The Shadows

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The Shadows

Nick-named: the Shads, The Shadows are the most successful British

United Kingdom

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Nick-named: the Shads, The Shadows are the most successful British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
instrumental and vocal group from the 1950s to the 2000s with an aggregate total of at least 64 UK hit singles.

Primarily marketed throughout the world as an instrumental combo-unit, but in the USA and Canada they were marketed as a 'surf' group to compete with the Ventures and the Surfaris to name but a few. Their original line up was essentially modelled on the Buddy Holly and the Crickets' using 2 guitars, bass and drums requiring the then minimum of only 4 musicians. In more recent years until 1990 they added a 5th member on keyboards having once briefly experimented as a 6 member group during 1973-5.

The Shadows never encouraged any fan club in the UK during their early years with inevitable consequences thus fans had to source the Cliff Richard fan club. In more recent times unofficial fan clubs have been created to act as a data source and debating forum. In Australia, The Shadows circle of friends and in the UK, Shadsfax.

They permanently disbanded in 1990 but temporarily reformed in 2004-5 (Final tour) and again in 2009-10 (w/Cliff Richard). They disbanded in 1970 to form vocal trio Marvin Welch & Farrar but reformed in 1973 due to low-sales and inevitable attitude of British fans demanding Shadows numbers at MW&F gigs.

History

1950s

Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts....
, under the name The Drifters. The members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell

Ian Samwell

Ian Samwell was an English people musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard's debut hit record "Move It" and his work with the Rock music bands The Small Faces, John Mayall, America and Hummingbird ....
on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts....
) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It

Move It

"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the A-side and B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut Single on August 29 1958 and became his first hit record....
" which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". None of the original Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows.

Shortly after first manager Johnny Foster discovered them, the name was changed to Cliff Richard and The Shadows due to a name clash with the American group The Drifters
The Drifters

The Drifters are a long-lived American doo wop/R&B vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1962, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today....
. They signed for Jack Good's

Jack Good (producer)

Jack Good , is a icon Painting and former television producer and record producer....
Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor

Norrie Paramor

Norrie Paramor is best known as a record producer, but was also a composer, arrangement, and Conducting. Paramor was one of EMI's top producers in pop music and rock and roll through to the end of the 1960s....
of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho

Soho

Soho is an area in the centre of the West End of London of London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is an entertainment district which for much of the later part of the 20th century had a reputation for its sex shops as well as its night life and film industry....
's 2i's coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle

Skiffle

Skiffle is a type of folk music with jazz, blues and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, comb and paper, and so forth, as well as more conventional instruments such as Steel-string guitar and banjo....
) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan

Tony Sheridan

Tony Sheridan , is an England rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as an early collaborator of The Beatles, and one of two non-Beatles to receive label performance credit on a record with the group....
. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who was tall, good looking, played guitar well and had Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley, known professionally as Buddy Holly was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his The Day the Music Died, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and...
glasses.

Hank Marvin

Hank Marvin

Hank Brian Marvin is an England guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for singer Cliff Richard....
was playing in a skiffle band with Bruce Welch

Bruce Welch

Bruce Welch Order of the British Empire, is an England guitarist, songwriter, record producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows....
. The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch would also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris

Jet Harris

Jet Harris was the bassist of The Shadows until April 1962 and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with drummer Tony Meehan ....
. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan

Tony Meehan

Daniel Joseph Anthony 'Tony' Meehan was a founder member of the United Kingdom group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and The Shadows hit record and on early Shadows instrumentals ....
. The Drifters' professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.

The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959. ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"), The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge

Serious Charge (1959 film)

Serious Charge is a 1959 in film film now most notable for being Cliff Richard?s screen acting d?but in a very minor supporting role, playing a layabout teenage musician called Curley Thompson....
released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.

1960s

In 1960, the band released "Apache

Apache (instrumental)

"Apache" is an instrumental written by Jerry Lordan. It has been recorded by many artists, but the first released version was recorded by United Kingdom group The Shadows in June 1960 and released the following month....
", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan

Jerry Lordan

Jerry Lordan was born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, West London, was an English people songwriter, composer and singing....
, which topped the charts for 5 weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than Apache (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one (1 week). The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows" had seven hits.

In October 1961 Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Harris was replaced by Brian Locking

Brian Locking

Brian Locking was the bass guitarist with The Shadows between 1962-1963....
, also known as Licorice. Bennett and Licorice were friends from the 2I's and had all played together. This Shadows line-up produced seven hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted 18 months but held its own in the face of Merseybeat, headed by The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
. (The first original song ever recorded by the Beatles, somewhat ironically, was an instrumental homage to the Shadows entitled "Cry for a Shadow

Cry for a Shadow

"Cry for a Shadow" is an early The Beatles instrumental rock. It was recorded on June 22, 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backup band for a few tracks....
.")

In October 1963 Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill

John Rostill

John Rostill was a bass guitarist and composer, recruited by The Shadows to replace Brian Locking.He worked with several musician before joining The Shadows, including The Interns, The Flintstones and a stint and as part of British soul music legend Zoot Money's early backing band....
on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to take over. This final and longest-lasting line-up consolidated innovating as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced impressive albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had 10 hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt

The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt

The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt is an instrumental by the British guitar group, The Shadows. It went to number 5 in the UK. The character Flingel Bunt is an imiginary character invented by the actor Richard O'Sullivan, a friend of The Shadows....
", was also the first.

During the 1960s the group appeared with Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life
Wonderful Life (film)

Wonderful Life is a British film of 1964, made as a vehicle for pop star Cliff Richard and is the third in a series that included The Young Ones and Summer Holiday ....
, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson

Gerry Anderson

Gerry Anderson Member of the Order of the British Empire, born , is a United Kingdom producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
film Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are GO

Thunderbirds Are Go is a United Kingdom science fiction-adventure motion picture released in 1966. It was the first film based on Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson's popular Supermarionation television series Thunderbirds , and followed the first unmanned mission to Mars....
. They also appeared on stage in pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar and Republic of Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season....
. Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster....
with Arthur Askey

Arthur Askey

Arthur Bowden Askey CBE was a prominent England comedian....
as Widow Twankey

Widow Twankey

Widow Twankey is a female character in the pantomime Aladdin. The character is a pantomime dame, portrayed by a man; and is a comic foil to the principal boy, Aladdin – played by a female actor....
, Richard as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee. Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest movie, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill.

The line-up split in December 1968, after the 10th anniversary album Established 1958, a mixture of tracks with Richard, and instrumentals featuring just The Shadows. All were written by the group. Welch left. This was almost the end, although an album (Shades of Rock) and a tour of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
followed with Alan Hawkshaw

Alan Hawkshaw

Alan Hawkshaw is a composer and performer, particularly of themes for movies and television programmes. He is also the father of Dance music artist Kirsty Hawkshaw, who famously appeared on TV quiz Blockbusters before joining Opus III....
on keyboards; in Marvin's words, they did it 'for the Yen'. The tour was not artistically successful, and the live LP is not held in high regard, though it does feature a long version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers and choreography by George Balanchine. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart's 1936 Broadway theatre musical comedy On Your Toes....
" in which Marvin plays acoustic and electric guitar.

1970s

During the early 1970s, Marvin and Welch had a second career as vocal group Marvin Welch & Farrar with Australian John Farrar

John Farrar

John Farrar , born on 8 November 1946 in Melbourne Australia, is a Record producer, songwriter, singer and guitarist who is best known for his work with Olivia Newton-John with whom he wrote and produced many hit songs....
as third vocalist. Farrar provided a high voice and skill as an arranger. They recorded two acclaimed albums and several singles and, without Welch, a third album Marvin and Farrar, which Marvin described as "Frankenstein meets The Beach Boys". Live performances were hampered by audiences expecting the Shadows' greatest hits. Marvin said (interviewed in Guitar Greats by John Tobler), "In the Batley Variety Club we walked off stage to the sound of our own footsteps!"

The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Welch on rhythm guitar and Farrar on guitar and vocals. Following the death of John Rostill, the group booked session bassists for recordings and tours. Dave Richmond and Alan Tarney

Tarney-Spencer Band

Tarney-Spencer Band was an Australian Rock music band composed of Trevor Spencer and Alan Tarney in the late 1970s. The band recorded three albums, and is notable for the song "No Time to Lose" which received substantial air-play in the USA on Album-oriented rock radio stations, and charted twice on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart ....
, who had each provided bass for Marvin, Welch & Farrar, continued for the reformed Shadows. An album, Rocking With Curly Leads featured Marvin using vocoder

Vocoder

A vocoder, , is an analysis / synthesis system, mostly used for speech in which the input is passed through a multiband filter, each filter is passed through an envelope follower, the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated, and the decoder applies these control signals to corresponding filters in the synthesizer....
to modify his sound. Some tracks used Farrar as second lead guitarist, giving this album a very different sound from previous recordings.

The group were chosen by BBC Boss Bill Cotton

Bill Cotton

Sir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton Order of the British Empire , was a British television producer and corporate officer, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
to perform the Song for Europe

A Song for Europe

A Song for Europe can mean:*A Song for Europe, the former name of the British national pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Eurovision: Your Decision....
in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1975

The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the contest hosted by Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio and held in Stockholm, capital of Sweden....
. The Shadows recorded six options, seen each week on a weekly television show "It's Lulu", televised on BBC1 and hosted by former Eurovision winner Lulu

Lulu (singer)

Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, Order of British Empire, , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scotland singer-songwriter, actress, model and television personality, who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day....
. Unusually for the format, instead of presenting each song live in the studio on a weekly basis and then presenting all six songs consecutively in a 'special' edition on week seven, the group recorded all six performances separately in the TV studio, before the series itself began, with the pre-taped video then being cut into the weekly show. For the presentation of the songs on week seven and the announcement of the result on week eight, the pre-recorded performances were run again. Two of the songs ("No, No Nina" and "This House Runs On Sunshine") were co-penned by members of the group themselves. The public however voted for "Let Me Be The One" by Paul Curtis

Paul Curtis

Paul Curtis is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 185 games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, St....
to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm

Stockholm

is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....
. There, the group came second to Teach In's "Ding Dinge Dong" (later released on single as "Ding-A-Dong"). Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History that they were not a popular choice to represent the UK and the viewer's postal vote was the lowest recorded in the 'Song For Europe' history. But the contest re-established The Shadows. Other records followed.

The packaging of the group's greatest hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977 prompted the group to reform yet again for a tour featuring Francis Monkman

Francis Monkman

Francis Monkman is an England rock music, classical music and film score composer, and a founder member of the progressive rock band Curved Air....
from Sky

Sky (band)

Sky was a UK-based instrumental group that specialised in fusing a variety of musical styles including light rock, classical and jazz. The group's best known members were classical guitarist John Williams and bass player Herbie Flowers ....
on keyboards, leading to a number one album and a top ten hit single "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Francis left after that tour and the line-up settled as Marvin, Welch and Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass).

1980s

The group performed and recorded until 1990, with most of their 1980s albums performing well in the charts. With the exception of Guardian Angel, an album of new material, most of 1980s albums featured covers of pop songs, with little original material. The group moved in 1980 from EMI to Polydor with Change of Address. EMI would not agree to a tape leasing scheme, whereby the group would retain copyright of recordings, but the company would be licensed to publish them for individual albums. This resulted in the group re-recording much of its catalogue of EMI hits for Polydor . The recordings were made using analogue equipment, but digitally mastered, but with instruments, amplifiers, and arrangements close to the original. This has allowed the group to package and market their own compilation albums, featuring old hits as well as new. Other albums, such as Diamonds, feature no new material, being compiled from recent albums. The line-up remained until Jones had a car accident and Mark Griffiths of the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. He shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Marvin played solo again.

EMI released a compilation album in the early seventies called "Rarities" covering various recordings from 1962 to 1970, at least one of which, "Goodnight Dick" can be found nowhere else in the discography of the group, and, as far as can be ascertained, has never been played on the radio anywhere. (NUT 2 stereo/*mono OC 056-06 250).

2000s

Roger C. Field

Roger C. Field , is an inventor with over 100 patents, an industrial designer and a well known guitarist. He is best known as the inventor of the Foldaxe folding electric guitar featured in guitarist Chet Atkins' book "Me and My Guitars." He has also been written about in Playboy Magazine in ten countries and is in four different Who's...
, a guitarist friend of Marvin presented Welch and Harris in 2001 with his idea to reunite The Shadows, winning their support, Harris addressing Field's intention in a newspaper article (Otago Daily Times, New Zealand, June 2, 2001) and writing "Good luck, Roger" on Field's Fender. Field contacted Marvin with suggestions and guitar arrangements to motivate him to return to the band and is the instigator of the reunion. The group re-formed in 2004 (with Bennett mediating between Welch and Marvin) healing a rift of over 10 years - to mount a farewell tour, and they recorded a new track - "Life Story" (written by Jerry Lordan)- to accompany a new greatest hits package of the same name which featured 1980s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Hall and bass by Griffiths, was so successful that they extended the tour in 2005, this time of Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. The line-up was almost the same, but Warren Bennett, son of Brian, came in on keyboards instead of Hall. On 27 November 2008 a concert tour, with Cliff Richard, for 2009 was announced.. On 11 December 2008, Cliff Richard and the Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance

Royal Variety Performance

The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch....
.

Selected discography

From British Hit Singles & Albums, 17th Edition (Except Life Story)

Albums

1961 The Shadows
The Shadows (album)

The Shadows is a 1961 rock album by United Kingdom group The Shadows. It was the very first LP by a British group to reach #1 in the UK charts....
(UK #1)
1962 Out of The Shadows(UK #1)
1963 Greatest Hits (UK #2) [compilation]
1964 Dance With The Shadows (UK #2)
1965 The Sound of The Shadows(UK #4)
1965 More Hits! [compilation] (UK #??)
1966 Shadow Music (UK #5)
1967 Jigsaw (UK #8)
1967 From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John
1968 Established 1958 [with Cliff Richard]
1970 Shades of Rock (UK #30)
1973 Rockin' With Curly Leads (UK #45)
1975 Specs Appeal (UK #30)
1975 Live at the Paris Olympia
1977 Tasty
1977 20 Golden Greats (UK #1) [compilation]
1979 String of Hits (UK #1)
1980 Another String of Hot Hits (UK #16) [compilation]
1980 Change of Address (UK #17)
1981 Hits Right Up Your Street (UK #15)
1982 Life In The Jungle/Live at Abbey Road (UK #24)
1983 XXV (UK #34)
1984 Guardian Angel (UK #98)
1986 Moonlight Shadows (UK #6)
1987 Simply Shadows (UK #7)
1989 Steppin' To The Shadows (UK #8)
1989 At Their Very Best (UK #12)
1990 Reflection (UK #5)
1993 Shadows In The Night - 16 Classic Tracks (UK #22) [compilation]
1994 The Best of Hank Marvin and The Shadows (UK #19) [compilation]
1997 The Shadows play Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (UK #41)
1997 The Very Best of The Shadows - The First 40 Years (UK #56) [compilation]
1998 50 Golden Greats (UK #35) [compilation]
2004 Life Story (UK #7) [compilation]
2004 The Final Tour (UK #??)
2005 Platinum (UK #30) [compilation]

Singles

1959 "Feelin' Fine" (as The Drifters) Did Not Chart
1959 "Jet Black" (as The Drifters) Did Not Chart
1959 "Saturday Dance" Did Not Chart
1960 "Apache
Apache (instrumental)

"Apache" is an instrumental written by Jerry Lordan. It has been recorded by many artists, but the first released version was recorded by United Kingdom group The Shadows in June 1960 and released the following month....
" (#1)
1960 "Man of Mystery" (#5)
1961 "F.B.I." (#6)
1961 "The Frightened City" (#3)
1961 "Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki (song)

Kon-Tiki is an instrumental-only song by The Shadows. It became a #1 single in the United Kingdom....
" (#1)
1961 "The Savage" (#9)
1962 "Wonderful Land
Wonderful Land

"Wonderful Land" is UK #1 single by The Shadows. The song was released on the Atlantic Records label in the U.S., but did not reach the Billboard Top 100....
" (#1)
1962 "Guitar Tango" (#4)
1962 "Dance On!" (#1)
1963 "Foot Tapper
Foot Tapper

Foot Tapper is an instrumental by the British guitar group, The Shadows. It went to number 1 in the UK, and was the Shadows' last UK #1 hit single ....
" (#1)
1963 "Atlantis" (#2)
1963 "Shindig" (#6)
1963 "Geronimo" (#10)
1964 "Theme for Young Lovers" (#12)
1964 "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" (#5)
1964 "Rhythm and Greens" (#22)
1964 "Genie With the Light Brown Lamp" (#17)
1965 "Mary Anne" (#17)
1965 "Stingray" (#19)
1965 "Don't Make My Baby Blue" (#9)
1965 "The War Lord" (#18)
1966 "I Met a Girl" (#22)
1966 "A Place in the Sun" (#24)
1966 "The Dreams I Dream" (#12, official Melody Maker chart position)
1967 "Maroc 7"(#24)
1967 "Tomorrow's Cancelled" - Columbia DB8264
1975 "Let Me Be the One (#12)
1978 "Love Deluxe" Did Not Chart - EMI2838
1978 "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (#5)
1979 "Theme From The Deer Hunter" (#5)
1980 "Riders In the Sky" (#10)
1980 "Equinoxe Part V"(#50)
1981 "The Third Man" (#43)
1986 : Theme From 'Eastenders'/'Howard's Way' (#86)
1989 : Shadowmix (#81)

Fender Guitars UK launch/etc

This group was launched in 1959 at a time when imported goods into the UK were prohibited by law as a consequence of the UK govt repaying the USA govt for the UK's WW2 war debt. Cliff Richard bought (costing 600 pounds) Hank Marvin a red (Fleminco pink) Fender Stratocaster guitar to improve the sound of his then backing group. As a consequence of the success of the Apache single 1000s of instrumental groups suddenly sprang up over night in the UK (and Europe) during 1960-61. Sales of all guitars (both new and old) throughout the UK soared leading on to a surge of quality guitar sales later on in the UK. Once all 3 guitarists in the Shadows acquired 3 Fender guitars in 1960 sales of all Fender guitars in the UK took off exponentially. It is generally reckoned that the Fender guitar range of guitars is the most popular and versatile amongst all rock music fans throughout the world. Since then all major guitarists in the UK have bought a Fender stratocaster guitar.

Tribute Bands

Whereas each well known group has only one tribute band eg the Bootleg Beatles, today, perhaps their greatest legacy is that The Shadows can lay claim to have more tribute bands than any other band eg The Rapiers, The Runaways

The Runaways

The Runaways were a teenage, American all women band rock band that performed in the 1970s. The band is best known for the songs "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels " and "Born to Be Bad"....
, etc. Also, there are several companies around the world that still make echo and reverb units in both analogue and digital domains to enable budding guitarists try their hand at the Hank Marvin/Shadows' style of guitar playing. By contrast, the number of Ventures tribute bands esp Japan is currently unknown.

Other Careers Responsible for

Aside from assisting Cliff Richard's hugely successful career as his live backing group from 1958-1968 and as major song writers; they (Bruce Welch

Bruce Welch

Bruce Welch Order of the British Empire, is an England guitarist, songwriter, record producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows....
and John Farrar

John Farrar

Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John Order of Australia, Order of the British Empire is an England, Australian singer and actor. She is an avid activist for both environmentalism issues and breast cancer awareness....
whose emerging career in 1971-4 required John Farrar

John Farrar

John Farrar , born on 8 November 1946 in Melbourne Australia, is a Record producer, songwriter, singer and guitarist who is best known for his work with Olivia Newton-John with whom he wrote and produced many hit songs....
to quit the band in 1975, six years later, having joined Marvin Welch and Farrar in 1970. Olivia Newton-John has sold in excess of 100m records worldwide.

The Shadows vs The Ventures

Obvious comparisons between the Shadows and the Ventures

The Ventures

The Ventures are an United States instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, Washington. The band, formed by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, two masonry workers, has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide, having sold over 100 million records, and are to date the best-selling instrumental band of all time....
are awkward/complicated by unique circumstance as the Shadows' worldwide record sales have not (so far) been calculated (at all) by EMI

EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
records and Polydor records ie Universal Music (combined) and are also complicated by the fact that The Shadows spent their first 10 years assisting Cliff Richard's successful career helping him to amass sales figs of 260,000,000 around the world. The Shadows' career mostly concentrated on singles releases (but reverted to albums during the 1970/80s) whereas the Ventures focused on albums throughout their career. According to Tony Meehan

Tony Meehan

Daniel Joseph Anthony 'Tony' Meehan was a founder member of the United Kingdom group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and The Shadows hit record and on early Shadows instrumentals ....
(deceased), insiders working within the UK music industry have deliberately conspired against the Shadows in the UK before the Beatles and Rolling Stones took over from the Shadows in 1963 as the UK's premier band.

Youtube

On Youtube website the Shadows 'Apache' single has had in excess of over 1,000,000 hits to be compared against the Ventures 'Walk don't run' single.

Influences

Many major British guitarists have identified The Shadows as a key influence in their choice of career in music eg Brian May(Queen); Eric Clapton; Lemmy Kilmister(Motorhead); etc. George Harrison(Beatles) wrote the Beatles instrumental "Cry for a Shadow" - released on Polydor in 1962.

This does not include collaborations with Cliff Richard, solo recordings or those made under the name "Marvin, Welch & Farrar"

External links

* Cliff Richard and The Shadows discography
with photo of Hank Marvin and Roger C. Field (see article above)

The Shadows

History

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

2000s

Selected discography

Albums

Singles

Fender Guitars UK launch/etc

Tribute Bands

Other Careers Responsible for

The Shadows vs The Ventures

Youtube

Influences

See also

External links