Grapefruit (band)

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Grapefruit was a London-based British band of the late 1960s. Their brand of music was a typical late Sixties blend of pop and rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.

[edit] Biography

They were formed in 1967 by Scottish-born singer and guitarist George Alexander, a member of the talented Young family that also spawned his brothers George, the rhythm guitarist and founding member of The Easybeats and also Malcolm and Angus Young, both founding members of the Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. Alexander Young had chosen to remain in Britain when the rest of the Youngs emigrated to Australia.

Together with three former members of 'Tony Rivers & The Castaways' (namely John Perry, Geoff Swettenham and Pete Swettenham), George Alexander formed 'The Grapefruit' (the band discarded the initial 'The' soon afterwards). Terry Doran, a friend of John Lennon, became their manager, seeing some commercial potential in them. Doran arranged for the band's music publishing rights (as songwriters) to be assigned to the publishing wing of The Beatles' new company Apple and they were the first writers to sign to the company, in early 1968.

Grapefruit's record career was launched in the spring of 1968, albeit not on the Beatles' own Apple label, which opened for business a few months later, but on the UK Decca Records label. However, The Beatles continued to take some interest in Grapefruit, with John Lennon introducing the band to the media and inviting John Perry to join in on the recording of the hit single "Hey Jude".^[1]

Grapefruit's recording career spanned only two years, from late 1967 to the end of 1969. They released two albums (Grapefruit in 1968, Around Grapefruit in 1969) and several singles, none of which made a significant impact on the charts. Their best-known track is probably the Terry Melcher-produced "Dear Delilah", which was released in early 1968, but failed to enter the UK Top 20. Toward the end of their career, Grapefruit shifted from melodic pop to a more rough, blues-influenced style of music.

Grapefruit broke up in late 1969, with only Alexander remaining in the music business, as a session musician.

John Lennon & Paul McCartney were co-producers on a song called "Sunshine for a Lazy Day" a song that was initially called "Circus Sgt. Pepper"

[edit] Members

• George Alexander (b. Alexander Young, December 28, 1938, Cranhill, East End, Glasgow) - bass guitar and vocals
• John Perry (b. July 16, 1949, London) - vocals and guitar
• Geoff Swettenham (b. March 8, 1948, London) - drums
• Pete Swettenham (b. April 24, 1949, London) - guitar

[edit] References and footnotes

1. ^ Perry was in the background choir, and can be heard very slightly shouting into the microphone at about 2:58 runtime.