Carter-Lewis and the Southerners

Carter-Lewis and the Southerners was an early 1960s, rock band formed by the Birmingham born musicians Ken Lewis (guitarist / singer / songwriter) and John Carter.

Jimmy Page and Perry Ford from Lincoln were also members.

Carter and Lewis were initially songwriters. They wrote and performed for the former BBC Light Programme's shows Easy Beat and Saturday Club.

Carter and Lewis and Ford continued as The Ivy League (who provided backing vocals on such hit singles as The Who's "I Can't Explain"), and in 1967 created The Flower Pot Men whose hit "Let's Go to San Francisco" reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. By this time Carter and Lewis worked purely as songwriters, arrangers, producers and studio based musicians. If their recorded work subsequently found an audience, as with The Flower Pot Men and The First Class, they organised a group around that name to actively promote the recordings via concerts etc.