Penny Farthing Records
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Penny Farthing Records was established by UK record producer Larry Page (British singer and manager) as a progression from his successful 1960s label Page One Records. It did not repeat the top 20 hits of his earlier venture but signed some artists of note.
These included Daniel Boone (singer), whose "Hi, Hi, Hi, Beautiful Sunday" hit, written by the singer, was a staple of early 1970s disc jockeys and enormously popular at weddings.Picked up by the Japanese TV show 'Beautiful Sunday' some 10 years later this song was a hit all over again in Japan ! Page also recorded Daniel's wife(Lesley) Lelly Boone, with no success despite an appearance on BBC TV's "Top Of The Pops."
The Dutch group Shocking Blue also had their big hit "Venus" with Penny Farthing Records
Page also recorded the Barron Knights, whose comedy records had been chart successes. However, Larry's attempts to turn them into a mainstream pop group failed. He eventually resorted to the flop "The Ballad of Frank Spencer". Even his attempt to record them under another name - Philly Dog - did not produce the necessary hits.
Paul Da Vinci, the voice on the Rubettes hit "Sugar Baby Love", turned to Penny Farthing immediately after this song made the UK no. 1 slot. The resulting "Your Baby ain't Your Baby Anymore" sold very few records.
Page One Records stalwarts the Troggs were persuaded to join Penny Farthing but their label debut, Larry's attempt at the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" with Reg Presley's vocals, did not produce sales. However, this must count as one of pop music's most unusual covers and remains highly collectible on vinyl.
Penny Farthing also recorded the Johnny Pearson Orchestra from the BBC's Top of the Pops with the hit single "Cast Your Fate To the Wind" and a promising early album by Raymond Froggatt. However, most of the company's revenue was gained from Germany, where their solo artist signing Kincade had a number of minor hits, including 'Dreams Are 10 A Penny', "Big Hand For Annie " written by John Carter (of Carter - Lewis fame) and responsible for "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" by Hermans Hermits in the 60s.
John Carter, writing under a number of different names also had hits with Penny Farthing in the early seventies, such as "Lets go to San Francisco" by the Flowerpot Men and "Beach Baby " by First Class.
Larry Page himself,known as "Larry Page, The Teenage Rage " was well before his time in the 60s with his outrageous green hair.Page was fondly remembered by Jet Harris of the Shadows in Mike Read's Book "The Story Of The Shadows" on page 42 "I had a spell bashing bass behind a guy billed as Larry Page The Teenage Rage. He was the most awful singer I've ever worked with!"
