| The Tremeloes | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Essex, England |
| Genres | Beat |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Labels | Decca Records, CBS |
| Associated acts | Brian Poole |
| Past members | |
| Alan Blakely Alan Howard Dave Munden Rick West Len 'Chip' Hawkes Davey Fryer |
|
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.
Contents |
They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes (as backing group to Brian Poole, and the name soon being changed thanks to the spelling mistake of a local newspaper) influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets. On New Years Day, 1962, Decca, looking for a "Beat" group, auditioned two promising young bands: Brian Poole and the Tremeloes and a somewhat similar combo (also heavily influenced by Buddy Holly) from Liverpool called The Beatles.
Decca chose the Tremeloes over The Beatles. The Tremeloes proved to be a very talented band in their own right and had a successful career. Like the Beatles, every member of the Tremeloes was a strong singer and the band seamlessly combined rock and roll with a variety of other genres.
The original quintet consisted of lead vocalist Brian Poole, lead guitarist Ricky West, keyboardist Alan Blakely, bassist Alan Howard and drummer Dave Munden.[1]
Brian Poole and the Tremeloes first charted with a version of "Twist and Shout" (1963), a song ironically also recorded by the Beatles. This was followed by a chart topping cover of The Contours' U.S. million-seller "Do You Love Me" in the same year. Before they parted company with Brian Poole in 1966, their covers of Roy Orbison's B-side, "Candy Man" and The Crickets' B-side ballad, "Someone Someone" (both 1964) entered the UK Singles Chart Top Ten, with the latter peaking at number two.
When Poole and Howard left the band in 1966, Alan Blakely took over leadership of the group, and Len "Chip" Hawkes, father of 1990s hitmaker Chesney Hawkes, replaced Howard. Poole pursued a career as a solo artist.
After switching from Decca to CBS Records, the Tremeloes started a successful hit run from 1967 onwards with Cat Stevens' "Here Comes My Baby"; "Hello World"; three Italian hits translated into English ("Suddenly You Love Me", which is Riccardo Del Turco's "Uno tranquillo" ("One quiet man"), "I'm Gonna Try", which is Riccardo Del Turco's 1967 hit "Luglio" ("July"), and "My Little Lady", based on Orietta Berti's "Non illuderti mai" ("Never deceive yourself")); and their Number one recording of an old Four Seasons' B-side "Silence is Golden". Both this last single and "Here Comes My Baby" also entered the Top Twenty of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on CBS' co-owned Epic Records.
All members shared vocals, though most of the songs featured either Hawkes or drummer Dave Munden as the lead singer. Guitarist Ricky West sang lead vocal on "Silence is Golden". Their regular hits were accompanied by frequent appearances on BBC's Top of the Pops TV programme. Their songs were popular with younger music fans and parents rather than rock music fans. Altogether, without Poole the group had nine UK Top Twenty hits.
"Me and My Life" was a hit in 1970, but the group did itself no favours while it was in the charts when an interview in the weekly paper Melody Maker quoted them as calling the fans who had bought their earlier singles "silly suckers". Their album Master which they released a few weeks later failed to sell well, and they had no British hits after "Hello Buddy" in 1971. Nevertheless they recorded several more singles throughout the decade, including "Blue Suede Tie", "Ride On", "It's OK (Say Ole If You Love Me)", and "Do I Love You", some of which received heavy airplay, particularly on Radio Luxembourg. They also released another three albums of original material, Shiner (1974), Don't Let The Music Die (1975), with some copies being credited to a group Space although the Tremeloes' pictures were on the sleeve, and All For One and One For All (1992).
The Tremeloes are still together today: West and Munden perform their old material in concert throughout Europe with musicians from other 1960s and 1970s bands. Hawkes is also still an active performer and leads his own band Class of '64. Brian Poole still tours with his band the Electrix. Alan Blakely died in 1996.
| Release date | Title Songwriter(s) |
Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[2] | U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] | RIAA Certification.[4] |
||
| - | Brian Poole and the Tremeloes releases | |||
| 1962 | "Twist Little Sister" (Keith Nylene / Tommy Harbrook) |
- | - | - |
| "Keep on Dancing" (Bruce Bowles / Jimmy Hart) |
- | - | - | |
| 1963 | "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley / Bert Russell) |
4 | - | - |
| "Do You Love Me" (Berry Gordy) |
1 | - | - | |
| "I Can Dance" (Martin Simpson) |
31 | - | - | |
| 1964 | "Candy Man" (Roy Orbison) |
6 | - | - |
| "Someone Someone" (Norman Petty / Howard Greines) |
2 | - | - | |
| "Twelve Steps to Love" (Terrence Lowly) |
32 | - | - | |
| 1965 | "The Three Bells" (Jean Villard Gilles / Marc Herrand / Bert Reisfeld) |
17 | - | - |
| "After a While" (Chris Stomsworth) |
- | - | - | |
| "I Want Candy" (Bert Berns / Bob Feldman / Gerald Goldstein / Richard Gottehrer) |
25 | - | - | |
| "Good Lovin'" (Rudy Clark / Arthur Resnick) |
- | - | - | |
| - | The Tremeloes releases | |||
| 1966 | "Blessed" (Paul Simon) |
- | - | - |
| "Good Day Sunshine" (John Lennon / Paul McCartney) |
- | - | - | |
| 1967 | "Here Comes My Baby" (Cat Stevens) |
4 | 13 | Gold |
| "Silence is Golden" (Bob Crewe / Bob Gaudio) |
1 | 11 | Gold | |
| "Even the Bad Times Are Good" (Peter Callander / Mitch Murray |
4 | 36 | Gold | |
| "Be Mine" (Alfredo Ferrari / Vito Pallavicini / Mike Smith / Duilio Sorrenti) |
39 | - | - | |
| 1968 | "Suddenly You Love Me" (Peter Callander / Mario Panzeri / Daniele Pace / Laurenzo Pilat) |
6 | 44 | - |
| "Helule Helule" (Peter Kabaka) |
14 | - | - | |
| "My Little Lady" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
6 | - | - | |
| "I Shall Be Released" (Bob Dylan) |
29 | - | - | |
| 1969 | "Hello World" (Tony Hazzard) |
14 | - | - |
| "(Call Me) Number One" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
2 | - | - | |
| 1970 | "By the Way" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
35 | - | - |
| "Me and My Life" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
4 | - | - | |
| 1971 | "Hello Buddy" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
32 | - | - |
| "Right Wheel, Left Hammer, Sham!" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
46 | - | - | |
| 1972 | "I Like It That Way" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| "Blue Suede Tie" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - | |
| 1973 | "Make or Break" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| "You Can't Touch Sue" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - | |
| "Ride On" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - | |
| 1974 | "Do I Love You?" (Cole Porter) |
- | - | - |
| "Say O.K. (Say You Love Me)" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - | |
| "Good Time Band" (Ted Summers) |
- | - | - | |
| 1975 | "Rocking Circus" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| 1976 | "Caminando" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| 1977 | "Gin Gang Goolie" (Traditional) |
- | - | - |
| 1978 | "Lonely Nights" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| 1979 | "Lights of Port Royal" (Alan Blakley / Len Hawkes) |
- | - | - |
| 1983 | "Words" (F. R. David) |
91 | - | - |
| 1987 | "Angel of the Morning" (Chip Taylor) |
- | - | - |
| 1989 | "Lean on Me Baby" (Alan Blakley) |
- | - | - |
Their music is still available on CD, and they quite often play concerts and are part of the pop-revival shows that constantly tour the UK. Their line-up changed several times from 1972 onwards, the first new entrants being Bob Benham and Aaron Woolley, effectively a merger with a Tremeloes-managed group called Jumbo. Munden remained the only constant member. Hawkes pursued a solo career for a while producing two albums for RCA Records in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1979 he returned to England and rejoined the Tremeloes where he remained until 1988. Chip left the Tremeloes to focus on managing his son, Chesney, who had a hit record entitled "The One and Only". By 1992 Hawkes was touring once again as a solo artist. Blakely produced records for other acts, including the Rubettes, Bilbo and Mungo Jerry. In 1983 the original quartet reformed and made the lower reaches of the UK Top 100 with their cover version of the Europop hit "Words", losing out to a reactivation of the original by F. R. David.
As a soloist, Poole failed to chart with subsequent records, but pursued a successful cabaret career. His daughters, Karen and Shelly, hit the charts in 1996 as Alisha's Attic. Blakely died from cancer in June 1996, leaving Munden and West to continue in concert with newer recruits Dave Fryer (bass) and Joe Gillingham (keyboards). Jeff Brown, former bass player and lead vocals for Andy Scott's Sweet, replaced Fryer in 2005. Dave Fryer retired to live in Germany after leaving the band,and continues to write music and play occasionally.
Brian Poole, Chip Hawkes and The Tremeloes toured the UK as part of their 40th anniversary reunion in September 2006.
In April 2004, at the request of The Animals who were about to do their 40th anniversary tour, Hawkes was asked to form a band to tour with The Animals. This he did, bringing together a supergroup including Mick Avory (ex-The Kinks), Eric Haydock (ex-The Hollies), who teamed up to perform as The Class of '64, also featuring guitarists, Telecaster Ted Tomlin and Graham Pollock. The band toured around the world, recorded an album of past band hits, and a new single called "She's Not My Child".
In 2007 Haydock, Tomlin, Pollock and Avory left to form a new band called Legends of the Sixties before changing their name to The Hitmen.