The Four Pennies
Encyclopedia
The Four Pennies were an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, 1960s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 group
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

, most notable for their 1964 UK chart topping song, "Juliet". The group's name came after a meeting above the Blackburn music shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...

 owned by Mary Reidy, the shop being situated on 'Penny Street' where it is still located today as "Reidy's Home of Music". The name was chosen as a more commercial alternative to 'The Lionel Morton Four'. The shop is still owned by the Reidy family.

Career

The Four Pennies were the most important UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 group not to chart in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 during the 1960s British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...

. In their homeland, the group was famous for having a Number one hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1964 with "Juliet". It was written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 by Fritz Fryer, Mike Wilsh and Lionel Morton. The ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 was originally intended to be released as a b-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 (b/w "Tell Me Girl").

"Juliet" was the only 1964 Number one by a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 group not to chart in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 division of Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

 issued only two of the Four Pennies' singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 stateside
Stateside
Stateside may refer to:* stateside, a slang term for the United States, usually used concerning an American currently outside the country, particularly in a military context* Stateside Records, the British record label...

. Both were major Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an hits, "Juliet" and "Until It's Time for You to Go
Until It's Time for You to Go
"Until It's Time for You to Go" is a song from the 1965 album Many a Mile by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. It was never released by her as a single, but was a UK Top 20 hit for British group The Four Pennies in 1965, and for Elvis Presley in 1972, and a US Hot 100...

". Neither saw any significant chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 presence or airplay in the U.S.

Following the chart-topping success of "Juliet", the Four Pennies racked up subsequent 1964 UK hits with their original "I Found Out The Hard Way" and a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....

's, "Black Girl". In 1965, they hit with "Until It's Time for You to Go", written by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC is a Canadian Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire includes...

, backed with "'Til Another Day". The A-side was recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 in 1972. This followed the failure of their prior single, "The Way Of Love" / "A Place Where No-One Goes". ("The Way Of Love" found some success in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 in 1966). From then on, their original material remain on the b-sides of their singles.

1966 saw one last UK chart entry for the Four Pennies, with a cover version of Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

's, "Trouble Is My Middle Name". This was followed by a cover of the UK songwriter Charles Bell's "Keep The Freeway Open", but the release did not succeed to reach the chart. The Four Pennies folded in 1967, after their last single release, written by the ex-Springfields
The Springfields
The Springfields were a British pop-folk vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland and included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, record producer Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, later a noted Sufi writer, who was latterly replaced by Mike Hurst, who...

 member Tom Springfield
Tom Springfield
Tom Springfield is the brother of Dusty Springfield and an important figure in the 1960s folk and pop music scene...

 - "No More Sad Songs For Me" - also failed to chart.

Other activities

While on a sabbatical from the group, Fritz Fryer formed the folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

-rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 trio
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

, Fritz, Mike and Mo, in collaboration with songwriter Mike Deighan and vocalist Maureen "Mo" Evans
Maureen Evans
Maureen Evans is a Welsh pop singer who achieved fame briefly in the 1960s.-Career:Evans career began as a singer with Waldini's Gypsy Band in the mid 1950s, mainly doing summer seasons at UK holiday resorts such as Llandudno.She released her first singles in 1958 on the Embassy Records label....

. Deighan had co-written material for the Four Pennies, including three tracks
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 on their first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Two Sides of Four Pennies. Evans was an established pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 star
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

, having had a Top 5 hit with her 1962 single "Like I Do". Fritz, Mike and Mo recorded two unsuccessful singles for Philips, "Somebody Stole the Sun" c/w "Let Me Hear Your Voice" and "What Colour Is A Man" (a cover version of a U.S. release by Bobby Vinton, who also provided the Pennies' "Trouble Is My Middle Name") c/w "So Now You're Gone". After the failure of Fritz, Mike and Mo, Fryer returned to the Four Pennies. After the group's dissolution, Fryer worked as record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 for Motörhead among others.

Lionel Morton
Lionel Morton
Lionel Morton is a former musician and television presenter.In the early 1960s Morton was the lead vocalist / rhythm guitarist of the band, The Four Pennies. They are best known for their biggest hit single, "Juliet" which reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in May 1964...

 recorded two solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 singles for Philips in the wake of the Pennies' dissolution. He also recorded a version of "Waterloo Road," a song written by ex-Penny Mike Wilsh and Mike Deighan, for RCA Victor. "Waterloo Road" was originally recorded by the pop-psychedlic band Jason Crest, who were discovered by members of the Four Pennies.
Morton was, at one time, married to the actress, Julia Foster
Julia Foster
Julia Foster is a British actress.Foster's credits include the films The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Alfie with Michael Caine, Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, and Percy with Hywel Bennett...

. Alan Buck had drummed for both Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...

's Bruvvers, and Johnny Kidd's Pirates, prior to joining The Four Pennies.

The Four Pennies appeared in two film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s. British Big Beat (1965) had the group miming to their #1 hit, "Juliet", whilst Pop Gear
Pop Gear
Pop Gear is a British music review film, directed by Frederic Goode and released in 1965. It contains live concert footage of The Beatles, and lip-synched videos of some of the British Invasion bands, including The Animals, Herman's Hermits, The Nashville Teens, Peter and Gordon, Matt Monro, Billy J...

 (also 1965) contained performances of both "Juliet" and "Black Girl".

Band members

  • Lionel Morton
    Lionel Morton
    Lionel Morton is a former musician and television presenter.In the early 1960s Morton was the lead vocalist / rhythm guitarist of the band, The Four Pennies. They are best known for their biggest hit single, "Juliet" which reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in May 1964...

    - vocalist / rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    ist - born Lionel Walmsley, 14 August 1941, Blackburn, Lancashire
    Lancashire
    Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

    , England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

  • Fritz Fryer - lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    ist - born David Roderick Carney Fryer, 6 December 1944, Oldham
    Oldham
    Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

    , Lancashire — died 2 September 2007, Lisbon
    Lisbon
    Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

    , Portugal
    Portugal
    Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

    , from pancreatic cancer
    Pancreatic cancer
    Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...

    .
  • Alan Buck - drummer
    Drummer
    A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

     - born 7 April 1943, Brierfield, Burnley
    Burnley
    Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

    , Lancashire — died March 1994 from a heart attack
    Myocardial infarction
    Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

    .
  • Mike Wilsh - bassist
    Bassist
    A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

     / keyboardist
    Keyboardist
    A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

     / backing vocalist
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

     - born Michael Wilshaw, 21 July 1945, Stoke-on-Trent
    Stoke-on-Trent
    Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

    , Staffordshire
    Staffordshire
    Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...



From April 1965 to early 1966, when Fryer left the band he was replaced by David Graham, a guitarist from Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. Graham left when Fryer returned to the line-up. Ray Monk also deputised on rare occasions.

UK

Year A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

Label and catalogue reference UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

1964 "Do You Want Me To" "Miss Bad Daddy"
Philips
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

 BF1296
#47
1964 "Juliet" "Tell Me Girl"
Philips BF1322
#1
1964 "I Found Out The Hard Way" "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"
Philips BF1349
#14
1964 "Black Girl" "You Went Away"
Philips BF1366
#20
1965 "The Way of Love" "A Place Where No One Goes"
Philips BF1398
-
1965 "Someone Stole The Sun" "Let Me Hear Your Voice"
Philips BF1427
-
1965 "Until It's Time for You to Go
Until It's Time for You to Go
"Until It's Time for You to Go" is a song from the 1965 album Many a Mile by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. It was never released by her as a single, but was a UK Top 20 hit for British group The Four Pennies in 1965, and for Elvis Presley in 1972, and a US Hot 100...

"
"'Til Another Day"
Philips BF1435
#19
1965 "What Colour Is A Man" "So Now You're Gone"
Philips BF1441
-
1966 "Trouble Is My Middle Name" "Way Out Love"
Philips BF1469
#32
1966 "Keep The Freeway Open" "Square Peg"
Philips BF1491
-
1966 "No More Sad Songs For Me" "Cats"
Philips BF1519
-

  • Note: "Someone Stole The Sun" and "What Colour Is A Man" were credited to Fritz, Mike & Mo.

U.S.

Year A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

Label and catalogue reference Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

1964 "Juliet" "Tell Me Girl"
Philips 40202
-
1965 "Until It's Time for You to Go
Until It's Time for You to Go
"Until It's Time for You to Go" is a song from the 1965 album Many a Mile by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. It was never released by her as a single, but was a UK Top 20 hit for British group The Four Pennies in 1965, and for Elvis Presley in 1972, and a US Hot 100...

"
"'Til Another Day"
Philips 40333
-

UK EPs

Year Title Label and catalogue reference
1964 The Four Pennies
Philips BBE 12561
1964 Spin With The Pennies
Philips BBE 12562
1965 The Swinging Side of The Four Pennies
Philips BBE 12570
1965 The Smooth Side of The Four Pennies
Philips BBE 12571

UK Albums

Year Title Label and catalogue reference UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

1964 Two Sides of Four Pennies
Philips BL 7642
#13
1966 Mixed Bag
Philips BL 7734
-

See also


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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