The Bachelors
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- This article is about the Irish band. For the novel by Muriel Spark, see The Bachelors (novel).
| The Bachelors | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Dublin, Ireland |
| Genre(s) | Country Music Harmony |
| Years active | 1957 – current |
| Label(s) | Decca, Philips, Pickwick, Major Minor, Galaxy, Deram, and Many Independents and compilations |
| Website | thebachelors.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Con Cluskey Declan Cluskey John Stokes |
|
| Former members | |
| see note below | |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Con and Dec Cluskey: Guitar, Keyboards, Banjo, ukekele, Harmonica - John Stokes: Bass, harmonica | |
The Bachelors is a popular music group, originating from Dublin, Ireland.
Contents |
[edit] Career
The founding members of the group were Conleth (Con) Cluskey (born 18 November 1941); Declan (Dec) Cluskey (born 23 December 1942) and John Stokes (Sean James Stokes) (born 13 August 1940). In 1957 they formed their first band together, "The Harmonichords" (also seen as "The Harmony Chords"), a classically styled instrumental harmonica-act.
As such they appeared on Hughie Green's 'Opportunity Knocks' on Radio Luxembourg [1], and the 'Ed Sullivan' TV Show filmed in Dublin as a St. Patrick's Day Special, when they played "Danny Boy," aired March 15, 1959[2]. They also played background music plus featured pieces in 25 week radio comedy series called 'Odd Noises' on Radio Éireann [3] featuring Eamonn Andrews. They changed the name to "The Bachelors" in 1962 at the suggestion of Dick Rowe, A&R at Decca Records. He reportedly recommended the name, The Bachelors, "because that’s the kind of boy a girl likes".[4]
During the 1960s, they had many successful songs that featured in the music charts in Europe Australia, South Africa, South America, parts of the USSR and the United States. Some of the most successful were: "Diane" (1964), "Marie" (1964), "I Wouldn't Trade You For the World" (1965), and "In the Chapel in the Moonlight". They also appeared in a film with Billy Fury in 1965, called "I've Gotta Horse." In 1965 they had the 'most played juke box track' with 'The Stars Will Remember' from a film they made with then current DJ Sam Costa.[5]
[edit] The Songs
The Bachelors' version of "Charmaine", with its descending melody that had already made it an evergreen, jogs along to a country guitar strum and a sprinkling of piano licks. Dick Rowe chose American Shel Talmy as record producer, who went on to produce some of The Kinks' classic rock hits. Another 1927 movie theme song, "Diane", penned by the same songwriters as "Charmaine", Erno Rapee and Lew Pollack, and arranged in the same Nashville-like manner, was released in 1964 and gave the group their first Number one in the UK Singles Chart, as well as an American breakthrough at number two.
In 1963 they starred in Its All Over Town with Frankie Vaughan and The Springfields.
It is curious to note that four of their hit songs were taken from 1920’s movies. Jim Reeves had also previously covered the same four songs, "Charmaine", "Diane", "Ramona" and "Marie" in the 1950s. Throughout the 1960s the Bachelors racked up hit singles and albums and made guest appearances on all the then current TV shows [6]also made their own situation comedy TV series called Under and Over[7] which was a success. They appeared in two Royal Variety TV shows. [8]. They also scored the largest viewing audience ever for Bruce Forsyth's Sunday Night At The London Palladium. [9]Live work was carrying them into the 1970s with record breaking theatre season shows and after a successful start to the decade with the album World of the Bachelors hitting the top 5 and a top twenty follow up, the band became less and less dominant of the music industry along with singers like Tom Jones they found themselves stuck in a decade of Glam Rock and unable to change with the times. The records however kept on coming with a move to the Pye label which was a safe haven for easy listening stars like Frankie Vaughan and Max Bygraves it became increasing apparent that their career would follow the path of live shows. By 1979 however without a hit single in almost 12 years the cracks were showing.
[edit] The split and beyond
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In 1984 there was a falling out between the members of The Bachelors, and John Stokes was asked to leave the band at a meeting held in The Eccentric Club in London. He was also removed as a director of Bachelors Limited.
After a High Court case, John Stokes was not allowed to use any name containing the word Bachelors ["or any colourable imitation"] [8] [High Court undertaking 15th May 1984, London], whilst Con & Dec were allowed to use any name that contained the word Bachelors [except The Bachelors alone or The Original Bachelors] [9] [ref. same High Court Undertaking]. This was contained in a legal undertaking which John Stokes signed with Con & Dec Cluskey when he bought the company 'Bachelors Ltd' from them. Meanwhile Con & Dec recruited a new member, Peter Phipps, and continued until 1993 as The New Bachelors.
In 1993 John Stokes reappeared with a new group also calling himself 'The New Bachelors' so the Cluskey Brothers changed their name to ‘Con and Dec, The Bachelors’ to not confuse the public. In 2006 Con & Dec tried to take John Stokes to the High Court to stop him using the name The Bachelors but, due to Dec being overseas, the forms had not been filled in properly, and the court case was not allowed to take place. Counsel in the court, representing 'Brick Lane Music Hall', where the offence was committed, confirmed in court that they had changed the advertising and introduced John Stokes on stage as: 'John Stokes and his fabulous band'. [ref. contemporaneous court notes Altringham County Court 10 July 2006]
As of 2008, only Con and Dec - the Bachelors are still touring. Stokes's group, now called "The Bachelors" [10], [in contempt of court - ref. High Court Undertaking 15th May 1984], includes singer Jonathan Young and guitarist Kevin Neill (formerly of the Karl Denver Trio). They rarely play in the UK and are currently scheduled to appear once in London[Spring 2008].
Con and Dec Cluskey are finishing their latest album which will be released early 2008 [the 70th. album].
[edit] Hit singles
- Charmaine No.6 (1962)
- Faraway Places No.36 (1963)
- Whispering No.18 (1963)
- Diane No.1 (1964)
- I Believe No.2 (1964)
- Ramona No.4 (1964)
- I Wouldn't Trade No.4 (1964)
- No Arms No.7 (1964)
- True Love for Evermore No. 34 (1965)
- Marie No.9 (1965)
- Chapel in the Moonlight No. 27 (1965)
- Hello Dolly No.38 (1965)
- Sound of Silence No.3 (1966)
- Love Me With All Your Heart No.3 (1966)
- Can I Trust you? No.27 (1966)
- Walk with Faith No.22 (1966)
- Oh How I Miss you No.30 (1967)
- Marta No.20 (1967)
[edit] Hit EP's
- The Bachelors; No.4 (1963)
- The Bachelors Volume 2 No.2 (1964)
- Bachelors hits; No.1) (1964)
- Bachelors hits Volume 2. No.9 (1965)
[edit] Hit ALBUMS
- The Bachelors + 16 Great songs No.2 (1964)
- More Great song Hits No.15 (1965)
- Hits of the 60's No.12 (1966)
- Bachelors girls No.24 (1966)
- The Golden All Time hits No.19 (1967)
- The World of The Bachelors No.8 (1968)
- The world of Vol2: No.11 (1969)
- 25 Golden Greats No.37 (1979)
There are 69 + albums on release in the UK.
This discography does not include hit releases outside the UK.
[edit] References
- ^ Kilmainham & Inchicore Local Dictionary of Biography
- ^ 1TV.Com - list of Ed Sullivan shows.
- ^ Kilmainham & Inchicore Local Dictionary of Biography
- ^ Ian Whitcomb's article on The Bachelors
- ^ Kilmainham & Inchicore Local Dictionary of Biography
- ^ Television's Greatest Hits - Paul Gambaccini/Rod Taylor
- ^ Television's Greatest Hits - Paul Gambaccini/Rod Taylor
- ^ Television's Greatest Hits - Paul Gambaccini/Rod Taylor
- ^ Television's Greatest Hits - Paul Gambaccini/Rod Taylor
- [1] Directory of Irish archives
- [2] Television's Greatest Hits - Paul Gambaccini/Rod Taylor
- [3] High Court undertaking 15th May 1984, London. Copies widely held by interested parties.
- Hit Record references from John Leyland the leading Bachelors' expert.
