Edison Lighthouse

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Tony Burrows in concert.  Taken on May 17th, 2008.
Tony Burrows in concert. Taken on May 17th, 2008.

The British pop group Edison Lighthouse was initially a studio-only assemblage that served as a vehicle for session vocalist Tony Burrows and songwriter/producers Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason. Members of the group Greenfield Hammer were later brought in to perpetuate the image of a real working band. So the "original" EL were Tony Burrows(lead vocal), Stuart Edwards (lead guitar), David Taylor (bass guitar), George Wayman (drums), Ray Dorey (guitar). The group's lone top 40 hit "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" from 1970 was one of four near contemporaneous UK Top Ten hit singles by Burrows under different names, including White Plains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'," the Pipkins' "Gimme Dat Ding," and the Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand". Burrows was also lead vocalist on the single "Beach Baby" in 1974 for another studio-only group, The First Class.

After the success of "Love Grows", Burrows left to pursue other projects, and Macaulay, who owned the rights to the Edison name, simply assembled another group to record under the alias. Young actor and singer Paul Vigrass replaced Burrows and other members of new group were David Clemson (bass guitar), Andy Locke (guitar), Eddie Richards (drums), Wally Scott (guitar) This second edition of Edison Lighthouse barely cracked the UK Top 50 with the single "It's Up to You, Petula" before vanishing. They tried to renew their "Love Grows" fame, filming a new promo clip for their biggest hit in 1971, handsome Andy Locke miming instead of Burrows.

[edit] Origin of the name

Edison Lighthouse is named after the Edison Memorial Tower located in Edison, New Jersey, and is also a play on words on Eddystone Lighthouse, a lighthouse tower off the coast of Cornwall.[citation needed]

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