t able to help.

By all accounts the new Club A’Gogo events are set to be a great success with a predicted sell-out for the inaugural evening on 25th January 2020. The new Mayfair bar should be opening a few weeks before Christmas. I hope both projects do well and help keep the memory of both those iconic venues alive. Had I still lived in the north east I would definitely have visited both places.

Getting back to the title of this piece – “Right back where we started from”, I thought I’d conclude by writing a bit about a talented musician from South Shields; a singer/song writer who never achieved the recognition he deserves, in particular in the north east.

In August 1975 a catchy soul/disco song reached number 8 in the UK charts. It was released in the US early in 1976 and was an instant hit in the States rising to number 2 in the US charts within weeks. “Right Back Where We Started From”, was recorded in London by Maxine Nightingale, a UK singer with no previous chart success. The song, a lively dance number, which features a distinctive baritone sax riff all the way through, stood out amongst other disco/dance records that were being released in the mid seventies. The song was co-written by a northeasterner named Vincent Edwards (otherwise known as J Vincent Edwards). “Right Back Where We Started From” was successfully revived by Sinitta in 1989 reaching number 4 in the UK singles chart. Over the years, the song has been featured in numerous movies and TV shows. Vincent had known Maxine Nightingale from when he and her were members of London cast of the “Hair” musical. Vincent persuaded a reluctant Maxine, who he’d previously used as a background singer, to record “Right Back Where We Started From”; a song he had co-written with Pierre Tubbs. Her decision to record the song was undoubtedly a turning point in both their lives.

So what do we know about Vincent Edwards? He started his musical career by playing in local South Shields bands. Some time ago Vincent contacted me and told me a bit about his life: –

“Hello great site. I used to be the singer in a South Shields band called the ‘Invictors’. The Kylastrons were the best band I had ever seen in 1962 at the Crown Ballroom, Ocean Road, South Shields. From that moment I knew I had to get my band, the Invictors into second gear. We turned pro in 1963 and went on to play in US bases in France.

“We then changed our name to ‘The Answers’; Tony Hill on guitar, Bob Calder on bass and myself singer and drums. We were considered the loudest band in London in 1966. We recorded two singles for Columbia records and introduced the Geordie language to London. Our first single, “Just a Fear” became a cult song for the top punk bands ten years later in the seventies.

Just a Fear – The Answers

“Thanks to the Cellar Club, the Majestic and La Strada, South Shields for letting us do our thing.”

Following the demise of the Answers, Vincent briefly fronted his own Soul band called “Vincent Edwards’ Present Tense” and six months later he joined the “Gates Of Eden” although no recordings were made with either act. In 1968, he landed the part of “Vince” in the hippie musical, “Hair” after auditioning for a part at the Shaftsbury Theatre in London. His first solo single “Hair” b/w “Aquarius” was released by United Artists in 1968 and the Original Cast Recording of the Hair soundtrack would reach number 2 in the UK charts, a career peak as a singer for Vincent.

Since then, Vincent has had a long career as a singer, song writer and recording artist. His last chart success was in 1988 with the trio “Star Turn on 45 (Pints)” who recorded the spoof single “Pump Up The Bitter”, lampooning north east affiliated clubs.

J Vince Edwards has continued to record and perform in the UK and Europe. If nothing else, he should be remembered for his contribution as a song writer to one of the best dance records of the seventies.

The post Right Back Where We Started From appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

Here are some songs from various north east bands recorded during the period 1963 to 1971. The sound quality on the tracks is variable. Some were locally made demo discs whereas others were recorded for release as commercial singles.

1963
It Might As Well Rain Until September – The Kontors
Love Letters – The Kontors

1964
You Really Got A Hold On Me – The Gamblers
Dimples – Shorty and Them
House Of The Rising Sun – Shorty and Them
Rainbow – The Silver Dollars

1965
On The Outside Looking In – The Caesers
I Won’t Be Round You Anymore – The Chosen Few
Today, Tonight and Tomorrow – The Chosen Few
As Long As I Have You – The Junco Partners
Take This Hammer – The Junco Partners

1966
I Don’t Love You Any More – Graham Bell
Five In The Morning – The Caesers
Tammy – The Elcort
Searchin’ – The Elcort
Don’t Take Your Lovin’ Away – Kim D & the Del 5
Just a Fear – The Answers
That’s What You’re Doing To Me – The Answers

1967
Cry Me A River – The Gamblers
On Love – Skip Bifferty
Happy Land – Skip Bifferty

1968
Harry Faversham – Toby Twirl
Toffee Apple Sunday – Toby Twirl

1969
We can Swing Together – Alan Hull

1970
A Change In Louise – The Junco Partners

1971
Pink Pills – Brass Alley
Daylight Child – Lucas Tyson
Hobo Song – Yellow
No Fixed Abode – Spyda
Something Wicked – Spyda
My Friend Yesterday – Spyda
One On The Way – Spyda
Happiness Is A Warm Gun – Spyda
Anything For A Laugh – Brian Short

Here’s a selection of MP3s from three of my own bands – Jazzboard, the Technique and Scallywag.

The three Jazzboard tracks were recorded at MortonSound studios in Newcastle on 27 March 1966. The track “Hear Me Calling Your Name” (a cover of a Graham Bond song) features Nigel Olsson on lead vocals,

The Technique tracks were recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend on 18 February 1968. The Scallywag tracks were recorded at Multichord Studios, Sunderland on 21 September 1971.

Feel It – Jazzboard
Here Me Calling – Jazzboard
Neighbour Neighbour – Jazzboard
Bad News – Scallywag
Friends – Scallywag
One Way Love – Technique
Sock It To ‘Em JB – The Technique
Sweet Lorene – The Technique

The post Music appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

A few weeks ago I watched a programme on Sky Arts called “The Decade The Music Died”. It was all about influential musicians and artists who had died in the ten years between 2009 and 2019. Amongst others, the programme celebrated the lives and music of Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Prince, George Michael and Amy Winehouse.

Many of the northeast’s own musicians and people associated with the northeast music scene passed away during this same period. Whenever I hear about such a death, I always feel the urge to write some form of epitaph on this website. However, until now it’s something I haven’t got around to doing. So to put things right here’s a tribute to some musicians I knew who died between 2009 and 2019. All eight were active at some time during the period covered by Ready Steady Gone (1965 to 1972). Some achieved national fame whereas others stayed on the local scene throughout their lives. Even if you’re not familiar with the names, if you went to clubs and dances in the sixties and early seventies you may recognize some of the faces. Where possible, I’ve included a piece of music relevant to each of the eight people. So in no particular order, here they are: –

Dave Black (1953 to 2015)

The news that Dave Black had died suddenly in 2015 sent shock waves throughout the northeast and beyond. It wasn’t just his friends, family and the thousands of people who held Dave in high esteem as a musician that were affected by his death but also everyone who read about the tragic circumstances in which he’d died. On 18th July 2015 Dave’s body was found on the Metro track at Cullercoats after being struck by a train.

I knew Dave Black back in 1972 and 1973 before his career as a guitarist took off. We were both doing our obligatory stint at the “Ministry”. The two of us lived at the coast and travelled on the same train to and from Longbenton each day. We were both musicians and had a lot to talk about on the journey. I had been playing in northeast bands for eight years or so and had supported a lot of top bands such as The Who, Small Faces, Cream, Free, Hot Chocolate, Geno Washington, Marmalade, The Move and many more. Dave, on the other hand, was just beginning his musical career with his band, Kestrel. Just before I left the northeast in 1973 I got to see Kestrel at a festival in Jarrow performing Dave’s epic composition – “The Snow Queen”.

After moving to Manchester I lost contact with Dave and had no idea of his rise to fame in the seventies and eighties. Then in 2010 whilst visiting relatives in Burnopfield, County Durham I saw a board outside the Travellers Rest pub advertising a gig in which “guitarist/vocalist, Dave Black” was appearing. I jumped to the conclusion that this was the Dave Black I had known thirty odd years earlier. When I Googled “Dave Black “ I was amazed at how his career had taken off after we last met in 1973!

I remembered that he was in a band called Kestrel but I didn’t know they had recorded an album in 1975. Later in the seventies he formed the band Goldie and released the single “Making Up Again” which reached #7 in the UK charts. After Goldie, Dave joined David Bowie’s ex-backing band, Spiders From Mars, replacing Mick Ronson. In the eighties, Dave had a degree of success locally with his band 747 before embarking as a solo singer/guitarist, performing on the northeast pub and club circuit.

By coincidence, after my trip to Burnopfield, Dave got in touch with me in October 2010 via Ready Steady Gone. This is what he said: –

“During the late 60’s I was an avid band watcher, mainly at the good old Rex. I remember the local bands very well. Arctic Rainbow, Sneeze, Raw Spirit, Junco’s, Downtown Faction, Beckett, Poobah’s, Sect, (later to become Fog). Great times.

I formed Kestrel and asked Keith Fisher to play drums but he was in Beckett. So I got Brian Gibson instead, but he quit to join USA (later Geordie). Eventually I got Davy Whittaker (ex Ginhouse) and he played on the Kestrel album in 1973/74. I later hooked up with ex Bullfrog singer Pete McDonald and formed Goldie in ’76.

I’m enjoying trawling thru all your archive stuff Roger, so keep up the good work mate! Dave Black. (ps I’m still playing)”

Dave was an extremely talented guitarist and song writer. The video below is of him performing “Making Up Again” with Goldie.

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Simon Cowe (1948 to 2015)

Simon Cowe was a multi-instrumentalist with the ability to play guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonium, accordion, mandolin, banjo and bouzouki. Along with Rod Clements, Ray Jackson, Ray Laidlaw and Alan Hull he was a founder member of one the northeast’s most influential bands, Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was born in 1969 when four members of the local folk/blues band, Brethren teamed up with singer/songwriter Alan Hull.

Before the amalgamation, both Alan Hull and Brethren had been performing in local folk clubs so it was inevitable that Lindisfarne would have a strong folksy feel. Their combined instrumental skills and Alan’s poetic lyrics produced a unique style that attracted the attention of independent label Charisma. Their first album, ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’, was released the following year to much acclaim.

Sales of ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ didn’t take off straight away but a lot of the songs on the album were from the band’s much loved stage act, which was a major part of the band’s magnetism. Lindisfarne became a household name in 1971 after the release of their second album ‘Fog On The Tyne’, which went to the top of the UK albums chart. The band began to headline nationwide tours. It wasn’t long before trips to Europe and the USA followed and Lindisfarne became a much sought after festival band.

Simon Cowe (centre) with the original Lindisfarne

In 1973, following an Australian tour, the original Lindisfarne line-up came to an end with Alan Hull and fellow frontman Ray Jackson forming a new Lindisfarne. Simon Cowe along with Rod Clements and Ray Laidlaw formed Jack The Lad. Both off-shoots of the original Lindisfarne enjoyed some success at home and abroad although nothing quite like that of the first band.

The original Lindisfarne line-up reunited in 1976 for a Christmas concert at Newcastle City Hall and continued in this format until 1993 when Simon Cowe left the band.

In 1993 Simon emigrated to Canada and set up his own microbrewery in Toronto. He passed away on 30th September after a long illness.

Here’s Simon looking a bit like an Irish leprechaun performing “Fog On The Tyne” on BBC’s Old Grey Whistle test.

The legend of Lindisfarne lives on with some of the original members still performing in derivatives of the band. Simon Cowe will always be remembered as a founding member of Lindisfarne and as being part of the band at the time of their meteoric rise to fame in the early seventies.

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Brian Short (1948 to 2014)

In the mid sixties, one of Newcastle’s most popular bands was the Sect. The Sect played at all the top venues; the Club A’Gogo, the Mayfair, the Majestic, the Quay Club, the Cellar in South Shields and the Locarno in Sunderland plus many University and College events in the area. It was a combination of the individual band member’s charisma and their overall musical abilities that gave the Sect their ‘star qualtiy’ and earned them a huge following of mainly female fans throughout the northeast. The Sect’s singer in the band’s hey-day was Brian Short.

I didn’t know Brian very well in the sixties, even though my various bands at that time shared the bill with him and the Sect on many occasions. Then in 2006 Brian got in touch with me via Ready Steady Gone, asking about the date of a specific 1965 Sect gig at the old Cellar club in South Shields. It was at that gig he had first met his wife, Lynda. I didn’t know at the time that Lynda had just died of cancer; perhaps Brian wanted to know the exact date the couple first met so he could include it in her eulogy. Subsequently Brian took an interest in Ready Steady Gone and helped me with a lot of information for the web site, in particuar about the Sect and the Cellar Club.

The Sect in the mid sixties with Brian Short (centre)

After the Sect, Brian went on to greater things and played with various London bands including Black Cat Bones (originally formed by Free’s Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke). In 1971 he made a solo album entitled “Anything For a Laugh”. This is what Brian told me about his musical career: –

“The Sect were the first band in the newly formed Ivan Birchall Agency. Very soon many others followed – the bands you have referenced in your web pages. For some time we kept on getting bigger better gigs where we shared the stage with many local bands, including the Elcort, two members of which I became very friendly with. I found that I had more musical affinity with these guys, drummer Paul Nichols and keyboard player Ken Craddock. (Ken went on to bigger things in London with Ginger Baker’s band Airforce and then on to being a highly regarded session player, with people like George Harrison, Van Morrison and many others.) I left the Sect and formed a new band with Ken Craddock and Paul Nichols called the New Religion. As a personal footnote to all this, Ken and I remained great friends, both of us moved to London, he in 1968, me in 1969. He helped arrange and play on my album “Anything For A Laugh” for Transatlantic Records in 1971. He was best man at my wedding, and sadly was killed in a road accident in Portugal in 2002.”

“Anything For A Laugh” failed to win critical acclaim and establish Brian as a mainstream solo singer. I don’t know anything of his career as a musician during the 80’s and 90’s. He eventually went to live in Twickenham, Middlesex working as a mental health worker for the Mind organisation in their Richmond branch. At the same time he continued to perform as a guitarist and vocalist in the area, playing in pubs, clubs and at events, either on his own or with a band called Blue Religion.

Brian Short in 2012

After a spell in hospital in Newcastle, Brian Short died in September 2014.

The track featured below is one I often listen to. It’s the title track from Brian’s seventies album “Anything For A Laugh”. When I first saw the title of this song I thought it was going to be a jolly Lindisfarne type sing-a-long. But it’s not. The song is in a (sad) minor key with a haunting piano refrain. It portrays the singer in a failing relationship, pleading for his partner to stay, promising in return to make her laugh. There’s a degree of optimism in the bridge and outro when the key changes from minor to major but essentially the song is a lament. It’s a credit to Brian’s vocal and writing skills.

Anything For A Laugh – Brian Short

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Les Gofton (1947 to 2018)

On 1st February 1967, less than five months after arriving from the States, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Cellar Club, South Shields, with his newly formed band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix’s reputation as the person most likely to supersede Eric Clapton as the country’s number one guitarist was rapidly spreading. Consequently the Cellar gig was a sell-out. The support band for the Jimi Hendrix Experience that night was local band The Bond, which included guitarist Les Gofton. Sharing the stage with Hendrix would become one of two memorable experiences in Les Gofton’s musical career.The other was supporting Bo Diddley a few years later.

Not long after the Hendrix gig, Les left the Bond and joined Sunderland band, Jazzboard. Jazzboard had a busy gigging schedule in Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside, which included a Friday night residency at the Cellar, South Shields. I was the sax player in Jazzboard so over the next few months I got to know Les very well. Jazzboard disbanded in the summer of 1967. Les and I went our separate ways. I moved away from the northeast in 1973 and never saw him again.

Les Gofton with Jazzboard in 1967 (far left)

Some thirty years later into the 1990’s my son, Martin, aged around sixteen became an ardent fan of the Sunderland band Kenickie. When I told him that I had once played in a band with Les Gofton, the father of two of the Kenickie members (Lauren Laverne and drummer Johnny X – real name Pete Gofton, Lauren’s brother) I suddenly went up in his estimation. Unknown to me at the time, my son got in touch with Les Gofton and exchanged emails for a while. This eventually led to me renewing my friendship with Les through social media.

It came as a shock on 24th November 2018 when I heard that Les Gofton had died, although I was aware that he had been suffering with ill health for a while.

I suppose I only played alongside Les for six months or so in 1967. But I’ll always remember him in that year of the long hot summer. He was a gentle character and a fabulous guitarist. It was a great time to be in a band and playing music. This is what Les told me about his music and career as an academic: –

“Before the Jazzboard, I was in a few groups – the Sneakers, The Bond, Brave New World. After the Jazzboard, I went back to playing with my old buddies for a while, then I was in John Miles’ old band, the Influence until I went to University in 1970. Good band, Paul Thompson was on drums just before Roxy Music, Micky Golden on Bass. I also played folk and blues in clubs for a year before that, alongside all kinds of blues and folk guys – played with Fred McDowell. At university I played solo, folk and Blues, on bills with John Martyn, Keith Christmas, Al Stewart, John Renbourn as well as occasional gigs in nightclubs and bars to make a few bob. I stopped for a few years while I was getting my doctorate, then started to play a regular gig once a month, again with some old buddies, at a bar in Shields. Amongst others, we played with Bo Diddley.

I have spent the last thirty years as a university academic, writing the odd book and article and trying to play bebop on the best collection of guitars in the world. Believe it or not, I teach the Sociology of Popular Music at the University of Durham. And I WENT to the University of Durham because I played there with the Jazzboard in the wonderful summer of 1967. Bliss was it, in that dawn to be alive, and to be young was very heaven.”

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Keith Patterson (1948 to 2016)

If you were to ask any knowledgeable northeast music fan the name of the longest running local band, they would undoubtedly say “the Junco Partners”. They’d probably be right. The Juncos were active from 1964 through to 2017 with just a short break of a few years in the seventies. Another local band with a long track record is Raw Spirit. Formed around 1969, Raw Spirit is still performing regularly in the northeast to this day.

I have to say at this stage that when the Juncos disbanded in 2017 there were four of their original six members in the band. On the other hand, the current Raw Spirit line-up has none of the original 1960s members. However, until a few years ago this was not the case. In October 2016 one of the band’s founder members, bassist Keith Patterson passed away. Barry Nicholls, his lifelong band mate, also a founding member of Raw Spirit, decided not to continue in the band without Keith.

I knew Keith Patterson quite well in the sixties and early seventies. His band, Raw Spirit evolved at the same time as one of my bands – Sneeze. Sneeze played at the same local venues as Raw Spirit, often sharing the stage with them at the Mayfair Ballroom. Raw Spirit’s style was a lot heavier than that of Sneeze. I think at the time they would have been described as a ‘heavy/progressive rock band’. I remember them doing covers of Uriah Heep songs. Keith and Barry Nicholls were regular visitors to Sneeze’s shared house in Newcastle’s West End where both bands indulged in competitive drunken and rowdy Subbuteo matches.

Me with Keith Patterson (left) from Raw Spirit at the Jarrow Festival

Throughout his musical career as a bass guitarist, Keith always played in a semi-professional capacity. Unlike a lot of his contemporaries from the sixties and seventies music scene, he resisted the temptation to head off to London to seek fame and fortune.

I lost touch with Keith when I moved away from the northeast in 1973 but got to meet him again in 2009 when I was visiting the area and went to a Raw Spirit gig at the Magnesia Bank in North Shields. The line-up at this time had a brass section, which included one of my old Sneeze band mates, Jimmy Hall. Over the next five or so years I went to as many Raw Spirit gigs as I could whilst visiting the northeast. The last time I saw Raw Spirit was at the Rosedene pub in Sunderland on a bank holiday weekend.

Not too long after that gig I learned that Keith had suddenly taken ill with oesophageal cancer. Unfortunately, Keith didn’t survive treatment and died on 2nd October 2016.

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Dave Holland (1948 to 2019)

David “Holly” Holland, singer with northeast band Toby Twirl, passed away on 3rd April 2019

After The Animals became international recording stars in 1964, it was a long time until another northeast band achieved the same degree of success. Lindisfarne became mega stars seven years later after releasing their second album “Fog On The Tyne”.

Between 1964 and 1971 quite a few northeast bands attempted to make the big time, either by upping sticks and relocating to London or by trying to secure a recording deal.

Several bands came near to achieving their goals; for instance the Junco Partners, the Chosen Few, Elcort and the Answers. All released singles but fell short of national success when it came down to record sales.

A band that did quite well compared to their northeast contemporaries was Toby Twirl.

Toby Twirl grew out of another northeast band called Shades Of Blue. In 1967 I worked alongside their guitarist, Nick Thorburn at the Ministry in Longbenton. We were both in bands at the time so we talked a lot about our gigs and aspirations. I don’t think I ever saw Shades Of Blue perform but Nick kept me abreast of the band’s progress. His band was more suited to Working Men’s Clubs than beat clubs such as the Club A’Gogo or Quay Club. Overall, though, Shades Of Blue did very well on the local gig circuit and decided to turn professional. Those in the band not wishing to give up their day jobs left and were replaced. The first Toby Twirl line-up was; Dave Holland (vocals), Nick Thorburn (guitar), John Reed (drums), Barry Redman (keys) and Stu Somerville (bass).

As well as changing their name, the band also changed their image. They began by wearing colourful shirts, which fitted well with the psychedelic movement of 1967. Later on they would wear long brocade jackets and ruffs giving the band a distinct persona reflecting the whimsical imagery of some of their songs.

Toby Twirl with Dave Holland (right)

Toby Twirl was managed by the Bailey Organisation, which ran a chain of nightclubs in the north. The band did well as a cabaret act. They also released four singles on the Decca label during their career. Dave Holland left the band in 1969. Toby Twirl eventually broke up in 1971 but in recent years has earned a belated reputation as a notable British pop-psych band. A self-titled LP was released in 2017 featuring some of the band’s old material.

Dave Holland contacted me through Ready Steady Gone in August 2010. This is what he said: –

“I was a lead singer in those mad times of the late sixties and early seventies. I played at most of the venues on your site. The Cellar was one of my favourites and we had a tremendous following there. We were then made to change our name to Toby Twirl and began working all the big cabaret clubs up and down the country. We were then under the wing of the Bailey Organisation and were based at the Latino in South Shields. We recorded on the Decca label and made four singles.

I have kept in touch with Nick, John and Barry but have not seen them for a while. It’s great to see the old posters and adverts from the past and some of the band names which we played with in those special years. If you’re ever down the Blyth area pop in and see me in the Joiners Arms which I run with my wife Annie.”

Dave (Holly) Holland will continue to be remembered by his friends, family and through the current interest and revival of Toby Twirl.

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Alan Rogan (1951 to 2019)

Alan Rogan from Gateshead was just twelve when he first fell in love with guitars. From then on he devoted his whole life to the instrument, as a musician but above all as a guitar technician. His wizardry with guitars and his understanding of modern guitar technology earned him a reputation second to none. Alan became the highly respected guitar tech whose services were called on by some of world’s top guitarists.

When Alan Rogan died of cancer in a London hospital on 3rd July 2019 there was an outpouring of grief on the internet and on social media from musicians and the music industry in general. His death was reported in many publications such as The Times, the New York Times, Guitar Magazine, Ultimate Classic Rock, Uncut and Planet Rock.

Alan started his musical career in the late sixties working in Barratts Music shop in Newcastle. He played in several local north east bands and repaired, bought and sold musical equipment from his home in Dunston in his spare time. In the seventies he moved to London and started work in ‘Top Gear’ on Denmark Street. While at ‘Top Gear’ he got a job at a gig as part of The Who’s road crew. From then on he became Pete Townsend’s trusted guitar tech, a position which lasted until 2019.

Alan with Pete Townshend

Technically, Alan Rogan was a freelance guitar technician. Although committed to The Who and Pete Townshend, Alan also worked for other top acts when The Who were not touring or recording. Others he worked for include; The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Cat Stevens, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Stevie Van Zandt (E Street Band) and Joe Walsh.

As a musician, Alan Rogan played bass in his own band Bluesclub, which has been running in one form or another since the nineties.

Alan’s passing will leave a huge gap in the world of rock music. It’s not just his skills as a guitar tech that will be missed but also his sense of humour, kindness and charismatic personality.

Here’s a video of Alan performing (on bass) with Bluesclub in 2016.

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John Woods (1944 to 2019)

The combination of John Woods (drums) and Dave Sproat (bass) in the Junco Partners was arguably the best rhythm section in the northeast during the sixties. For the best part of forty years the Woods/Sproat twosome provided the powerful beat behind the Juncos, influencing and inspiring many other local musicians and bands.

Sadly, John Woods passed away on 8th June 2019 but the memory of his contribution to the Junco’s sound will live on.

It wasn’t by chance that John Woods and Dave Sproat gelled so well. The pair served their musical apprenticeship together. In 1964, when neither of them was that proficient, they began playing together in a band called the Orients. From there they moved on to another local band called the Nevadas with vocalist, Ronnie Barker. With a change of personnel in the summer of 1964, the Nevadas became the legendary Junco Partners.

The Junco Partners in 1964. (l to r) Peter Wallis, John Anderson, John Woods, Ronnie Barker, Dave Sproat and Charlie Harcourt

Not too long ago, Dave Sproat told me that the reason he and Woodsy were so good together was because they had learned their craft together, progressing at the same rate and feeding off each other musically. Once the Juncos took off, their gig schedule was relentless. There is no better way for musicians to progress, either individually or as a team than to be playing up to five or six gigs a week.

John Woods remained with the Junco Partners for six years, during which time their line-up had shrunk from six to three. The remaining three band members in July 1970 when the band split up were John, Dave Sproat and Bob Sargeant.

After the demise of the Juncos, John went off to London and joined Vinegar Joe with the late Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks. When Robert Palmer left the band to embark on a solo career, John worked as his tour manager on the ‘Pressure Drop’ tour of the USA.

John returned to the northeast and rejoined the Juncos Partners who had reformed in 1977 with most of the original band members. He remained with the Juncos until bad health got the better of him.

As well as being an accomplished drummer, John Woods is also well known for the clothes shop he ran in Newcastle. ‘Flip’ which sells imported American clothing was established by John in the late seventies. The business is currently located on the Westgate Road, Newcastle and is now run by John’s son.

In the video below, John can be seen and heard performing with Vinegar Joe.

The post In Memoriam appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

Iberia Airways flight number IB504 en route from Palma, Mallorca to London Heathrow on 5th March 1973 never reached its destination. It collided with another plane over France and exploded in midair killing all the crew and passengers. One of the 68 victims was Mike Jeffery who once owned Newcastle’s legendary Club a’Gogo and later managed Jimi Hendrix. Mike Jeffery’s recorded death occurred 29 months and 16 days after the death of Hendrix.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death in September 1970. As the September date approaches there’s likely to be a fresh batch of books published, films released and TV programs aired about the life and, in particular, the death of Jimi Hendrix. Author Mick Wall was ahead of the game by publishing a new Hendrix biography called “Two Riders Were Approaching” in October last year. The opening chapter of the book recounts the last hours and seconds of Hendrix’s life. The true cause of Jimi Hendrix’s death has been the subject of speculation for decades. Was it suicide, an accident or even murder? Mick Wall’s account is quite specific. “Mike” and a couple of his heavies follow Hendrix and his girlfriend, Monika Dannemann back from a party to her flat. They gain access to the flat and rough up Hendrix a little before ejecting Dannemann. After more physical violence, red wine is forced into Hendrix’s lungs until he drowns.

Mick Wall’s account of Jimi Hendrix’s death may be a flight of fantasy but it’s not new. The murder of Jimi Hendrix by his manager, Mike Jeffery first made the national news in 2009 when James “Tappy” Wright, a former employee of Jeffery, revealed in his autobiography that Jeffery had confessed to the murder some 36 years earlier. However, until the appearance of Mick Wall’s book, I hadn’t seen this murder scenario told in any other Jimi Hendrix biography.

Because of conflicting accounts by so-called witnesses the true facts about Hendrix’s death have never been clear. As time goes by, with key players dying off, it’s becoming less likely that we’ll ever know what really happened in the flat of Hendrix’s girlfriend, Monika Dannemann at the Samarkand Hotel, London on 18th September 1970.

What we do know about Hendrix is that he died in the presence of at least one other person who knew him. The death is undisputed – only the cause. The same can’t be said about Mike Jeffery whose death, because of the extraordinary circumstances, was unwitnessed. Furthermore, his body was so disfigured that a proper identification was not possible.

Perhaps you may have come across an 87 year-old man like the man in the photograph (below left) whilst holidaying in the Bahamas, the Balearic Islands or maybe another Mediterranean destination. He would have all the trappings of a wealthy man – the gold jewelry, Rolex watch and expensive clothes. He’d probably have a female companion at least twenty years younger than himself at his side. The most recognisable feature would be a strong aroma of expensive after-shave, Acqua Di Parma, his preferred fragrance since the 1960’s. This is what Mike Jeffery may look like today had he not been aboard flight IB504.

87 year-old ex-pat (left) and Mike Jeffery aged 32 (right)

Is there any doubt that Mike Jeffery did actually die on the fated Iberian Airways Douglas DC9, which collided with another Spanish plane over the Vendee area in western France? Everything points to a catastrophic accident with Jeffery being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Furthermore, it would be beyond comprehension to think that the downing of the Douglas DC9 was anything but an accidental collision between two aeroplanes, even though unexplained military coloured paint smears were found on the surviving plane.

But if Mike Jeffery was not on board flight IB504 it’s not implausible that he would use the disastrous events to his advantage. After all, he’d learned a trick or two as a member of the British Secret Service in the shadowy world of ‘cold war’ Trieste. His training and his dealings with communist agents would have left him well versed in the art of deception. More recently he’d been ducking and diving with the Mafia over huge debts, problems that would go away if everyone thought he was dead. This could have been Jeffery’s big chance to relax anonymously and live off the millions he’d secretly creamed off Hendrix and The Animals – money he’d stashed away in hidden Bahamian bank accounts and other locations. In short, a tragic set of circumstances and a stroke of luck may have presented Mike Jeffery with a ‘Reginald Perrin’ opportunity.

Let’s go back to the weekend of 3rd and 4th March 1973 and why Mike Jeffery was travelling to and from the island of Mallorca. In the previous week he‘d been arrested and remanded on a warrant because he’d earlier failed to appear in Court on charges relating to a drugs case. His lawyer applied for bail, which was granted. On 2nd March the lawyer asked for an extension to the bail. Jeffery, as the former manager of Jimi Hendrix, was a fairly high profile showbiz person who may well have been in line for a custodial sentence in order to set an example to others. The extension was granted on condition that his passport was surrendered. Jeffery’s legal representative argued that the passport was needed for a short weekend business trip to Mallorca where his client owned several night clubs. Against all odds the judge agreed to the request. He was no doubt unaware that Jeffery was making arrangements to start a new life on the Spanish island and was in the final stages of buying a castle at the costal resort of Banyalbufar. There were no extradition arrangements with Spain at the time so the risk of Jeffery not returning to Court to face trial and possible imprisonment was quite substantial. In other words there was a strong chance that Jeffery would skip bail and not return to the UK at all.

On arrival in Mallorca Mike Jeffery visited his proposed new home at Banyalbufar. He also met up with his assistant, Trixi Sullivan and conducted some business with her in connection with the Jimi Hendrix estate.

The last photo of Mike Jeffery taken at Banyalbufar

Michael Jeffery was due to return to the UK on Iberia Airways flight IB504 from Son Sant Joan airport, Palma, Mallorca on the morning of 5th March 1973. It’s well documented that Jeffery had a morbid fear of flying. According to some sources he would book seats on several flights ahead of his proposed journeys and in an attempt to cheat fate, he would gamble on which flight to take before departure time. However, there is no evidence to suggest that he had more than one flight booked on 5th March. But did he have a sixth sense about the fate of flight IB504 and decide at the airport not to fly that day?

It’s more likely that he had no intention of returning to the UK to face trial and a potential prison sentence. So the trip to Mallorca a few days earlier could have been a planned start to his new life on the island known only to him and a few associates. We know that a passport for Michael Jeffery was found on the crash site in France but could Jeffery have given the passport, one of many he possessed, to someone to travel back to the UK using his identity in order to lay a false trail and stall for time? According to Kathy Etchingham, a long-term girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix, another man was due to fly back to the UK with Mike Jeffery on 5th March 1973. That person didn’t appear on the list of passengers issued by Iberia Airways after the crash.

Flight IB504, a Douglas DC-9 took off from Son Sant Joan airport, Palma at 11.24 heading for Heathrow. The planned flight path would take the plane over France to the English Channel and then on to the south coast of England. In March 1973 French air traffic controllers were on strike. Military personnel had been drafted in to cover their role. A lot of airlines were avoiding French air space and were taking longer routes as a precaution. However, Iberia Airways chose to put their trust in the military air traffic controllers and were sticking to their normal routes.

Whilst the DC-9 was in flight, a chartered Convair Coronado passenger plane owned by the Spanish airline company Spantax took off from Madrid at 12.01 headed for London. This plane was also routed through French air space.

Just before 12.30pm both the pilot of the DC-9 and the pilot of the Coronado reported to air traffic control that they estimated their respective flights would reach Nantes in western France at 12.52. Military air traffic control attempted to put space and distance between the DC-9 and Coronado by issuing instructions regarding height and speed. Poor communications led to misunderstandings and these misunderstanding led to errors by one or both pilots. Unable to communicate with the controllers, the pilot of the Coronado decided to make an unauthorized manoeuver in order to delay his arrival over Nantes.

At 12.52 the pilot of the Coronado felt a significant jolt and struggled to control his plane, which was starting to dive. What he didn’t know was that the wing of his plane had collided with the Douglas DC-9 causing an explosion that had torn the other plane apart over La Planche, 25 kilometers south of Nantes.

Residents of the small village of La Planche reported hearing an explosion and seeing a red streak of light before bodies and aeroplane parts came raining down in thousands of pieces. One woman reported; “We heard a frightful noise. I looked up and saw the sky streaked with dozens of torches while the flaming fuselage crashed less than a kilometer from my house.”

La Planche in 1973 and 2019

The explosion took place at around 29,000 feet (5 miles). Bodies turned into blocks of ice as they fell and then shattered on impact with the ground. Some were decapitated while others lost limbs. Loose clothing was stripped away during the descent. Initially, the mayor of La Planche was landed with the grisly job of organising the collection of what was left of the passengers and crew. This was done using a tractor and trailer. The corpses and body parts were taken to the corner of a field where they were covered over. They were later placed in makeshift coffins. After some time, the villagers and the gendarmerie from the larger, nearby village of Aigrefeuille came to the aid of the mayor. One villager later commented that dead bodies with fractured bones weren’t easy to carry.

When the human remains had been recovered from the crash site, which included fields, gardens and ponds, the mayor had the task of trying to identify the casualties from a list of passengers and aircrew supplied by Iberia Airways. During his investigation, the mayor concluded that a faceless torso stripped of most of its clothing was probably that of a Michael Jeffery from London. Not long after, Gerry Stickells, who worked for Mike Jeffery as a road manager for Hendrix was contacted. He confirmed that the remains were that of his employer. Stickells neither saw the actual body nor a photograph. He made his judgment from some jewelry he was shown.

Did Gerry Stickells have any reason to lie about the identity of the body? Only if he knew Mike Jeffery was still alive and that this lie would help to cover up a shocking event that had happened two and a half years earlier.

You’ll recall from the opening paragraphs above that the latest Jimi Hendrix biography opens by describing Jimi’s murder by Michael Jeffery and some associates. But let’s forget about that for now. Monika Dannemann gave evidence at Jimi Hendrix’s inquest about the circumstances leading to the death. She said that in September 1970 that on the night before Hendrix died they had drunk some wine. Dannemann said when she woke up on the morning of his death it was not immediately obvious that anything was wrong with the guitarist. “He was still sleeping, and so I got my breakfast and had a wash, and went to get some cigarettes because we had run out. When I came back he was still sleeping. I looked at him closely and then I could see something was wrong.” She said she then tried to contact Hendrix’s doctor before telephoning for an ambulance. The call for an ambulance took place at 11.18 am. The coroner closed the case with an open verdict saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that Hendrix had committed suicide.

In the 1970s most people accepted the coroner’s conclusion that Jimi Hendrix died choking on his own vomit after taking an overdose of barbiturates. The World Wide Web was still years away so the main sources of information about Hendrix’s life and death were in newspapers, music magazines and books.

As for Michael Jeffery, his death too, was reported as a tragic accident. He was mourned by his family and friends and buried. In 1973 not too many people outside the music industry knew who he was so he was more or less forgotten – at least for half a decade.

Then in 1978 black author/poet David Henderson published a Jimi Hendrix biography in the States entitled “Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Of The Aquarian Age”. For most of the book Mike Jeffery is only mentioned in passing. However, Henderson’s book does mention several theories and suggestions about Hendrix’s death including murder. David Henderson also questioned Monica Danneman’s account about the morning Hendrix died, which after the event she had revised many times.

Would David Henderson’s book be enough to start alarm bells ringing in certain quarters? It certainly upset Hendrix’s former long-term girlfriend Kathy Etchingham when she found out the book was going to be published in the UK in 1981 under the title of “’Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky”. She took exception to the way in which Henderson had portrayed her relationship with Jimi. This prompted her to track down and contact Monica Dannemann who she thought had also been given a bad deal by Henderson.

Kathy Etchingham’s liaison with Monika Dannemann didn’t turn out as she’d expected. The more she got to know Dannemann, the more she realised that Dannemann had been less than truthful about the morning that Hendrix had died. Her main concern was that Monika Dannemann did not ring for an ambulance until 11.18 whereas Eric Burdon and his partner Alvenia Bridges reported that they had gone to the flat much earlier, possibly at first light, following a frantic call from Dannemann about Hendrix’s condition. Kathy Etchingham strongly suspected that Monika Dannemann had for many years lied in order to cover up her actions or the actions of others on that fateful morning. Over time it emerged that apart from Dannemann, Eric Burdon and his partner, a lot of other people had been in the flat in order to take away or hide anything that would cast Hendrix and his management in bad light. These people included Hendrix’s roadies, Gerry Stickells and Eric Barrett plus Burdon’s roadie, Terry Slater – all employees of Mike Jeffery.

Kathy Etchingham (left) and Monika Dannemann (right)

Kathy Etchingham’s relationship with Dannemann turned hostile. Various court cases took place over the years so their hostilities became very public. Etchingham conducted her own investigation into Jimi Hendrix’s death and eventually handed her findings to the police who reopened the enquiry. In the long run the police failed to find enough evidence to overturn the original 1970 open verdict by the coroner.

Apart from Etchingham, David Henderson’s book was likely to prompt others to question the circumstances of Hendrix’s death in more detail. If any foul play took place in Dannemann’s flat the morning that Hendrix died, then some people would really be worried. And would the book arouse interest about the part that Mike Jeffery played in Jimi Hendrix’s life and more importantly his demise?

Up until 1981, the same year that Henderson’s book was due to be published in the UK, the remains of Mike Jeffery had lain in plot GZ885 at Hither Green Cemetery, South East London. They’d been there since their burial on 19th March 1973. For reasons unknown, the remains were exhumed on 18th April 1981 and cremated. The exhumation was most likely instigated by Jeffery’s father. Other than for investigative purposes, bodies can be exhumed for various reasons; for instance, exhumation sometimes takes place so a body can be reburied near to a recently deceased relative or nearer to the homes of living ones. However, in the case of Mike Jeffery, the remains were cremated without ceremony and strewn in the grounds of the cemetery on the same day they were exhumed. Whatever the reason for the exhumation, the subsequent cremation would ensure that the body parts buried under the name of Michael Frank Jeffery could never be forensically examined.

Although Jimi Hendrix has been dead for nearly 50 years he still has an enthusiastic ever-expanding fan base. His fans range from people who were around in his heyday between 1967 and 1970 and perhaps saw some of his ‘live’ performances through to younger people who have more recently discovered Hendrix and have become captivated by his guitar skills. Some fans are only interested in the music whilst others want to know all about the life and times of Jimi Hendrix and will devour any new books or material that appears on the Internet.

Although there is likely to be a lot of new Hendrix material published this year, it’s unlikely that any new evidence about his death will emerge. A lot of the people involved back in September 1970 have now passed on. These include Monika Dannemann, James “Tappy” Wright and Gerry Stickells. It has always been thought that Eric Burdon knows a lot more about the circumstances of Hendrix’s death than he has already disclosed. But to date he has declined to be pressed on the matter, even to the FBI who attempted to interview him on behalf of the British police when they were reinvestigating the death in the 1990s.

Perhaps at some stage someone will make a deathbed confession about a murder that took place at the Samarkand Hotel back in 1970 – a Geordie thug or an ex-associate of Mike Jeffery.

Maybe an ex-pat octogenarian will come forward and surprise everyone or is that just another flight of fantasy?

More about Mike Jeffery

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The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on everyone and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Of course the effects of the coronavirus lockdown are variable. Not being able to venture out for a pint or a dance seems trivial compared to the problems of those people who have lost their livelihood or whose health has been affected. Nevertheless, most of us will have had to cancel plans and will have been left disappointed because we can’t do the things we like doing.

One of the lockdown casualties is the Club a’Gogo Revival Nights, which I wrote about last December in my Right Back Where We Started From blog. Jools Donnelly and her husband Paul are far too young to have been part of the sixties Gogo scene but that didn’t deter the couple from trying to recreate the music, dancing and feel of Newcastle’s iconic venue by setting up and running “Club a’Gogo” dance events. Their inaugural night at the Bridge Hotel on 15th January was a great success. The music featured on the first night was mainly Rhythm & Blues from the early years of the Gogo rather than Soul and Motown which a lot of ex-Gogo members will remember from the club’s “golden” years between 1965 and 1967. I’m talking about the records played by the DJs, of course, rather than the music of the visiting bands and artists. Jools and Paul set up a Facebook page to promote their events and spread the word to current Mods and those who actually went to the original Club a’Gogo in the sixties.

Jools and Paul Donnelly

The next “Club a’Gogo” night was due on 28th March but by that date the world had changed. Jools and Paul were determined to keep the interest in the Club a’Gogo going. They created a new Facebook group called “Club a’Gogo & Original 60s Modernists”.

Jools set about encouraging original Gogo members to join the group. Jools’ campaign was a resounding success. At the time of writing there are over 300 members in the group. Old Club a’Gogo members and regulars are now ‘talking’ to each other on Facebook and posting memories and photos of their mod days at the time the club was running. It’s given the opportunity for many people to reunite with old friends who they haven’t seen since the mid-sixties. Some members of the group like John Barnaby, Anne Wilson-Cotton and Ches Chesters have vivid recollections of the life and times of the Club a’Gogo and, in particular, Mick Dunn with his photographic memory. Some of the “characters” that were part of the Gogo scene back in the day are being regaled – people like ‘Frenchy’, Arthur Wong and Kenny James. Here’s a few of the pictures posted to the group in recent weeks:

For many years some ex-Club a’Gogo regulars have been posting comments to the Club a’Gogo page on this site and to some extent have been messaging each other. But now through Facebook people can communicate in real time. If you’re not yet a member of Jools’ “Club a’Gogo & Original 60s Modernists” Facebook group and want to relive some of your experiences of the Club a’Gogo era then you should become part of the group. It’s a closed Facebook group so first of all you’ll need a Facebook account and then you’ll be required to ask to join the group. In my opinion you won’t regret it.

Here’s the link to the Facebook group.

The post Reliving the Club a’Gogo’s Golden Years appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

Just three days after the death of legendary blues guitarist Peter Green shook the music industry and music lovers worldwide, generations of northeast music fans were devastated to learn of the passing of one of their own guitar heroes, Charlie Harcourt. Charlie died in hospital on 28th July 2020 following a long period of ill-health.

With a music career spanning over five decades, Charlie Harcourt built up a sparkling reputation as a guitarist both in the local area and beyond. His musical journey from the Juncos Partners in the sixties through to Lindisfarne this millennium took him all over the world, including a spell living in the United States.

Although I didn’t know Charlie personally I saw him perform many times in the sixties and early seventies before I left the northeast. Looking through my old diaries I’m able to come up with a date that I first saw him weaving his magic on guitar. It was on 20th March 1965 at the Blue Note Club in Sunderland as part of the original Junco Partners line-up. By that time the Juncos had become well established at Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo with a growing reputation in other areas of the northeast. The band sounded and looked great as a unit but it was the musicianship and charisma of each individual member, including Charlie Harcourt, which made the Juncos by far the best band around at that time. I can genuinely say that I still have vivid recollections of the Junco Partners’ performance that night at the Blue Note. The last time I saw Charlie perform was at the launch of the North East Beat exhibition at the Discovery Museum in 2009.

The Junco partners with Charlie Harcourt far right

Charlie Harcourt learned to play the guitar at an early age. In 1964 the 17-year old Charlie was asked to join a newly formed Junco Partners whose core members were Dave Sproat (bass), John Woods (drums) and Ronnie Barker (vocals). The band had come to the attention of The Animal’s manager Mike Jeffery and was rehearsing at the Club a’Gogo. Replacing the original guitarist, Charlie became a member of the band along with John Anderson (vocals) and Pete Wallis (keyboard). After a few months of rehearsals the Juncos began playing at the Club a’Gogo. They proved to be a great success with the Gogo crowd and eventually became the resident band there.

The Junco Partners was tipped to follow The Animals as the next northeast band to achieve fame and fortune. But the elusive big break never came. The band saw various changes over the years. In 1970 the Juncos was down to a four-piece consisting of original members Charlie, Dave Sproat and John Wood with Bob Sargeant on keys. At that point Charlie decided to leave the band. He was a tough act to follow. In spite of advertising for a new guitarist the remaining members of the band weren’t able to find a replacement and continued for a while as a three piece before finally calling it a day.

In the meantime Charlie had joined a band formed by ex-Nice bassist Lee Jackson called Jackson Heights. This was a fairly short lived venture with the original band falling apart after one album.

Since the heady days of the Club a’Gogo in the mid-sixties, club owner and Animals’ manager Mike Jeffery had done well for himself. He had become the co-manager of Jimi Hendrix, the highest grossing rock guitarist of the sixties. Jeffery also had a stable of artists that he managed. Two of his acts were a duo from Chatanooga called Jimmy & Vella and a Californian based band called Cat Mother & The All Night News Boys. The two acts frequently toured together. Charlie Harcourt was asked by Mike Jeffery to join Jimmy & Vella as a backing guitarist. This led to him becoming a member of Cat Mother, recording on one of their albums. Charlie lived in California for a few years and toured with both acts all over the States and Europe.

On his return to the UK, Charlie became a member of a reformed Lindisfarne, the original Lindisfarne having fractured in 1973. During this stint with Lindisfarne he formed a song-writing partnership with Ray Jackson. When Lindisfarne (mark 2) split in 1975, Charlie continued his association with Ray Jackson forming the band Harcourt’s Heroes.

Around 1976/77 some members of the original Junco Partners got together once more and started performing again in the northeast. The Juncos regained their original popularity and became resident band at the Cooperage on Newcastle’s Quayside playing to packed audiences. The Junco’s second coming was to last for 40 years until the band finally called it a day in 2017. Charlie Harcourt performed with the Juncos throughout this period as well as gigging with Lindisfarne until 2015 and performing at some of their legendary Christmas shows at the City Hall.

Over the decades Charlie Harcourt performed with numerous top musicians and artists. His guitar playing has been enjoyed by several generations of music lovers. Both fellow musicians and fans alike respected Charlie’s skills. His contribution to the northeast music scene will always be remembered and will live on through the recordings he made with the many bands he played with.

Charlie (far left) with Lindisfarne in 2015

RIP Charlie.

The post Farewell Charlie Harcourt appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

After The Animals took the world by storm in 1964 it was a long time before another Newcastle band would make a sizable impression on the record buying public. It took until 1970 when Lindisfarne began its rise to fame that Newcastle upon Tyne would once again feature on the popular music map.

Of course between 1964 and 1970 many Newcastle bands had attempted to follow in the footsteps of The Animals by releasing singles or relocating to the capitol. Bands such as the Sect, the Elcort and Chosen Few had sizable followings in the northeast but none achieved national fame.

The Junco Partners should have made the big-time. They were incredibly talented and charismatic with a huge following in the Newcastle area, in particular at the Club a’Gogo, the club associated with The Animals. In terms of chart success things didn’t work out for the Juncos but as you will read later in this article they did have a part to play in the development of Lindisfarne.

Most people in the north east will know that in spite of several break-ups and changes in personnel, Lindisfarne has survived for over five decades. The band lives on today in one form or another. The main theme of Ready Steady Gone is the northeast music scene between 1965 and 1972. For that reason I’m going to concentrate on the musical careers of the original five Lindisfarne members through to the first years of the band’s life.

The choice of name for the band in 1970 was inspiring. Lindisfarne is a small island off the Northumberland coast accessible from the mainland by a causeway when the tide allows. Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, has a rich history dating back to the 6th century and was the home of a priory until the 16th century. The name “Lindisfarne” left little doubt that the band members came from the northeast. Furthermore, the name hinted at the type of music one may have expected to hear from the band – traditional, folky, pure, perhaps with spiritual or religious undertones.

The religious theme also crops up in the name of the band that became Lindisfarne – “Brethren”.

Brethren

So there you have it; a whimsical image of a troupe of minstrel monks who escaped the confines of their life on a secluded island in order to share their unique music with the rest of the world.

There were no actual siblings within Brethren, the forerunner of Lindisfarne, but the band members had been musical ‘brothers’ for many years in the sixties, predominantly in an outfit named Downtown Faction.

Downtown Faction did well locally in the late sixties. All it took for the group of four musicians to elevate themselves above other aspiring northeast bands and become international stars was a new musical direction, several changes of name and the addition of a fifth member – singer/songwriter Alan Hull.

Of course, that fifth member, wasn’t the only ingredient that shaped the band’s successful future. The other four members had been honing their skills as musicians and songwriters for many years by slogging away on the local northeast gig circuit.

A few months back when I started my research on Lindisfarne I thought I would gather as much information as I could about Downtown Faction. I was in three separate bands that were doing the rounds in the lifetime of Downtown Faction. We all shared the same booking agent. In spite of playing alongside them on at least two occasions at the Rex Ballroom at Whitley Bay I have no memory of actually seeing the band perform.

I thought I’d get in touch with one of my ex-band members who is better than me at remembering the finer details of past times. I asked him if he had any recollections of Downtown Faction; either performing or interacting with the band members at gigs. He responded by saying “They were just a bunch of ‘posh’ kids who kept to themselves.”

Some of the information I dug up for this article, including interviews with various Lindisfarne band members, suggest that the word “posh” is appropriate, at least as far as a couple of the band members are concerned. But unlike some bands, Genesis for instance, the “posh” image didn’t filter through and attach itself to Lindisfarne.

Brother Simon

Posh kid Simon Cowe came from a well heeled family. As a youngster he attended a fee paying school in Tynemouth – The Kings School. For his secondary education he was sent by his parents to Fettes in Edinburgh. Fettes, reputed to be the best and most expensive boarding college in Scotland, was the educational institution attended by ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair in the late sixties.

Another Lindisfarne band member, Rod Clements also attended The Kings School in Tynemouth. Simon Cowe and Lindisfarne’s drummer, Ray Laidlaw knew each other through mutual friends in their neighbourhood. Both shared an interest in music with Simon learning to play guitar and Ray the drums. In the early sixties they formed their first band. The fact that Simon was away in Edinburgh during school terms limited the time he could devote to musical activities in the northeast. Eventually he and Ray drifted apart as far as the band was concerned. However, Simon took his passion for playing the guitar with him to his boarding school. There he would play in various school bands during term time. He even made his own guitar while he was there.

After finishing his education at Fettes, Simon Cowe bid his farewell to Edinburgh. His return to the northeast meant that he was able to renew a musical association with some of his old friends. In 1968 the opportunity arose for him to play alongside his former bandmate Ray Laidlaw and former school chum Rod Clements.

Brothers Ray and Rod

Ray Laidlaw (drums) and Rod Clements (bass), Lindisfarne’s impeccable rhythm section had been performing together as a unit since 1965. There is no doubt that Ray and Rod were influenced and spurred on by Newcastle’s favourite band in the sixties – the Junco Partners, in particular, by drummer John Woods and bassist Dave Sproat. Several years ago when I first added a page about the Junco Partners to Ready Steady Gone, Ray Laidlaw posted the following comment: –

“In 1966/7 the Juncos played regularly at the Vic in Whitley Bay. Me and my mate Rod Clements went to see them as many times as we could and marvelled at their power, authenticity and ability to play as a team. As drummer and bass player ourselves we were particularly impressed with the John Woods/Dave Sproat rhythm section. It was the Juncos who inspired us to keep searching till we found the right people to help us create the band we had been trying to put together. Eventually we found them and Lindisfarne was the result. Rod and I are part of a very small group of people who have had the opportunity to be replacement Junco Partners when one of the originals was indisposed, what a buzz that was.”

Ray Laidlaw was only fourteen when he formed his first group with school friend Simon Cowe in 1962. The group, which was based in Ray’s hometown of Tynemouth went on to be called the Aristokats. Although Simon Cowe was nominally part of the Aristokats, the fact that he attended a boarding school outside the region meant that he was only available as a band member during school holiday periods.

A year or so later Ray drifted away from the Aristokats and joined a band called the Druids, which included another old friend, Bob Sargeant. Some years later Bob joined the Junco Partners as a keyboard player.

Rod Clements’ first steps into the music scene were similar to those of Ray Laidlaw. Like Simon Cowe, Rod had attended boarding school in his teens. His school was the all-boys fee paying Durham School located in the city of Durham. There he had been in a band called the Cyclones, which played popular chart hits of the day. Later he played bass with an outfit from Newcastle called the Bert Brown Combo before starting his own Durham based band called Downtown Faction.

By the time Ray Laidlaw and Rod Clements met up and became friends in 1965 each of their respective bands had broken up. Both Ray and Rod had similar tastes in music and were keen to start something new together. The resulting band, which included Ray, Rod and other local musicians they knew, took its name from Rod’s erstwhile defunct Durham band – Downtown Faction.

When they were not rehearsing or performing with their new band, the pair spent a lot of their leisure time together watching live music at the many northeast venues that were thriving in the mid sixties; venues such as the Club a’Gogo, the Mayfair and Quay Club in Newcastle plus the Rex, Vic and 45 Club on the coast.

By 1967 Downtown Faction was becoming a fixture on the Newcastle gig scene with regular gigs at the Quay Club and the Blaydon Races Hotel. The band’s first booking at Newcastle’s acclaimed Club a’Gogo was in the autumn of 1967.

Downtown Faction also secured a handful of gigs in the first half of 1968 through the Ivan Birchall Agency at another prime Newcastle venue, the Mayfair Ballroom. They appeared on the same bill as Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band, Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera as well as some popular local bands

One of the Mayfair gigs on 4 October 1968 was supporting a band that was to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world – Led Zeppelin. The band was advertised as the Yardbirds (Jimmy Page’s band). But the Yardbirds had actually split up before the gig. In the meantime Page had formed Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant. The booking at the Mayfair turned out to be Led Zepellin’s debut gig.

The first few years of Downtown Faction saw several musicians come and go. John Spooner, Billy Mitchell and Jeff Sadler were all early members with Ray Laidlaw and Rod Clements being the core elements. In 1968 Rod Clements was forced to take a break from the band in order to continue his studies at Durham. By this time Si Cowe had left Fettes in Edinburgh and was available to step into the bassist’s slot left temporarily vacant by Rod. When Rod Clements was able to return to Downtown Faction as their bass player, Si switched to guitar. This led to Si Cowe becoming a permanent rhythm guitarist once Downtown Faction’s volatile line-up had settled down.

In the summer of 1969 Ray Laidlaw and Simon Cowe organised a festival at Leazes Park in Newcastle. The free festival was to take place on the Monday of the late August bank holiday weekend, which fell on the 1st September. Included in the array of artists appearing were Downtown Faction plus other local bands, popular local folk performers the Callies and the up-and-coming singer/songwriter Alan Hull.

In a pre-festival press interview, Downtown Faction’s line-up was announced as Ray Laidlaw, Rod Clements, Si Cowe and Jeff Sadler. In the newspaper article the band was reported to have moved away from blues and was heading in a new direction. Perhaps in an attempt to shake off the “posh” label, the band members described themselves as “young, talented, professional and poor!”.

From Newcastle Journal 2nd September 1969. (Alan Hull incorrectly credited as Allan Hall).

Although the Leazes Park festival was not as well attended as a concert held in early August 1969 on Newcastle’s Town Moor, it was successful in two respects; Downtown Faction received a lot of exposure in the local press. It also made the band aware of the talents of Alan Hull and vice versa.

Brother Ray (Jacka)

Ray (Jacka) Jackson had been performing in local bands since leaving school. In his teens he learned to play the mandolin and harmonica. Jacka’s first band as a vocalist was the Zulus from Wallsend. The band played regularly at dances run by the St Lukes Youth Club in Wallsend. Later the band changed its name to Autumn States and in 1966 began to pick up regular gigs in Newcastle at the Blaydon Races Hotel. Other Autumn States gigs in 1967 and 1968 included the Quay Club, the 45 Club at Whitley Bay, the Mayfair Ballroom plus one gig at Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo on 15th March 1968.

Jacka knew Ray Laidlaw from their time as student at Newcastle upon Tyne College of Art & Industrial Design. More importantly they were aware of each other’s musical abilities through playing in their respective bands, Autumn States and Downtown Faction on the local gig circuit. Ray (Jacka) Jackson joined Downtown Faction as vocalist in the second half of 1968, eventually replacing Jeff Sadler.

Downtown Faction continued to do well into 1969 with Jacka as a permanent fixture in the band. The band played at Newcastle’s Quay Club and the Mayfair Ballroom, two of the best venues in the city – (by this time the Club a’Gogo had closed down). The band also secured gigs at the New Orleans Club, which for many years had been Newcastle’s prime jazz venue – not a place normally associated with blues or rock. Downtown Faction also appeared at the Rex Hotel in Whitley Bay, on one occasion as support for Chicken Shack featuring future Fleetwood Mac member Christine Perfect.

In 1969 changes were afoot in the world of popular music; changes that, amongst other things, would affect attitudes towards local bands. Throughout the early and mid sixties audiences would expect to hear a ‘live’ band play covers of familiar songs but more importantly music that they could dance to. From around 1965 the more popular local bands played covers of Soul and Motown tracks or danceable Rhythm & Blues standards. In 1969 radio DJs like John Peel were introducing a new type of “intelligent” music to radio listeners and the record buying public. This music was often described as “underground” or “progressive” and it began to filter down into the repertoires of some local bands. Bands became less inhibited about introducing self-written songs into their sets.

To an extent audiences adapted to the changes that were taking place. Some of the new “progressive” music wasn’t really suitable for dancing. It could be too slow, too fast, have an unusual time signature or include one or more changes in tempo. Instead of dancing to bands, people began to take more of an interest in their musicianship. I can remember a period in 1969 when it wasn’t unusual to see a dozen or so young men stood in front of a guitarist gazing at his fingers on the instrument’s fretboard.

This was a good time for Downtown Faction. The band members had a wealth of self-penned material, a strong belief in each other’s musical abilities and an overwhelming urge to create something different. The band’s music was beginning to take on a folksy feel with a blend of original material and covers of songs by folk singers such as Rab Noakes. Towards the end of 1969 a lot of other local bands had taken on a “heavy/progressive” mantle which was proving popular on the normal northeast gig circuit. Rather than compete with the heavy boys, Downtown Faction decided on a side-line of venturing into local folk clubs as an acoustic band.

Another musician performing at local folk clubs at this time was Alan Hull.

Brother Alan

It must have been in mid-summer 1969 that I first became aware of Alan Hull as a songwriter. At that time I was playing saxophone in a seven-piece band called Sneeze. We would sometimes rehearse at a Wallsend studio called Impulse, which was run by Dave Wood (later to become the founder of the punk record label, Neat). One day Dave Wood asked me and our trumpet player, Jimmy Hall, if we could add some sax and trumpet parts to his recording of a local singer/songwriter that he was promoting. The person in question was Alan Hull. Before the session Dave told us about the songwriting skills of his protégé and played us some of the tracks he had recorded. I remember being impressed by the lyrical content of the songs, in particular one called “Breakfast”. Jimmy and I added trumpet and sax to a number of recordings that Dave thought would benefit from some extra instrumentation. A few weeks later Dave told us that Alan Hull hated the brass and it wouldn’t be used on any of the tracks. I can’t remember being particularly bothered at the time. We’d already been paid for the session and no one at that time apart from Dave Wood had any inkling as to how big Alan would become.

Alan Hull was born and brought up in the Benwell area of Newcastle. As a child he dabbled with the piano but it wasn’t until his discovery of Rock ‘n Roll in the mid fifties by way of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ and Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ that music became the main focus in his life, prompting him to take up the guitar. In his teens, Alan was a member of several school bands. After he left full time education he played in a couple of local groups – the Klik and Dean Fold & The Crestas before joining a band that would achieve some degree of success – the Chosen Few.

The Chosen Few’s manager was Bill Keith, who at one time had been a manager at the Club a’Gogo. He also ran the Manhole Club at Wallsend and it was here that the Chosen Few built up a strong following.

From the Newcastle Evening Chronicle 19 June 1965

In the spring of 1965 Radio Luxembourg was looking for talented undiscovered bands to promote on the their radio shows. In conjunction with the well-known bandleader, Cyril Stapleton, auditions were being arranged all over the UK. Bill Keith secured an audition for the Chosen Few at Newcastle’s West End Boys Club in May 1965. The Chosen Few were just one of many local bands that turned up at the audition that night. When it was their turn to play, Cyril Stapleton immediately recognised that they outshone the other bands by a mile. He was particularly impressed by the band’s original material, which had been penned by Alan Hull. The Chosen Few were asked to go to London the next day where a recording deal was signed with Pye records. A month later the band returned to London to start recording material for Radio Luxembourg shows on which they were guaranteed one appearance a month. The Chosen Few subsequently recorded two singles for Pye records – “So Much To Look Forward To” and “Today, Tonight And Tomorrow”.

Because of the association with Radio Luxembourg and Pye Records, the Chosen Few’s big break meant a lot of the band’s time would be spent in London. After the release of two singles on the Pye label, Alan Hull and Bumper Brown parted company with the Chosen Few and returned to Tyneside. The Chosen Few quickly found replacements for Alan and Bumper.

In the years that followed, Alan Hull tried various things including a band called Barrabas with his friend Bumper Brown. The band played locally in 1967 including a run of gigs at the Quay Club in the latter half of that year. However, Barrabas didn’t work out in the long run. According to Alan, the band were trying to do something different to other local bands but it wasn’t what he wanted – “I knew what I could do and what I wanted to do – and it wasn’t that.”

A few years earlier, at the time of Chosen Few’s audition at West End Boys Club, Alan Hull had come to the notice of a lady called Barbara Hayes who at the time was working as a press officer for Radio Luxembourg. Alan also became friends with Dave Wood of Impulse Studios. This three way liaison eventually led to Alan Hull, Dave Wood and Barbara Hayes setting up a publishing company called Hazy Music to support Alan’s writing skills and promote his songs.

As mentioned above, Dave Wood often used local musicians as session players for some of his recordings. In 1969 Downtown Faction regularly rehearsed at Dave Wood’s studio. On one occasion Dave asked the band’s drummer, Ray Laidlaw if he would provide his services on one of Alan Hull’s recordings. This was the start of the long standing association between Alan and Ray. At the end of 1969 Alan Hull recorded a track called “We Can Swing Together” at Trident Studios in London. The song, a jolly Geordie sing-along, was about a real life incident involving a police raid on a private party in Newcastle. Nationally, the song didn’t do that well. However, it became quite popular on Tyneside. By this time Alan was doing the rounds in the local folk clubs and the release of the record did a lot to raise Alan’s profile in the region and help him in his solo career.

The Renaissance

At the beginning of 1970 things were starting to happen for the five musicians who were to become Lindisfarne. Alan Hull along with Dave Wood had set up the Folk & Arts Club at the Rex Hotel in January. The club did well and they began to book both local and national folk musicians for their Sunday sessions. In the early months of 1970 some of the artists to appear there were Ralph McTell, Al Stewart, Rab Noakes, the Callies with, of course, Alan Hull as the resident act.

In January or February Downtown Faction changed its name to Brethren and acquired a manager in the form of Joe Robertson. Joe Robertson was also managing the Junco Partners and a three piece Newcastle band called Gin House who were on the up in 1969 and 1970. Robertson actively sought record labels for the acts that he managed including Brethren. At the same time Dave Wood and Barbara Hayes were looking for a record deal for Alan Hull.

Along with Alan Hull, the acoustic version of Brethren became a regular feature at the Rex Hotel’s Folk & Arts Club. It wasn’t too long before Alan Hull and the members of Brethren decided to team up. In May 1970 Brethren became a five piece band although in the early days the unit was billed as ‘Alan Hull & Brethren’ or ‘Brethren & Alan Hull’. The following month a three-year record deal was signed with Charisma.

If Ray Jackson’s version of events is to be believed, Brethren owe a lot to the skills of the Junco Partner’s guitarist, Charlie Harcourt, for opening the door to the Charisma deal. At the time another Charisma artist, ex-Nice bass player Lee Jackson was keen to recruit Charlie for his newly formed band – Jackson Heights. The Junco’s manager Joe Robertson, who also managed Brethren, refused to release Charlie unless Charisma signed up Brethren. The outcome was that Jackson Heights recruited Charlie Harcourt and Brethren became Charisma recording artists. The following month Brethren’s first major Newcastle gig with Alan Hull as part of the band was at the City Hall on 2nd July supporting Jackson Heights.

Brethren began recording their first album “Nicely Out Of Tune” with producer John Anthony in August 1970 at Trident Studios, London. At this point in time Brethren was rebranded as Lindisfarne.

This was a busy time for the band who were required to travel back and forwards to London between gig commitments. As well as existing gigs in the northeast, the band had been assigned to the Terry King Agency, which was allied to Charisma. Bookings through the agency took Lindisfarne all over the country starting with a support gig for Yes at Barnstaple in Devon.

Recording of ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ was completed relatively quickly. It contained songs by Alan Hull and Rod Clements that were part of the band’s stage show. There were also two covers by Rab Noakes and Woody Guthrie.

Charisma’s chairman Tony Stratton-Smith arranged a series of gigs for Lindisfarne at the Marquee Club in London prior to the release of the band’s debut album. These sessions were successful in bringing people’s attention, in particular members of the musical press, to a different type of “underground” music.

In November 1970 a single from the album, “Clear White Light Pt II” was released followed by the album itself. In spite of positive reviews from the musical press – Sounds and Melody Maker neither the album nor the single did very well in the charts.

Lindisfarne continued to gig throughout the UK in November and December 1970. On 9th December the band performed at Charisma’s Christmas party at the Marquee. On the 14th, still in London, they recorded their very first session for the BBC, for Radio 2’s Nightride programme before returning to the northeast to appear at a Christmas party at Alan Hull’s old club at the Rex Hotel, Whitley Bay.

In spite of ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ not doing as well as expected, 1971 started well for Lindisfarne with a tour of Charisma artists, which included Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. This was followed by sessions for John Peel’s Top Gear Radio 1 programme and ‘Sound Of The Seventies’.

As the year progressed Lindisfarne was gaining momentum. The band’s lively stage act was being enthusiastically received by audiences with their radio shows reaching a much wider public. Melody Maker reported that “Lindisfarne are the most complete band on the Charisma label, with a flowing continuity of style and melodic strength……”.

On 10th May Lindisfarne headlined at the Royal Festival Hall in London. In the audience with Charisma’s Tony Stratton-Smith that night was Texan Bob Johnston who had previously produced albums for Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Simon & Garfunkel. Bob Johnson was very impressed with Lindisfarne and wanted to work with the band. Although not everyone in the band agreed, the decision was made that he should produce Lindisfarne’s next album.

In June 1971, due to the growing interest in Lindisfarne, Charisma released a track from ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ as a single. The single was ‘Lady Eleanor’, which surprisingly was not a hit when first released. Lindisfarne continued to gain support throughout the country with their heavy gigging schedule but it was the Weeley Festival at Clacton on August bank holiday weekend that proved to be a big turning point in the band’s career. Up to that point it was the biggest crowd the band had performed to. They took the audience by storm. Weeley was followed by another successful concert at the Oval, London in September 1971.

In October 1971 Lindisfarne’s second album ‘Fog On The Tyne’ was released and received rave reviews in the music press. The album sold well, in particular on Tyneside. Sales also picked up for their debut album ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’. Lindisfarne ended the year with a Christmas party at Newcastle’s City Hall.

1972 turned out to be the year that Lindisfarne achieved their long awaited chart success when ‘Fog On The Tyne’ reached number 1 in the album charts that March. The band also did well in the singles chart that year with ‘Meet Me On The Corner’, a re-released ‘Lady Eleanor’ and ‘All Fall Down’. 1972 was also the year that Lindisfarne made the front page of the Melody Maker with the headline ‘LINDISFARNTASTIC!’.

But later in 1972 things would take a downward turn for Lindisfarne. Throughout 1971 and most of 1972 Lindisfarne received nothing but praise in the media. Signs that things weren’t going well emerged after the band had recorded their third album ‘Dingly Dell’ in July. The album, like ‘Fog On The Tyne’ was produced by Bob Johnson. The band members weren’t happy with the mix and made some adjustments before the album’s release in September 1972. Whether because of poor marketing or because the critical tide was turning against the band, ‘Dingly Dell’ didn’t do nearly as well as their previous album. Lindisfarne ended the year with a successful tour of the States but it wouldn’t be too long before the band splintered.

1972 was arguably the most successful year in Lindisfarne’s history but it also turned out to be the last full year that the five original members would be together as a band for at least another five years. In 1973 extensive touring proved too much for the band members and they decided to call it a day. The original Lindisfarne split into two with Simon Cowe, Rod Clements and Ray Laidlaw forming Jack The Lad. Ray Jackson and Alan Hull formed a new Lindisfarne featuring, amongst others, ex-Junco guitarist Charlie Harcourt.

If you were to ask people from the northeast to name just one Newcastle band I’m sure that most would plump for Lindisfarne. Pose the same question to the rest of the country and the answer would probably be the same. It’s not really surprising that the band is so well known. Although Lindisfarne developed, blossomed and achieved a degree of fame in the period covered by this website (1965 to 1972), the band continued to thrive for several more decades with some of the original members. Before Covid struck in 2020 Lindisfarne was still performing at sell-out concerts each year at Newcastle City Hall.

It’s true! Five decades after Lindisfarne first formed the name lives on in the hearts and minds of people from the northeast and beyond. Rod Clements fronts a touring version of Lindisfarne, which was active before the pandemic and will, no doubt, resume at some stage in the future.

Although the band’s personnel has changed over the years with at least fifteen different musicians passing through, the music and appeal of Lindisfarne still remains the same. It’s hard to put a finger on what transformed an average sixties local blues band into a Newcastle legend. Emerging as a band with original material and a different sound at the outset of the “progressive” scene was one factor. Also the deal struck by Joe Robertson involving Brethren and Charlie Harcourt certainly helped the band with their record deal. However, what carried the band through was their ability to come up catchy tunes with strong, meaningful lyrics, the way they engaged with their audiences by drawing them into the fun that was taking place on stage and the charisma of the band members and the chemistry between them.

This article covers the early years of Lindisfarne. If you want to find out more about the band the best place to go to is the Lindisfarne official website.

I’ll conclude the article with one of my favourite Lindisfarne songs, which always reminds me of the journeys I made back to the northeast after moving south in the seventies.

Acknowledgements: ‘Northstars’ by Chris Phipps, John Tobler and Sid Smith; ‘Fog On The Tyne’ by Dave Ian Hill; ‘We Can Swing Together’ by John Van Der Kiste; ‘It’s My Life’ by Tyne Bridge Publishing; Newcastle Evening Chronicle; Newcastle Journal and various internet sources.

The post Lindisfarne appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

For at least a hundred and fifty years there has been a perceptible link between music and the visual arts. From the 1950s onwards the bond between the two art forms became even more entwined. This is how art found its way into Newcastle’s night clubs in the late fifties and sixties: –

If you grew up in the northeast and enjoyed Newcastle’s night-life in the sixties you’re probably aware that Mike Jeffery was the owner of the city’s iconic venue – the Club a’Gogo. Many more music fans from that era will know him as being the man who managed the Newcastle band, The Animals back in the mid 1960s and the Jimi Hendrix Experience a few years later. What’s less well known are the details of his musical career before he struck gold with those two acts. Before Mike Jeffery launched The Animals in 1963, his life revolved around the management of a number of clubs he owned in Newcastle upon Tyne. Over the years as his wealth increased he acquired more clubs in Mallorca and Paris.

Mike Jeffery was an amateur musician and a music lover. His career as a music entrepreneur started in the late fifties and stemmed from his enthusiasm for jazz. It’s no wonder that the first clubs he ran in Newcastle echoed his musical tastes and featured both “live” and recorded jazz.

Mike Jeffery had a ready market for his early clubs. In the late 1950s and early 1960s a lot of teens and twenties, in particular university and college students, were turning to traditional and modern Jazz as an alternative to other forms of popular music that were around during that period. The way jazz, and in particular modern jazz, was being packaged gave the genre an aura of sophistication; an art form in a league way above commercial music. Albums from the late fifties and early sixties aimed at the pop market invariably featured just a photograph of the artist(s) on the record sleeve. Jazz labels were taking a more radical approach to draw attention to their albums by using modern and contemporary art for their album covers.

Whatever the appeal of jazz, it was packing young people, especially the rebellious types into the many jazz clubs that were springing up throughout the country. But Mike Jeffery wasn’t content to own just any run-of-the-mill club; he wanted his clubs to be on a par with the up-market jazz clubs he knew in London.

His overall vision was to focus on good music but also to include the use of eye-catching graphics and visual art on posters and flyers to attract a mixed clientele to his establishments. Once they were in the club, he would ensure that his customers returned by offering them an exciting atmosphere and ambience to enhance their listening experience. Perhaps inspired by the graphics displayed on jazz albums, his intention was to use modern art and contemporary design in his clubs, which would include murals and paintings.

In 1959 Mike Jeffery opened the Marimba Coffee Bar, his first Newcastle venue. The Marimba was a coffee bar by day and a late night jazz club after dark. As for the décor, he turned to someone who he thought could create eye-catching designs for his venture. Enter Scott Dobson, a Newcastle artist, art & music critic and writer. Scott Dobson also taught art at Atkinson Road Technical School in the city. Scott Dobson designed the murals on two of the three floors of the Marimba. One of the murals consisted of a large mosaic made of broken crockery, the construction of which Scott sub-contracted to some of his art students.

Left: Scott Dobson’s students work on the Marimba’s ground floor mosaic. Right: The painted mural in the basement of the Marimba (also known as “the Crypt”)

Mike Jeffery’s next Jazz club was the Downbeat in Carliol Square, Newcastle, which opened in late November 1959. The décor for this club was designed by an art college student named Joe Pharoah who was a friend of Eric Burdon. Scott Dobson provided some of the modern paintings that hung on the club’s walls.

Unfortunately, the Marimba Coffee House was destroyed by fire in November 1961 but the insurance payout ensured that Mike Jeffery had the funds he needed to fit out his next jazz club; the Club a’Gogo on Percy Street, Newcastle. Mike Jeffery pulled out all the stops for the décor in his new club, which opened in July 1962.

The interior of the Club a’Gogo was designed by Eric Burdon who had been an art student before his music career took off. When it first opened, the club had two separate rooms – the Latin American Lounge and the Jazz Lounge. The Jazz Lounge was adorned by a large mural depicting a city skyline, which extended over two walls. This was painted by David Sweetman who was studying fine art at Kings College in Newcastle. He was helped by various Club a’Gogo employees. Eric Burdon was responsible for some smaller wall paintings in the Latin American Lounge (later renamed “The Young Set”).

After the Club a’Gogo had been running for some time, jazz began to lose its appeal for young people. Jazz bands were phased out and by the end of 1963 live jazz had been replaced with appearances by the best Rhythm & Blues and rock bands around. This marked the beginning of the club’s “golden era”. During this period the Gogo produced some eye-catching posters and flyers advertising music events at the club.

By all accounts the flyers were designed “in-house” and printed at a small print room in the Handyside Buildings run by Phil Hormbrey. The print room was easily accessed via the club’s gaming room and a fire escape. Dave Ismay, who worked at the club at the time, remembers that Gogo employee Keith Gibbon was studying architecture at the time and helped out in the print room. The design of the flyers and posters was probably down to Phil Hormbrey, otherwise known as “Big Phil”. Phil had also been responsible for supervising the construction of collages and other artwork in the booths of the Young Set.

The Club a’Gogo closed down in 1968. One of the clubs that sprang up in its wake was “Change Is” on Bath Lane, Newcastle. The concept of Change Is was that the club would constantly change from one week to the next. The three floor levels could be permutated in fifteen different ways and the décor could be changed at will by projecting artistic images onto the club’s curved walls.

Change Is also made its presence known by publishing eye-catching, arty, sometimes unusually off-beat posters, flyers and newspaper adverts.

Sadly, the buidings that housed the clubs mentioned above no longer exist. All that is left of the club art from the late fifties and early sixties are archived newspaper adverts and the posters and flyers that people have hung onto. Perhaps sometime in the future these relics of Newcastle’s sixties night clubs can be put together in an exhibition to celebrate the “Art Of The City”.

The post Art Of The City appeared first on Ready Steady Gone!.

Whilst driving home last week after a short trip to the northeast I turned on the car radio and caught the end of a very familiar song. It took a few seconds for me to realise that the song was “As Long As I Have You” – a 1964 release by the US Soul singer, Garnet Mimms. Not something you would expect to hear on Radio 2.

Although the backing was like the original Garnet Mimms record, the vocal sounded a bit different. The mystery was solved when Ken Bruce announced that the track, his “record of the week”, was, in fact, the latest single by Roger Daltrey. The record was to be aired every day on Ken Bruce’s morning show.

“As Long As I Have You” has definite northeast connections. Back in 1965 when Newcastle’s favourite band, the Junco Partners were hot favourites to follow in the footsteps of The Animals and become a successful national band, their first single on Columbia Records was “As Long As I Have You”. The record was released on 20th August 1965, produced by Robert Stigwood who later went on to manage Cream and the Bee Gees. The flip side was “Take This Hammer” – a favourite from the Juncos stage show. Garnett Mimms’ version had been released a year earlier but had not been a hit in the UK.

For the Junco Partners, “As Long As I have You” was probably a good choice for a debut record. As well as having a rhythm & blues feel, the type of sound that the band was renowned for, its association with Soul meant that it was well placed to fit with the sudden interest in American Soul music that was taking place in the UK at the time of its release.

So what went wrong? A combination of factors stopped the Junco’s single from rising above number 60 in the UK charts. Bizarrely, Columbia Records chose to release the same tune by one of their other acts a week later – this time by the Cambridge based band, the Boston Crabs. The Juncos were disappointed that their version wasn’t getting air plays and that their local fans had difficulty in finding a shop that sold the record.

In the ‘Pop Parade’ section of the Saturday edition of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on 11th September 1965, columnist Albert Watson wrote –

“.. anyone would think there was a conspiracy against the Junco Partners. Not only have they not appeared on television, but their disc, “As Long As I Have You” is not even being advertised in the Trade Press! I have yet to hear the record on radio, despite having heard a rival version several times, and it appears it is not being distributed very well.

‘We’ve had loads, of complaints from fans,” the group told me. “They can’t even buy the disc in Newcastle shops! We’re a bit choked about the way it’s being put out.'”

“As Long As I Have You” has another northeast connection. In 1967 Garnet Mimms who recorded the original version on the United Artists label, toured the UK backed by the Scottish Soul band, the Senate. During the tour live recordings were made at the Club A’Gogo and Sussex University. The recording resulted in a live album simply entitled “Garnet Mimms – Live”, the opening track of which was “As Long As I Have You”. Sleeve notes for the album were written by Mike Raven. The live version of “As Long As I Have You” was also released as a single in 1967.

I have both the Juncos single and Garnet Mimms’ live version in my record collection. In my opinion both are great but my favourite has to be the Garnet Mimms version, with its driving bass and a fabulous horn section. A few years ago I uploaded this “live” track to my YouTube channel with a mod flavoured video.

What was Roger Daltrey’s reasons for recording a fairly obscure soul song dating back to 1964? (The song was also covered by Led Zeppelin in the late sixties). According to Roger, it’s a return to his rhythm and blues roots – the opening track of an album to be released in June this year. This is what he had to say: –

“This is a return to the very beginning, to the time before Pete Townshend started writing our songs, to a time when we were a teenage band playing soul music to small crowds in church halls. That’s what we were, a soul band. And now, I can sing soul with all the experience you need to sing it. Life puts the soul in. I’ve always sung from the heart but when you’re 19, you haven’t had the life experience with all its emotional trials and traumas that you have by the time you get to my age. You carry all the emotional bruises of life and when you sing these songs, those emotions are in your voice. You feel the pain of a lost love. You feel it and you sing it and that’s soul. For a long time, I’ve wanted to return to the simplicity of these songs, to show people my voice – a voice they won’t have heard before. It felt like the right time. It’s where I am, looking back to that time, looking across all those years but also being here, now, in the soulful moment.”

I like Roger Daltrey’s version. It’s great that the song is getting another airing 54 years after its original release.

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This site is dedicated to the memory of the northeast music scene from 1965 to 1972. Amongst other things, you can read about iconic venues such as the Club a’Gogo and the top bands of the day such as the Junco Partners, all accessible from the main menu. Scroll down for many other music related stories.

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The success of Motown and the “Motown Sound” in the second half of the 20th century has created a lot of wealthy individuals; people like Motown’s founder, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and many others. On the other hand, many of the talented people who helped shape the Motown Sound and were probably deserving of a share of Motown’s fortunes fell by the wayside. This is story of just two of them.

You may be wondering what the connection is between Motown and the northeast music scene of the sixties. I suppose the link is fairly tenuous but for many of us who frequented the northeast’s clubs and dance halls in 1965 and 1966 Motown provided lots of songs that made up the soundtrack of our lives during those years. Not only were DJs spinning Motown records for dancers but also a lot of local northeast bands were covering songs by the likes of the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Miracles and Junior Walker’s All-Stars.

There’s no doubt about the popularity of Motown in the UK in the mid sixties. Although entrepreneur Berry Gordy originally formed the Detroit based record company in 1959, it would take a further five years for Motown to start impacting on the UK’s record buying public.

Motown went from strength to strength in the second half of the sixties and into the seventies. Berry Gordy initially described the output from his company as the “sound of young America”. Later it became widely known as the “Motown Sound”. Motown had its own distinctive musical style with its driving bass lines, dominant tambourine and gospel-influenced vocal harmonies. Many music fans regard the Motown Sound as the defining sound of 1960s pop, R&B, and Soul.

The first story concerns a talented sound engineer who played a major part in creating what was to become the Motown Sound.

The Hit Men

On 3rd March 1993 an intruder broke into the home of a 43 year-old divorcee in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The woman lived with her 8 year-old severely handicapped son but also present at the time of the break-in was Janice Saunders, the child’s overnight nurse. The intruder ruthlessly shot both women and suffocated the boy to death. Before leaving the scene the killer made sure that nothing was left in the house to link him to the murders. He disturbed some furniture and took away some credit cards to give the impression that the deaths were connected to a botched burglary.

After the bodies were discovered police investigators were quick to conclude that the three murders were not the work of a burglar but of a professional contract killer or “hit man”.

The murdered divorcee was Mildred Horn, once the wife of Lawrence T Horn who worked at Motown’s Detroit studio in the mid-sixties and was instrumental in the creation the “Motown Sound”. Lawrence Horn could truly be regarded as a “hit man” in another sense. He played a significant part in the many hit records that came out of Motown’s “Hitsville USA” studio between 1964 and 1968.

Larry Horn (seated) and Russ Terrana in the control room of Motown’s Studio A

Lawrence Horn joined Berry Gordy’s Motown company around 1964. He had previously been a DJ aboard a US Navy warship and as such had a first class knowledge of music. He secured a job as a sound engineer in the studio at Hitsville and before long became the company’s chief recording engineer, editing and mixing recordings. Horn created a three track system for the company and a post-recording process that would make Motown records sound substantially better than records from other record labels. Horn’s method involved replicating the tapes that had been used to record the voices and backing instruments and then applying effects such as compression and reverb to the different tapes before doing a final mix. It was the rhythm of the songs driven by a dominant bass and drum combination that made Motown songs so exciting and so danceable. Lawrence Horn’s magic touch increased the volume of the instrumental backing but at the same time kept the vocals loud, clear and above the instruments. Almost all of Motown’s releases from the mid-sixties to the end of the decade used this method.

It was Lawrence Horn’s contribution to the shaping of the Motown Sound that made him one of the top dogs in the control room of Motown’s Hitsville studio and a favourite of Berry Gordy in the mid sixties. Horn’s success at Motown earned him a lavish life-style; a Porsche, flash clothes, expensive jewellery and lots of ready cash. At the height of his career he married a Motown receptionist. However, this partnership was short-lived and ended in divorce in 1966.

in 1968 Motown’s chief song writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown following a dispute with Berry Gordy over royalties. The song-writers had made full use of Lawrence Horn’s recording techniques in their many hit records for the company and wanted to continue working with him. Horn decided that his future was with Holland-Dozier-Holland and this resulted in his exit from Motown. Although Horn would eventually return to Motown after the company had relocated to Los Angeles his status was nowhere near what it had been in the mid sixties in Detroit. Neither was his income.

Song writers Holland-Dozier- Holland, the team who lured Lawrence Horn away from Motown

In 1973 Lawrence Horn married a second time to a beautiful senior American Airlines flight attendant named Mildred Maree. The couple had their first child in 1974 but by the end of the decade their marriage was in tatters. Mildred Horn moved away from the West Coast to Washington DC. In spite of the separation Lawrence and Mildred Horn continued with a relationship of some sort and Mildred became pregnant again by her husband. Mildred Horn gave birth to twins in August 1984 eleven weeks before their due date. The girl recovered from the premature birth but not so Trevor Horn, the boy, who needed regular on-going hospital treatment. In 1985 an accident caused by a hospital in the course of his treatment left Trevor brain damaged and needing round-the-clock care. Lawrence and Mildred Horn subsequently sued the hospital for medical malpractice. In 1990 they eventually settled out of court for a sum of around $2 million. Both Mildred and Lawrence Horn each received part of the settlement by way of a single payment. Another portion was used to pay for Trevor’s on-going care. Trevor was to receive just over half of the total sum in 2003 when he reached the age of eighteen. In the event of Trevor dying before 2003 his entire share of $1.1 would go to the surviving parents or parent.

By the early 1990s Lawrence Horn and Mildred Horn were divorced. He had been laid off from Motown and was finding life difficult as a freelance music engineer. His settlement from the hospital quickly ran out and he was getting deeper and deeper into debt, amongst other things with outstanding child support payments for the couple’s three children.

With the death of his ex-wife and disabled son on 3rd March 1993 Lawrence Horn was in line to become a wealthy man and put all his money problems behind him. It was no wonder that the police strongly suspected Horn of being behind the murders of his ex-wife, their son and his son’s nurse. The problem for the police was that Lawrence Horn had a cast-iron alibi. On the night of the murder he was over 2000 miles away in Los Angeles with his current girlfriend. He’d even made a video of himself and his girlfriend that night in his apartment. The video just happened to include a shot of his TV screen, which displayed the time and date.

Before long the police had another suspect. A Detroit man named James Perry had checked into a hotel not far from the Horn household on the day of the murders. He had checked out six hours later. However, there was nothing concrete to connect Perry to the murders. Neither were they able to link him to Lawrence Horn. When the police searched Perry’s home they were sure they had their man. They discovered that prior to the killings he had purchased a book entitled “Hit Man”. This was, in fact, a detailed instruction manual on how to carry out a contract killing without leaving clues.

After a painstaking investigation lasting over a year, which amongst other things involved detailed examination of phone records, the police and FBI finally had enough evidence to connect James Perry and Lawrence Horn and to arrest them both for murder and conspiracy. In the first instance the police were wrong in their assumption that the murders had been carried out by a professional hit man. Perry was little more than a petty criminal and confidence trickster who had been introduced to Lawrence Horn by one of Horn’s Detroit based cousins.

The pair had used the “Hit Man” book to plan and carry out their crime. While carrying out the killings Perry had followed the instructions in the book to the letter. Well almost: In a moment of foolishness he used his own identity to check into the Maryland Hotel on the day of the murders. Had it not been for this he may never have been traced.

James Perry was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 but in 1999 the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Lawrence Horn was convicted in 1996 and also received a life-term. Horn died in prison in 2017.

Whilst in prison Lawrence T Horn would have had lots of time to reflect on his glory days at Motown when he ruled the roost in Hitsville’s Studio A and about the bad decisions he made leading to his downfall.

As a footnote I’ll mention that Lawrence Horn’s part in Motown has by-and-large been airbrushed out of the company’s history. Similarly, the technical books and articles I’ve seen covering Horn’s innovative recording techniques do not mention his heinous crime and subsequent fate.

L’il Funk

Another member of the Hitsville team at the same time as Lawrence Horn was saxophonist Andrew “Mike” Terry. Mike Terry and Horn were of a similar age so probably knew each other quite well. Like Horn, Mike was another Motown employee who fell off the gravy train. He was a member of the elite group of musicians collectively known as the Funk Brothers, which provided the backing on all of the Motown studio recording in the sixties.

Mike Terry was late in joining the Funk Brothers but just in time to be a part of a lot of Motown’s UK sixties hits. Mike was the youngest of the Funk Brothers and was consequently nick-named “L’il Funk” by some of the more experienced band members.

Motown’s session musicians – the Funk Brothers with Mike Terry far right

Mike Terry wasn’t a seasoned jazz musician like most of the other Funk Brothers but his distinctive, unassuming style on baritone sax made him a favourite with producers and song-writers. On a lot of recordings in the mid-sixties, Motown’s producers chose the baritone saxophone as a solo instrument rather than the more popular solo instruments of the day – the tenor sax or guitar. Mike’s short baritone saxophone breaks became an integral part of the signature “Motown Sound”; a sound which set the label apart from its rivals.

Here’s some of the classic Motown tracks featuring Mike’s work: –

‘Where Did Our Love Go’, ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Back In My Arms Again’ by the Supremes
‘This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) by the Isley Brothers
“I Can’t Help Myself’ and ‘The Same Old Song’ by the Four Tops
‘Heatwave’ and ‘Dancing In The Street’ by Martha & The Vandellas
‘Bird In The Hand’ by the Velvelettes
‘Helpless’ by Kim Weston

Here’s a brief reminder of how Mike’s signature baritone sax breaks sounded

After a few years of playing baritone sax with the Funk Brothers, Mike Terry was keen to raise his profile within the Motown organisation. He set his sights on becoming an arranger and producer rather just an instrumentalist. Unfortunately Berry Gordy never gave Mike the chance to prove what he was capable of. Gordy probably thought he had enough excellent producers and arrangers and that Mike Terry should remain in the studio as a session musician doing what he did best.

Mike was far from happy about being denied the opportunity to better himself so he decided to enrol in a music theory course at the Detroit Institute of Music Arts to try and achieve his goal. At the same time he began to do work on the side for other record labels.

Eventually Mike Terry’s driving ambition paid off. He did become a sought after record producer and arranger, although not for Motown. He broke from Motown around 1966 and, amongst others, worked for Motown’s rivals – Golden World Records, Epic Records and Okey Records. The rival record companies that he worked for never quite achieved the popularity of Motown. However, Mike’s work as a producer continued well into the seventies. Eventually tastes in music would change. The type of Soul music in which Mike Terry had made his mark was losing popularity with the record buying public.

In the late seventies, either by choice or necessity, Mike Terry left the world of music behind him. With a growing family to support he needed a steady income. He made a living by doing various non-skilled jobs in factories and shops – a life far removed from the halcyon days of Motown in the mid-sixties.

In 1983 the Motown Record Corporation marked its 25th year in the music business with the ‘Motown 25’ celebrations, a show which brought back together many of the original Motown stars from the sixties. But still the the Funk Brothers, the studio musicians who played a big part in Motown’s success were not acknowledged. It was reported that at least one of the Funk Brothers had to buy a ticket to get into the show.

A few years later a producer and musician named Allan Slutsky started a project that would eventually lead to a greater public awareness of the Funk Brothers and their work. Allan Slutsky published an award winning book entitled “Standing In The Shadows Of Motown” in 1989. The book was primarily about Motown studio bass player James Jamerson but did include a lot of information about the other Funk Brothers. Eventually the book led to the release of a movie with the same name. The movie brought together surviving members of the Funk Brothers who performed together as a unit for the first time in decades. The film, which won several Grammy Award, gave the previously anonymous session musicians a short burst of fame. For a few years they bathed in the limelight that the film had cast upon them. This included a ceremony in which the surviving Motown session musicians were presented with Grammy Legend Awards.

2002 – a reformed Funk Brothers perform in Motown’s Studio A

Mike Terry’s part in the Funk Brothers and the sixties Motown recordings was ignored both in the book and in the movie. He was approached by Allan Slutsky in the initial stages of the “Standing In The Shadows” project but for whatever reason he was not considered important enough to be treated as one of the original Funk Brothers. He later felt he had been given the cold shoulder by Slutsky.

Mike Terry took ill in 2005 and died three years later in 2008. Although some of Mike’s work is still popular in the world of Northern Soul, he sadly missed out in retrospective fame and becoming publicly acknowledged as one of Motown’s Funk Brothers. He still remains relatively unknown in terms of his contribution to the Motown Sound.

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For many Newcastle teenagers in the mid-sixties, the Club a’Gogo was their own piece of Heaven. The unlicensed part of the club, known as the Young Set was an exciting place to go to get away from the humdrum routines of daily life. It was a place where people could meet friends, make new ones, see some of the UK’s best bands, dance to excellent music and generally have a great evening in a club with an atmosphere second to none.

Perhaps the night wouldn’t end when the Young Set closed at around 11.00pm. For older teenagers or those who could convince the door staff they were over 18, they could continue partying into the small hours next door in the Jazz Lounge, the licensed room that catered for a slightly older clientele.

Many ex-Club a’Gogo members and attendees, now into their late sixties or seventies remember the club with great affection. Over the last decade or so advances in technology and the familiarisation with social media has reunited a lot of the Club a’Gogo people that were around in the mid-sixties, some of whom hadn’t seen each other for decades. They now have the means of reliving times gone by and sharing their memories of club nights and other social activities with their contemporaries. Not only do some remember their evenings inside the Club a’Gogo but also the anticipation and growing excitement before they actually set foot in the place. Some recall being in the queues that formed outside the club, in particular if a popular band was due to appear. Often on a busy night the queue would stretch back along Percy Street as far as the Co-op store near Gallowgate. Others remember the queue turning into Leazes Lane towards St James Park football ground. For those in the queue the excitement would build as they approached the club doorway past Jeavons record shop and Faglemans the jewellers. But the anticipation didn’t end at the ground floor entrance to the club.

The Club a’Gogo doorway wasn’t an elaborate fixture worthy of a top city music venue. Neither was the stairway leading up to the Young Set and Jazz Lounge on the second floor. The corridor leading to the stairs and the flights of stairs were uncarpeted. They were purely functional with a shared route to several businesses including a canteen for Newcastle bus crews on the first floor. But once past the door staff, the music filtering down from the second floor was a taste of what was to come. On ascending the stairs the sound of recorded Soul music, Tamla Motown or Rhythm & Blues music became more recognisable – the Four Tops, Junior Walker, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, the Isley Brothers or the Rolling Stones. Then at the top of the stairs a short walk and a left turn into Heaven for an evening of unrivalled enjoyment.

Back in 1962 when Mike Jeffery opened his Newcastle venue, the Club a’Gogo, as a Jazz and Latin American club he would never have contemplated that a few years later his venture would become one of the country’s top clubs for rock and beat music; a club that is still revered over five decades later. Neither would he have thought that the Club a’Gogo would eventually be honoured by the City of Newcastle for generations to come.

For the last year husband and wife team, Paul and Jools Donnelly have put a lot of energy into campaigning for the Club a’Gogo to be commemorated with a blue plaque. The couple are too young to have been around when the Club a’Gogo was thriving but they are both passionate about Newcastle’s musical heritage, in particular the music and mod scene in the mid-sixties.

Armed with a lot of facts about the Club a’Gogo’s illustrious musical history and a petition signed by a lot of ex-Gogo club members, the Donnellys convinced the authorities that the Club a’Gogo was indeed worthy of blue plaque.

Mike Jeffery and his iconic club no longer exist. Mike was killed in a plane crash in 1973. The building that housed the Club a’Gogo was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Eldon Gardens Shopping Centre.

Well it’s not possible to place a plaque on a building that is no longer there. The only option would be to mount it at a spot relevant to the old Club a’Gogo. As the club was actually on the second floor of the Handyside Buildings, the best street level spot would be the site of the afore mentioned doorway leading to the flights of stairs that accessed the upper floors. The problem is that all the adjoining buildings are gone so there are no longer any visible points of reference to help locate the position of the long lost portal to the Club a’Gogo.

A few weeks ago I was asked if I knew the position of the Club a’Gogo doorway. I could only stab a guess based on old photos of the Handyside Building in relation to some photos I had taken of the Eldon Gardens Shopping Centre back in 2007 for the Club a’Gogo page on this site. However, with a combination of old and new technology it is possible to come up with a fairly accurate grid reference. By overlaying a 1940s Ordnance Survey map, which shows both the Handyside Arcade and what was to become the entrance to the Club a’Gogo, over an up-to-date aerial shot of Percy Street the old Gogo doorway in relation to it’s modern surroundings can be pinpointed.

I believe the unveiling of the plaque will take place early in 2022. So if you’re an old Club a’Gogo member or attendee and you’re interested in being a part of the ceremony keep an eye on the local Newcastle media or one of the Club a’Gogo Facebook pages.

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Many of us who were around during the mid-sixties through to the early seventies will look back on the music scene of that period with great affection. Some of us will particularly remember the great R&B, Rock and Soul acts we saw performing “live”.

These days top bands and solo artists tend to perform at very large venues such as arenas, large theatres and open air festivals to thousands of people. Back in the sixties things were different. Well-known UK bands were booked to play at much smaller venues holding just a few hundred people. You could experience your favourite musicians at close quarters and even get to within touching distance of them. It wasn’t just UK acts that you could see at your local venues. In the latter half of the sixties when Soul and Motown records were filling the dance floors in clubs and ballrooms, many of the American artists responsible for those songs started appearing at venues throughout the UK, including the northeast.

But can we be sure that the famous US Soul stars we saw were actually who we thought they were? If you saw a Motown act or a Soul singer as part of multi-artist tour or at a large venue then you were probably seeing the genuine article. However, if it was at a smaller venue, in particular from 1966 onwards, there is a good chance that you were being entertained by an impersonator.

A recent post on a Facebook page dedicated to Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo prompted me to look into the question of fake Soul and Motown acts. The post concerned a poster for the Ronettes’ appearance at the Club a’Gogo on 2nd May 1968. A question arose as to whether or not the poster, which is currently on sale, was genuine. One fan suggested that the Ronettes couldn’t have appeared at the Gogo in 1968 because they had broken up in 1967 and didn’t reform until 1973.

It wasn’t difficult to find out that the poster is a modern repro artwork based on a gig advert that appeared in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle in May 1968. As for the gig itself – well that’s another mystery but everything points to the likelihood that the Ronettes who appeared at the Club a’Gogo were part of a widespread scam perpetrated by a London based entertainment agent. More about the “Great Pretender” later – in the meantime here’s some first hand experience to set the scene.

In October 1969 my band, Sneeze, was booked to back an American Soul singer called Don Covay at a small club in Lynemouth, Northumberland. Don Covay was fairly big in the States having had a number of hit records earlier in the sixties such as – “Sookie Sookie”, “Mercy Mercy” and “Seesaw”. Don Covay was travelling from London to Newcastle on the day of the gig and we were told to meet him at Newcastle Central Station that afternoon. We were to drive him to the venue in Lynemouth, which would give us three or four hours to rehearse before the performance. We expected him to turn up with some musical scores or chord charts but all he had was a bundle of Soul albums including a couple of his own. He also assumed that he would be using the band’s PA system. At the time we thought this was a bit unprofessional for someone who was supposed to be a major star in America.

Before we began rehearsing the club owners approached us. They asked us to keep the volume low so Don Covay’s vocals could be heard well above the band. We did as he said and made sure that our instruments were turned down low. After listening to a couple of songs the owners were clearly unhappy. They must have realised that the vocals weren’t quite what they were expecting. When Don went outside for a comfort break they approached us again – “Hey lads – you need to crank the volume right up!”.

That evening his performance went down a storm. Strangely, it wasn’t his own hits that went down the best. The number that brought the house down was Don’s version of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’, which we had to play three times to keep the crowd happy.

A few weeks later we got call from our agent. Don Covay wanted us to back him at a gig at the Boat Club in Nottingham. The club was situated on the banks of the river Trent in a converted boathouse and, unlike the Lynemouth gig, it was full of ardent Soul fans. We had no opportunity to fit in a rehearsal before the second gig. Don turned up with a friend who he introduced as Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Clarence had a couple of big hits in the UK in the early sixties.

After the performance I was approached by the DJ at the club. He was convinced that the vocalist appearing that night was an impostor. He had a couple of Don Covay albums with photographs that didn’t look much like the singer we had backed. This was yet another factor that made us wonder who our “Don Covay” actually was.

One incident in particular left a nasty taste in our mouths. Rod, our normal vocalist went into our dressing room at one point while the rest of us and Don Covay were on stage. He caught Clarence “Frogman” Henry rifling through our jacket pockets in the dressing room! After that gig we saw neither Don Covay nor Clarence “the dipper” Henry again.

On 8th December 1969 an article appeared in the Daily Mirror about a performance by Don Covay at Nantwich Civic Hall on 6th December 1969. Crewe council had received an anonymous tip-off that the Don Covay due to appear at Nantwich was an impostor. The caller demanded an investigation into a breach of the Trades Descriptions Act. A council official confronted “Don Covay” before he went on stage. The allegation was denied by the performer but he was unable to confirm that he was the genuine Don Covay, saying that his passport was held by his London agent. The show’s organiser was undeterred and the show went ahead. The organiser said “We have a contract saying that this is Don Covay and we accept him as such.” I don’t know if the matter was ever followed up but the same Don Covay continued to perform at many other small venues all over the country.

Don Covay

It turns out that “Don Covay” was just the tip of the iceberg. We now know that many other Soul and Motown acts were being impersonated in the late sixties. To cap it all, the impersonators were mostly amateur or semi-professional singers from America with no connection to the artists they were imitating. Some of the names of the bogus acts that have been bandied about include the Temptations, the Drifters, the Four Tops, the Isley Brothers, the Impressions, Little Anthony & the Imperials, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Fontella Bass, William Bell, Percy Sledge, The Ronettes, Clarence “Frogman” Henry and, of course, Don Covay.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the impersonation fraud was widespread involving elements of exploitation and even modern day slavery. So who was responsible for the deception? Step forward Royston Kenneth Jeffries, better known as Roy Tempest, who ran a London based booking agency along with his girlfriend Lorna Wallis. Royston Kenneth Jeffries was born in Cardiff in 1939. He relocated to London as a would be singer around 1960 changing his name to Roy Tempest. After a few years in London he established an entertainment booking agency, which became very successful in the first half of the sixties – “The Roy Tempest Organisation”.

Tempest’s company, which at one time was advertised as the largest band agency in Europe represented some of the UK’s top recording and touring groups including Stevie Wonder and, at one stage, the Rolling Stones. He also had numerous lesser known groups and singers on his books. In addition Roy Tempest ran a couple of subsidiary agencies called “Global Promotions” and “Universal Dancing Ltd”, which were used to provide UK venues with some well known US acts and backing musicians. In fact, the Roy Tempest Organisation was one of the first agencies to bring American artists over from the States.

At first the American Soul artists booked through the agency were genuine. However, around 1966/67 things would change. Many of the famous US acts that Roy Tempest supplied to venues throughout the UK turned out to be impostors.

Some genuine artists promoted by Roy Tempest

So why did a successful agent with a glowing reputation in the world of entertainment turn to scamming venues and music fans by promoting fake acts? The answers are that it made him a lot of money and secondly he thought he could get away with it. According to an ex-tour manager, Phil Luderman who worked for the Roy Tempest Organisation in the sixties, Tempest made a lot of cash from the genuine US artists he booked. However, he was unhappy about the amount of money that some of these artists were demanding for their performances in the UK.

Things changed when he tried to bring over US Soul singers, William Bell and Percy Sledge. Both refused to come to the UK and work for Tempest for the money on offer. At that point Roy Tempest had a “eureka” moment and decided to find some vocalists that could pass themselves off as Bell and Sledge. In the event he discovered someone who could double as both of these artists. Luderman believes that the person he found was an American living in Brixton, London. The Londoner was booked for a series of shows in the UK. One night he would be William Bell performing hits like “Never Like This Before” and the next night, as “Percy Sledge”, he would be singing “When A Man Loves A Woman”. To make it clear to the Londoner who he was actually supposed to be on any given night, Luderman came up with the idea of him wearing a false moustache but only when he appeared as “Percy Sledge”.

The Percy Sledge/William Bell hoax led to another of Roy Tempest’s scams. Hoping that not many English fans knew what US Soul artists looked like, he began bringing obscure American vocal groups over from the States and booking them out to UK promoters as top US Soul and Motown acts. Only he would slightly change the name of the obscure artists by applying an adjective to the name of the original act. For instance his fake Temptations were sometimes called the “Fabulous Temptations”, his Drifters were “The Original Drifters” and his Isley Brothers were the “Fantastic Isley Brothers”. Using this ploy he would then fool promoters into thinking they were getting the genuine article.

The UK promoters and their clientele weren’t the only people being hoodwinked. Roy tempest also duped the relatively unknown American vocalists and vocal groups that he recruited in the States. They were led to believe that they would be performing as themselves at UK venues – not appearing as fake acts. Once they were in the UK he would get them to rehearse the songs of a well known act, such as the Temptations, and in effect turn them into what is now known as a tribute act. They had no choice but to go along with the deception if they wanted to be paid and flown back to the States. They had no means of escaping the clutches of Tempest. He housed them in accommodation that he owned in London, charging them a hefty rent. He also retained their passports for the duration of their contracts. Some of the US groups and vocalists known to have worked for Roy Tempest as impostors were: the Invitations, the Diplomats, the Topics, Oliver Bush.

Tempest would use UK bands on his books to provide backing for the vocalists and vocal groups that he brought over from the States. One such band was the British blues band – Bluesology, which included a young piano player named Reggie Dwight, later to become Elton John. Bluesology band member, Pat Higgs, remembers that working as an artist or in a backing band for Tempest wasn’t easy. The musicians were sometimes on the road for two to three weeks doing up to three gigs a day. Any rest days that they were promised were filled by Roy Tempest once they started touring.

Roy Tempest’s dubious activities lasted for around four years. But it wasn’t all plain sailing for him. In September 1967 the Sunday People and the Melody Maker reported that 1,400 fans had gone to see who they thought were Tamla Motown stars – the Temptations at Manchester’s New Century Hall. The group they actually paid to see was one of Roy Tempest’s fake acts who he was calling the “Fabulous Temptations” for a UK tour. When approached by a reporter Roy Tempest shrugged the matter off saying – “I certainly didn’t tell anyone they were the Tamla group. At £250 per night how could anyone expect a group which can earn 10,000 dollars for a one-nighter in the States?”. There was a subsequent case brought by Motown Records in which a Court ordered Tempest not to use the name “The Fabulous Temptations”. The judge described Tempest’s activities as “filching somebody else’s name and reputation”.

A year later the Sunday People ran another story about Roy Tempest’s activities with the headline – “The Flip Side Of Roy Tempest”. The People exposed Roy Tempest for booking more Soul impostors including Chuck Jackson, Carla Thomas and the Ronettes. The article also mentioned an injunction brought against Tempest in respect of a fake Marvelettes act plus other injunctions relating to the “Isley Brothers” and “William Bell”. Once again Roy tempest was flippant when interviewed by a Sunday People reporter. He told the reporter: “I have the biggest clientele of any showbusiness agent in Europe. I’m known as the Robin Hood of showbusiness. I’m in it to make a living and that’s all I’m worried about.”

Time did eventually run out for Roy Tempest. The cost of the legal actions taken by various organisations against him in respect of the fake acts took its toll. The Roy Tempest Organisation, Global Promotions and Universal Dancing Ltd were all forced into bankruptcy.

Fast forward over four decades to 2016. Film company Studiocanal announced that it would be producing a film about Roy Tempest entitled “The Great Pretender”. Pre-release information stated that the film would be based on the autobiography of the London-based music promoter, who organised UK tours in the 1960s for some of America’s biggest Soul acts – even though the acts were fakes. As far as I’m aware the film never came to fruition.

Around 2016 Roy Tempest was interviewed in Las Vegas by an American author who was researching another deception relating to a fake Aretha Franklin. Tempest was not directly connected to the Aretha Franklin matter but he did admit to the author that he “industrialised” the imposter scam when he was in London in the sixties. He said that he had recruited amateur singers from America and toured them across the United Kingdom as bands like the Temptations. His performers were “the world’s greatest singing postmen, window cleaners, bus drivers, shop assistants, bank robbers, and even a stripper”. He told the author that the reason he got away with it, for a time, was that there was no satellite television. No one knew what the real musicians looked like.

As for the Ronettes appearance at the Club a’Gogo on 2nd May 1968. By all accounts the Gogo wasn’t busy that night. The club was losing popularity and did, in fact, close down six week later. The gig wasn’t extensively advertised in the local press but the few adverts that did appear in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle referred to the group as the “fabulous” Ronettes and wrongly attributed two hit records to them – “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Do Ron Ron”. Both of these songs were hits made famous by the Crystals!

The “fabulous” Ronettes that performed at the Club a’Gogo, backed by one of Roy Tempest’s stable of bands – Edwin Bee & the Protection Racket, were undoubtedly impostors. They had no connection to the real Ronettes (Ronnie, Estelle and Nedra} who had recorded “Be My Baby” and “Baby I Love You” in the mid sixties. It would be nice to think that the Club a’Gogo management at that point in time were unaware of the scam – but who knows.

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Just three days after the death of legendary blues guitarist Peter Green shook the music industry and music lovers worldwide, generations of northeast music fans were devastated to learn of the passing of one of their own guitar heroes, Charlie Harcourt. Charlie died in hospital on 28th July 2020 following a long period of ill-health.

With a music career spanning over five decades, Charlie Harcourt built up a sparkling reputation as a guitarist both in the local area and beyond. His musical journey from the Junco Partners in the sixties through to Lindisfarne this millennium took him all over the world, including a spell living in the United States.

Although I didn’t know Charlie personally I saw him perform many times in the sixties and early seventies before I left the northeast. Looking through my old diaries I’m able to come up with a date that I first saw him weaving his magic on guitar. It was on 20th March 1965 at the Blue Note Club in Sunderland as part of the original Junco Partners line-up. By that time the Juncos had become well established at Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo with a growing reputation in other areas of the northeast. The band sounded and looked great as a unit but it was the musicianship and charisma of each individual member, including Charlie Harcourt, which made the Juncos by far the best band around at that time. I can genuinely say that I still have vivid recollections of the Junco Partners’ performance that night at the Blue Note. The last time I saw Charlie perform was at the launch of the North East Beat exhibition at the Discovery Museum in 2009.

Charlie Harcourt learned to play the guitar at an early age. In 1964 the 17-year old Charlie was asked to join a newly formed Junco Partners whose core members were Dave Sproat (bass), John Woods (drums) and Ronnie Barker (vocals). The band had come to the attention of The Animal’s manager Mike Jeffery and was rehearsing at the Club a’Gogo. Replacing the original guitarist, Charlie became a member of the band along with John Anderson (vocals) and Pete Wallis (keyboard). After a few months of rehearsals the Juncos began playing at the Club a’Gogo. They proved to be a great success with the Gogo crowd and eventually became the resident band there.

The Junco Partners was tipped to follow The Animals as the next northeast band to achieve fame and fortune. But the elusive big break never came. The band saw various changes over the years. In 1970 the Juncos was down to a four-piece consisting of original members Charlie, Dave Sproat and John Wood with Bob Sargeant on keys. At that point Charlie decided to leave the band. He was a tough act to follow. In spite of advertising for a new guitarist the remaining members of the band weren’t able to find a replacement and continued for a while as a three piece before finally calling it a day.

In the meantime Charlie had joined a band formed by ex-Nice bassist Lee Jackson called Jackson Heights. This was a fairly short lived venture with the original band falling apart after one album.

Since the heady days of the Club a’Gogo in the mid-sixties, club owner and Animals’ manager Mike Jeffery had done well for himself. He had become the co-manager of Jimi Hendrix, the highest grossing rock guitarist of the sixties. Jeffery also had a stable of artists that he managed. Two of his acts were a duo from Chatanooga called Jimmy & Vella and a Californian based band called Cat Mother & The All Night News Boys. The two acts frequently toured together. Charlie Harcourt was asked by Mike Jeffery to join Jimmy & Vella as a backing guitarist. This led to him becoming a member of Cat Mother, recording on one of their albums. Charlie lived in California for a few years and toured with both acts all over the States and Europe.

On his return to the UK, Charlie became a member of a reformed Lindisfarne, the original Lindisfarne having fractured in 1973. During this stint with Lindisfarne he formed a song-writing partnership with Ray Jackson. When Lindisfarne (mark 2) split in 1975, Charlie continued his association with Ray Jackson forming the band Harcourt’s Heroes.

Around 1976/77 some members of the original Junco Partners got together once more and started performing again in the northeast. The Juncos regained their original popularity and became resident band at the Cooperage on Newcastle’s Quayside playing to packed audiences. The Junco’s second coming was to last for 40 years until the band finally called it a day in 2017. Charlie Harcourt performed with the Juncos throughout this period as well as gigging with Lindisfarne until 2015 and performing at some of their legendary Christmas shows at the City Hall.

Over the decades Charlie Harcourt performed with numerous top musicians and artists. His guitar playing has been enjoyed by several generations of music lovers. Both fellow musicians and fans alike respected Charlie’s skills. His contribution to the northeast music scene will always be remembered and will live on through the recordings he made with the many bands he played with.

RIP Charlie.

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For at least a hundred and fifty years there has been a perceptible link between music and the visual arts. From the 1950s onwards the bond between the two art forms became even more entwined. This is how art found its way into Newcastle’s night clubs in the late fifties and sixties: –

If you grew up in the northeast and enjoyed Newcastle’s night-life in the sixties you’re probably aware that Mike Jeffery was the owner of the city’s iconic venue – the Club a’Gogo. Many more music fans from that era will know him as being the man who managed the Newcastle band, The Animals back in the mid 1960s and the Jimi Hendrix Experience a few years later. What’s less well known are the details of his musical career before he struck gold with those two acts. Before Mike Jeffery launched The Animals in 1963, his life revolved around the management of a number of clubs he owned in Newcastle upon Tyne. Over the years as his wealth increased he acquired more clubs in Mallorca and Paris.

Mike Jeffery was an amateur musician and a music lover. His career as a music entrepreneur started in the late fifties and stemmed from his enthusiasm for jazz. It’s no wonder that the first clubs he ran in Newcastle echoed his musical tastes and featured both “live” and recorded jazz.

Mike Jeffery had a ready market for his early clubs. In the late 1950s and early 1960s a lot of teens and twenties, in particular university and college students, were turning to traditional and modern Jazz as an alternative to other forms of popular music that were around during that period. The way jazz, and in particular modern jazz, was being packaged gave the genre an aura of sophistication; an art form in a league way above commercial music. Albums from the late fifties and early sixties aimed at the pop market invariably featured just a photograph of the artist(s) on the record sleeve. Jazz labels were taking a more radical approach to draw attention to their albums by using modern and contemporary art for their album covers.

Whatever the appeal of jazz, it was packing young people, especially the rebellious types into the many jazz clubs that were springing up throughout the country. But Mike Jeffery wasn’t content to own just any run-of-the-mill club; he wanted his clubs to be on a par with the up-market jazz clubs he knew in London.

His overall vision was to focus on good music but also to include the use of eye-catching graphics and visual art on posters and flyers to attract a mixed clientele to his establishments. Once they were in the club, he would ensure that his customers returned by offering them an exciting atmosphere and ambience to enhance their listening experience. Perhaps inspired by the graphics displayed on jazz albums, his intention was to use modern art and contemporary design in his clubs, which would include murals and paintings.

In 1959 Mike Jeffery opened the Marimba Coffee House, his first Newcastle venue. The Marimba was a coffee bar by day and a late night jazz club after dark. As for the décor, he turned to someone who he thought could create eye-catching designs for his venture. Enter Scott Dobson, a Newcastle artist, art & music critic and writer. Scott Dobson also taught art at Atkinson Road Technical School in the city. Scott Dobson designed the murals on two of the three floors of the Marimba. One of the murals consisted of a large mosaic made of broken crockery, the construction of which Scott sub-contracted to some of his art students.

Left: Scott Dobson’s students work on the Marimba’s ground floor mosaic. Right: The painted mural in the basement of the Marimba (also known as “the Crypt”)

Mike Jeffery’s next Jazz club was the Downbeat Club in Carliol Square, Newcastle, which opened in late November 1959. The décor for this club was designed by an art college student named Joe Pharoah who was a friend of Eric Burdon. Scott Dobson provided some of the modern paintings that hung on the club’s walls.

Unfortunately, the Marimba Coffee House was destroyed by fire in November 1961 but the insurance payout ensured that Mike Jeffery had the funds he needed to fit out his next jazz club; the Club a’Gogo on Percy Street, Newcastle. Mike Jeffery pulled out all the stops for the décor in his new club, which opened in July 1962.

The interior of the Club a’Gogo was designed by Eric Burdon who had been an art student before his music career took off. When it first opened, the club had two separate rooms – the Latin American Lounge and the Jazz Lounge. The Jazz Lounge was adorned by a large mural depicting a city skyline, which extended over two walls. This was painted by David Sweetman who was studying fine art at Kings College in Newcastle. He was helped by various Club a’Gogo employees. Eric Burdon was responsible for some smaller wall paintings in the Latin American Lounge (later renamed “The Young Set”).

After the Club a’Gogo had been running for some time, jazz began to lose its appeal for young people. Jazz bands were phased out and by the end of 1963 live jazz had been replaced with appearances by the best Rhythm & Blues and rock bands around. This marked the beginning of the club’s “golden era”. During this period the Gogo produced some eye-catching posters and flyers advertising music events at the club.

By all accounts the flyers were designed “in-house” and printed at a small print room in the Handyside Buildings run by Phil Hormbrey. The print room was easily accessed via the club’s gaming room and a fire escape. Dave Ismay, who worked at the club at the time, remembers that Gogo employee Keith Gibbon was studying architecture at the time and helped out in the print room. The design of the flyers and posters was probably down to Phil Hormbrey, otherwise known as “Big Phil”. Phil had also been responsible for supervising the construction of collages and other artwork in the booths of the Young Set.

The Club a’Gogo closed down in 1968. One of the clubs that sprang up in its wake was “Change Is” on Bath Lane, Newcastle. The concept of Change Is was that the club would constantly change from one week to the next. The three floor levels could be permutated in fifteen different ways and the décor could be changed at will by projecting artistic images onto the club’s curved walls.

Change Is also made its presence known by publishing eye-catching, arty, sometimes unusually off-beat posters, flyers and newspaper adverts.

Sadly, the buidings that housed the clubs mentioned above no longer exist. All that is left of the club art from the late fifties and early sixties are archived newspaper adverts and the posters and flyers that people have hung onto. Perhaps sometime in the future these relics of Newcastle’s sixties night clubs can be put together in an exhibition to celebrate the “Art Of The City”.

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This site is dedicated to the memory of the northeast music scene from 1965 to 1972. Amongst other things, you can read about iconic venues such as the Club a’Gogo and the top bands of the day such as the Junco Partners, all accessible from the main menu.

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The success of Motown and the “Motown Sound” in the second half of the 20th century has created a lot of wealthy individuals; people like Motown’s founder, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and many others. On the other hand, many of the talented people who helped shape the Motown Sound and were probably deserving of a share of Motown’s fortunes fell by the wayside. These are the stories of just two of them.

You may be wondering what the connection is between Motown and the northeast music scene of the sixties. I suppose the link is fairly tenuous but for many of us who frequented the northeast’s clubs and dance halls in 1965 and 1966 Motown provided lots of songs that made up the soundtrack of our lives during those years. Not only were DJs spinning Motown records for dancers but also a lot of local northeast bands were covering songs by the likes of the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Miracles and Junior Walker’s All-Stars.

There’s no doubt about the popularity of Motown in the UK in the mid sixties. Although entrepreneur Berry Gordy originally formed the Detroit based record company in 1959, it would take a further five years for Motown to start impacting on the UK’s record buying public.

Motown went from strength to strength in the second half of the sixties and into the seventies. Berry Gordy initially described the output from his company as the “sound of young America”. Later it became widely known as the “Motown Sound”. Motown had its own distinctive musical style with its driving bass lines, dominant tambourine and gospel-influenced vocal harmonies. Many music fans regard the Motown Sound as the defining sound of 1960s pop, R&B, and Soul.

The first story concerns a talented sound engineer who played a major part in creating what was to become the Motown Sound.

The Hit Men

On 3rd March 1993 an intruder broke into the home of a 43 year-old divorcee in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The woman lived with her 8 year-old severely handicapped son but also present at the time of the break-in was Janice Saunders, the child’s overnight nurse. The intruder ruthlessly shot both women and suffocated the boy to death. Before leaving the scene the killer made sure that nothing was left in the house to link him to the murders. He disturbed some furniture and took away some credit cards to give the impression that the deaths were connected to a botched burglary.

After the bodies were discovered police investigators were quick to conclude that the three murders were not the work of a burglar but of a professional contract killer or “hit man”.

The murdered divorcee was Mildred Horn, once the wife of Lawrence T Horn who worked at Motown’s Detroit studio in the mid-sixties and was instrumental in the creation the “Motown Sound”. Lawrence Horn could truly be regarded as a “hit man” in another sense. He played a significant part in the many hit records that came out of Motown’s “Hitsville USA” studio between 1964 and 1968.

Lawrence Horn joined Berry Gordy’s Motown company around 1964. He had previously been a DJ aboard a US Navy warship and as such had a first class knowledge of music. He secured a job as a sound engineer in the studio at Hitsville and before long became the company’s chief recording engineer, editing and mixing recordings. Horn created a three track system for the company and a post-recording process that would make Motown records sound substantially better than records from other record labels. Horn’s method involved replicating the tapes that had been used to record the voices and backing instruments and then applying effects such as compression and reverb to the different tapes before doing a final mix. It was the rhythm of the songs driven by a dominant bass and drum combination that made Motown songs so exciting and so danceable. Lawrence Horn’s magic touch increased the volume of the instrumental backing but at the same time kept the vocals loud, clear and above the instruments. Almost all of Motown’s releases from the mid-sixties to the end of the decade used this method.

It was Lawrence Horn’s contribution to the shaping of the Motown Sound that made him one of the top dogs in the control room of Motown’s Hitsville studio and a favourite of Berry Gordy in the mid sixties. Horn’s success at Motown earned him a lavish life-style; a Porsche, flash clothes, expensive jewellery and lots of ready cash. At the height of his career he married a Motown receptionist. However, this partnership was short-lived and ended in divorce in 1966.

in 1968 Motown’s chief song writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown following a dispute with Berry Gordy over royalties. The song-writers had made full use of Lawrence Horn’s recording techniques in their many hit records for the company and wanted to continue working with him. Horn decided that his future was with Holland-Dozier-Holland and this resulted in his exit from Motown. Although Horn would eventually return to Motown after the company had relocated to Los Angeles his status was nowhere near what it had been in the mid sixties in Detroit. Neither was his income.

In 1973 Lawrence Horn married a second time to a beautiful senior American Airlines flight attendant named Mildred Maree. The couple had their first child in 1974 but by the end of the decade their marriage was failing. Mildred Horn moved away from the West Coast to Washington DC. In spite of the separation Lawrence and Mildred Horn continued with a relationship of some sort and Mildred became pregnant again by her husband. Mildred Horn gave birth to twins in August 1984 eleven weeks before their due date. The girl recovered from the premature birth but not so Trevor Horn, the boy, who needed regular on-going hospital treatment.

In 1985 an accident caused by a hospital in the course of his treatment left Trevor brain damaged and needing round-the-clock care. Lawrence and Mildred Horn subsequently sued the hospital for medical malpractice. In 1990 they eventually settled out of court for a sum of around $2 million. Both Mildred and Lawrence Horn each received part of the settlement by way of a single payment. Another portion was used to pay for Trevor’s on-going care. Trevor was to receive just over half of the total sum in 2003 when he reached the age of eighteen. In the event of Trevor dying before 2003 his entire share of $1.1 million would go to the surviving parents or parent.

By the early 1990s Lawrence Horn and Mildred Horn were divorced. He had been laid off from Motown and was finding life difficult as a freelance music engineer. His settlement from the hospital quickly ran out and he was getting deeper and deeper into debt, amongst other things with outstanding child support payments for the couple’s three children.

With the death of his ex-wife and disabled son on 3rd March 1993 Lawrence Horn was in line to become a wealthy man and put all his money problems behind him. It was no wonder that the police strongly suspected Horn of being behind the murders of his ex-wife, their son and his son’s nurse. The problem for the police was that Lawrence Horn had a cast-iron alibi. On the night of the murder he was over 2000 miles away in Los Angeles with his current girlfriend. He’d even made a video of himself and his girlfriend that night in his apartment. The video just happened to include a shot of his TV screen, which displayed the time and date.

Before long the police had another suspect. A Detroit man named James Perry had checked into a hotel not far from the Horn household on the day of the murders. He had checked out six hours later. However, there was nothing concrete to connect Perry to the murders. Neither were they able to link him to Lawrence Horn. When the police searched Perry’s home they were sure they had their man. They discovered that prior to the killings he had purchased a book entitled “Hit Man”. This was, in fact, a detailed instruction manual on how to carry out a contract killing without leaving clues.

After a painstaking investigation lasting over a year, which amongst other things involved detailed examination of phone records, the police and FBI finally had enough evidence to connect James Perry and Lawrence Horn and to arrest them both for murder and conspiracy. In the first instance the police were wrong in their assumption that the murders had been carried out by a professional hit man. Perry was little more than a petty criminal and confidence trickster who had been introduced to Lawrence Horn by one of Horn’s Detroit based cousins.

The pair had used the “Hit Man” book to plan and carry out their crime. While carrying out the killings Perry had followed the instructions in the book to the letter. Well almost: In a moment of foolishness he used his own identity to check into the Maryland Hotel on the day of the murders. Had it not been for this he may never have been traced.

James Perry was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 but in 1999 the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Lawrence Horn was convicted in 1996 and also received a life-term. Horn died in prison in 2017.

Whilst in prison Lawrence T Horn would have had lots of time to reflect on his glory days at Motown when he ruled the roost in Hitsville’s Studio A and about the bad decisions he made leading to his downfall.

As a footnote I’ll mention that Lawrence Horn’s part in Motown has by-and-large been airbrushed out of the company’s history. Similarly, the technical books and articles I’ve seen covering Horn’s innovative recording techniques do not mention his heinous crime and subsequent fate.

L’il Funk

Another member of the Hitsville team at the same time as Lawrence Horn was saxophonist Andrew “Mike” Terry. Mike Terry and Horn were of a similar age so probably knew each other quite well. Like Horn, Mike was another Motown employee who fell off the gravy train. He was a member of the elite group of musicians collectively known as the Funk Brothers, which provided the backing on all of the Motown studio recording in the sixties.

Mike Terry was late in joining the Funk Brothers but just in time to be a part of a lot of Motown’s UK sixties hits. Mike was the youngest of the Funk Brothers and was consequently nick-named “L’il Funk” by some of the more experienced band members.

Mike Terry wasn’t a seasoned jazz musician like most of the other Funk Brothers but his distinctive, unassuming style on baritone sax made him a favourite with producers and song-writers. On a lot of recordings in the mid-sixties, Motown’s producers chose the baritone saxophone as a solo instrument rather than the more popular solo instruments of the day – the tenor sax or guitar. Mike’s short baritone saxophone breaks became an integral part of the signature “Motown Sound”; a sound which set the label apart from its rivals.

Here’s some of the classic Motown tracks featuring Mike’s work: –

‘Where Did Our Love Go’, ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Back In My Arms Again’ by the Supremes
‘This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) by the Isley Brothers
“I Can’t Help Myself’ and ‘The Same Old Song’ by the Four Tops
‘Heatwave’ and ‘Dancing In The Street’ by Martha & The Vandellas
‘Bird In The Hand’ by the Velvelettes
‘Helpless’ by Kim Weston

Here’s a brief reminder of how Mike’s signature baritone sax breaks sounded

After a few years of playing baritone sax with the Funk Brothers, Mike Terry was keen to raise his profile within the Motown organisation. He set his sights on becoming an arranger and producer rather than just an instrumentalist. Unfortunately Berry Gordy never gave Mike the chance to prove what he was capable of. Gordy probably thought he had enough excellent producers and arrangers and that Mike Terry should remain in the studio as a session musician doing what he did best.

Mike was far from happy about being denied the opportunity to better himself so he decided to enrol in a music theory course at the Detroit Institute of Music Arts to try and achieve his goal. At the same time he began to do work on the side for other record labels.

Eventually Mike Terry’s driving ambition paid off. He did become a sought after record producer and arranger, although not for Motown. He broke from Motown around 1966 and, amongst others, worked for Motown’s rivals – Golden World Records, Epic Records and Okey Records. The rival record companies that he worked for never quite achieved the popularity of Motown. However, Mike’s work as a producer continued well into the seventies. Eventually tastes in music would change. The type of Soul music in which Mike Terry had made his mark was losing popularity with the record buying public.

In the late seventies, either by choice or necessity, Mike Terry left the world of music behind him. With a growing family to support he needed a steady income. He made a living by doing various non-skilled jobs in factories and shops – a life far removed from the halcyon days of Motown in the mid-sixties and his subsequent work as a producer.

In 1983 the Motown Record Corporation marked its 25th year in the music business with the ‘Motown 25’ celebrations, a show which brought back together many of the original Motown stars from the sixties. But still the Funk Brothers, the studio musicians who played a big part in Motown’s success were not acknowledged. It was reported that at least one of the Funk Brothers had to buy a ticket to get into the show.

A few years later a producer and musician named Allan Slutsky started a project that would eventually lead to a greater public awareness of the Funk Brothers and their work. Allan Slutsky published an award winning book entitled “Standing In The Shadows Of Motown” in 1989. The book was primarily about Motown studio bass player James Jamerson but did include a lot of information about the other Funk Brothers.

Eventually the book led to the release of a movie with the same name. The movie brought together surviving members of the Funk Brothers who performed together as a unit for the first time in decades. The film, which won several Grammy Awards, gave the previously anonymous session musicians a short burst of fame. For a few years they bathed in the limelight that the film had cast upon them. This included a ceremony in which the surviving Motown session musicians were presented with Grammy Legend Awards.

Mike Terry’s part in the Funk Brothers and the sixties Motown recordings was ignored both in the book and in the movie. He was approached by Allan Slutsky in the initial stages of the “Standing In The Shadows” project but for whatever reason he was not considered important enough to be treated as one of the original Funk Brothers. He later felt he had been given the cold shoulder by Slutsky.

Mike Terry took ill in 2005 and died three years later in 2008. Although some of Mike’s work is still popular in the world of Northern Soul, he sadly missed out in retrospective fame and becoming publicly acknowledged as one of Motown’s Funk Brothers. He still remains relatively unknown in terms of his contribution to the Motown Sound.

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