 |
| The Seftons |
Their first line-up was Dave Stephenson on keyboards, Yanni Tsamplakos on lead guitar, Dave Edwards on bass guitar and Mike Baron on drums.
One of the group's most important appearances was a gig at the Blue Angel where they were introduced to Allan Williams, the first manager of 'The Beatles', who really liked their music and it is believed that it was Williams who arranged for 'The Seftons' to gig at the Cavern. Here he introduced 'The Seftons' as 'Merseyside's new number one band', with these words acting as a headline for a magazine a little later. Due to this publicity, CBS records became aware of the group and signed them to a recording contract. Yanni remembers, "It was just fantastic, there was so much going one all the time, I had a job as an apprentice electrician, but at the same time we were playing almost every night." The group travelled down to London where they recorded 'I Can See
Through You' c/w 'Here Today' for a January 1967 release. The single
sold quite well but failed to enter the charts but they proudly topped the bill when the Cavern re-opened in 1967.
The group continued to be very busy on the northern club scene but decided to become professional and move down to London. However Dave Edwards decided to quit in order to carry on at college and was replaced by Norman Bellis. He had been a member of 'Them Calderstones', a popular group at St. Luke's Hall and Litherland Town Hall, alongside their lead guitarist and lead vocalist Tommy Evans who was to eventually join 'The Iveys' in 1967 (later to become 'Badfinger'). They moved down to London around the July of 1968 where they played at a pub called the Bag O’Nails doing a lot of Motown type stuff. Yanni says, "And it was the place to be, even the Beatles used to turn up there and the last we played there, Tom Jones was there too." In London they were signed by the head of Apple Publishing, Mike Berry. Mike had seen 'The Seftons' at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool and signed them to Apple Publishing, became their manager, and then changed their name to 'The Perishers'.
As 'The Perishers' they also did work for Fontana records on albums or, LP’s as they were called back then. These albums gave no credit to the actual artist performing on them, nevertheless they were marketed and called 'Sounds Like Hits' Volume 1, 2, 3 and so on. Dave Stephenson's cover of Joe Cocker's version of 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' was acknowledged by Joe Cocker and Paul McCartney as stunning. Also Side 2 of volume 1 has an amazing version of Scott Walker's song 'Joanna' also by Dave.
The group continued to be very busy on the northern club scene but decided to become professional and move down to London. However Dave Edwards decided to quit in order to carry on at college and was replaced by Norman Bellis. He had been a member of 'Them Calderstones', a popular group at St. Luke's Hall and Litherland Town Hall, alongside their lead guitarist and lead vocalist Tommy Evans who was to eventually join 'The Iveys' in 1967 (later to become 'Badfinger'). They moved down to London around the July of 1968 where they played at a pub called the Bag O’Nails doing a lot of Motown type stuff. Yanni says, "And it was the place to be, even the Beatles used to turn up there and the last we played there, Tom Jones was there too." In London they were signed by the head of Apple Publishing, Mike Berry. Mike had seen 'The Seftons' at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool and signed them to Apple Publishing, became their manager, and then changed their name to 'The Perishers'.
As 'The Perishers' they also did work for Fontana records on albums or, LP’s as they were called back then. These albums gave no credit to the actual artist performing on them, nevertheless they were marketed and called 'Sounds Like Hits' Volume 1, 2, 3 and so on. Dave Stephenson's cover of Joe Cocker's version of 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' was acknowledged by Joe Cocker and Paul McCartney as stunning. Also Side 2 of volume 1 has an amazing version of Scott Walker's song 'Joanna' also by Dave.
In July 1969, Norman Bellis left for the US, where he worked for nine months, playing as session bassist for artists such as 'Jr. Walker And The All Stars', 'The Four Tops', 'The Temptations' and 'The Walker Brothers'. Peter Combes became the bassist at this time. In 1969, 'The Perishers' also released a cover of Netherlands group 'The Shocking Blue's, 'Venus' under the name of 'Yankee Horse' with 'Who Needs Love' composed by vocalist Dave Stephenson on the flip-side.
The Perishers
Upon returning to England, Norman Bellis joined 'Rusty Harness', before meeting up with his former mates from the disbanded group 'The Perishers' in 1970, with the re-formed group becoming 'Worth'
Worth signed to CBS for the release of five singles including a cover of the Andy Kim single, 'Shoot 'Em Up Baby' and the Norman Bellis composition 'Hey Mr. Lonely, a hit in several European countries. In 1975, Worth broke up, but Yanny Tsamplakos, Norman Bellis and Mike Baron continued as hard rock band 'Tiger' with new member Steve Russell, recording one single, 'I Am An Animal', for United Artists in 1975 before splitting up.
Yanny Tsamplakos currently plays in the Merseybeat Legends, Norman Ellis heads up 'The Horse Band', based in Cornwall, Mike Baron gigs with 'Gertcha', a Chas And Dave tribute band while Dave Stephenson no longer plays with a band but continues to write songs.
No comments:
Post a Comment