Mersey Beat - The Koobas

The Koobas at The Cavern

After Stuart Leathwood, from Rock Ferry, had firstly became guitarist with 'The Midnighters' along with Roy Morris, the two left in 1962 to form 'The Kubas' with Keith Ellis and Tony O'Riley of 'The Thunderbirds'. Their line-up was Stuart Leathwood as lead singer on rhythm guitar, Roy Morris on lead guitar and backing vocals, Keith Ellis on bass guitar and backing vocals and drummer John Morris (who was succeeded by Tony O'Reilly in 1964).
'The Kubas' appeared for a three week stint at Hamburg's Star Club in December 1963, which led to them having a large following based on an enhanced reputation and a sound comparable to the likes of 'The Searchers' and 'The Mojos'. The group were very popular in Germany and spent a great deal of time there, gigging and appearing on television shows like Bremen’s Beat! Beat! Beat! A year later Brian Epstein signed them up and got them a record deal with Pye Records. They were on 'The Beatles' last U.K. tour in 1965 with 'The Moody Blues' also on the bill. They had moved to London in 1965 where they signed with Tony Stratton-Smith, who changed their name to 'The Koobas'.

In 1965 they had a further chance of publicity through an appearance in the movie 'Ferry Cross the Mersey', starring 'Gerry & the Pacemakers', with them playing one of the groups that loses a battle-of-the-bands contest, but 'The Koobas' footage ended up being dropped from the final cut of the film.

L-R  Leatherwood, O'Reilly, Morris and Ellis

Their first single was 'I Love Her' c/w 'Magic Potion', which did not make the charts, nor did their follow up record, despite them opening for 'The Beatles' on their last British tour. On the 5th of December 1965, during 'The Beatles' last-ever appearance at the Empire, Liverpool, Paul McCartney sat in on drums with 'The Koobas'.
In the summer of 1965 they played as the resident group in the Rock Ballroom at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Ayr, Scotland.
Following the dates with 'The Beatles', and having now signed up with Beryl Marsden's manager Tony Stratton-Smith, the group did club tours of England and received a lot of positive press when playing in some of the best London clubs.

The Koobas with Beryl Marsden

 Further singles in 1965 and 1966 failed to catch on with the public so in 1966, they switched from Pye to EMI-Columbia and continued to get good, highly visible gigs, including a January 1967 appearance with 'The Who' at the Saville Theatre, London, which was owned by Brian Epstein. There was also a tour of Switzerland with Jimi Hendrix.

 'The Koobas' never made it into the official sales chart but their cover of the Gracie Fields hit 'Sally' climbed as high as number 21 on pirate station Radio London's Fab 40 in January 1967. Later that spring they recorded their own composition, 'Somewhere In The Night', which reached number 3 in the Radio London Fab 40.
By the end of 1968, 'The Koobas' had agreed among themselves to go their separate ways.
Ironically, the group's split coincided almost perfectly with Stratton-Smith's final effort on their behalf. Despite the failure of a succession of singles, EMI-Columbia agreed to let the band cut a LP in late 1968. The group lasted just long enough to finish the album, 'Koobas', a mix of topical songwriting, psychedelia, R&B, and nostalgia that might've found an audience if only there had been a 'Koobas' still together to tour behind it and promote it in early 1969. Instead, by 1970 the album was already in the cut-out bins. Keith Ellis joined 'Van Der Graaf Generator' and then 'Juicy Lucy' (with whom he played on the major U.K. hit 'Who Do You Love'), and later moved to Los Angeles. Stuart Leathwood became part of the duo Gary & Stu, with Gary Holton, and was later a member of the group 'March Hare' before writing songs with Gary Sulsh. Shakin' Stevens recalls, " I went on to record eight of their songs in total, including 'I Might', which was a Top 20 hit in the U.K. Stuart was not only a talented writer, but also a very good singer and guitar player." Having been a former pupil at Birkenhead Art College, Stuart was Bill Harry's 'Mersey Beat's main cartoonist, supplying lots of cartoons and illustrations to the publication and was writing a book for children before he sadly passed away on the 31st of January 2004.

See also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/01/mersey-beat-derry-seniors.html