Early days The Iveys formed in 1961 in
Swansea, Wales from the Panthers, whose line-up consisted of
Pete Ham (lead guitar), Ronald "Ron" Griffiths (bass guitar), David "Dai" Jenkins (rhythm guitar), and Roy Anderson (drums). After playing under various names, including the Black Velvets and the Wild Ones, by 1964 they had settled on the Iveys, after a street in Swansea called Ivey Place. In March 1965, drummer
Mike Gibbins joined the Iveys. The group secured concerts around the Swansea area, opening for prominent British bands such as
the Spencer Davis Group,
the Who,
the Moody Blues, and
the Yardbirds. By June 1966, Daniel "Bill" Collins (the father of actor
Lewis Collins) had started to manage the group. In December 1966, the group moved into Collins's home at 7 Park Avenue,
Golders Green, London, sharing space with an act called
the Mojos. The house was terminally overcrowded, so the only place to find any privacy was in a room equipped with a two-track recording machine. The group performed a wide range of cover tunes on the London circuit, from
Motown,
blues, and
soul to
Top 40, psychedelia, and Beatles hits, which garnered interest from record labels.
Ray Davies of
the Kinks auditioned to produce them, recording three of their songs at a four-track demo studio in London's Old Kent Road on 15 January 1967: "Taxi" and "Sausage And Eggs", songs by Ham; and Griffiths's "I Believe in You Girl". On 8 December 1966, Collins and the group signed a five-year contract giving Collins a 20% share of net receipts, the same as the individual group members, but only after managerial expenses had been deducted. Collins said at the time, "Look, I can't promise you lads anything, except blood, sweat and tears." The group performed occasional concerts backing
David Garrick while performing as the Iveys across the
United Kingdom throughout the rest of the decade. In August 1967, Dai Jenkins was asked to leave the group, and was replaced by Liverpudlian guitarist Tom Evans, formerly of Them Calderstones (b. Thomas Evans Jr., 5 June 1947,
Liverpool, d. 19 November 1983). Jenkins's departure was remembered by Griffiths as being "politely asked if he would step down", as Jenkins seemed more interested in girls than the music.
Signing to Apple After receiving an invitation from Collins, Beatles roadie/assistant
Mal Evans and Apple Records A&R head
Peter Asher saw the Iveys perform at the
Marquee Club, London, on 25 January 1968. Evans subsequently pushed their demo tapes to every Beatle until he gained approval from all four to sign the group. The demos were accomplished using a mono "sound-on-sound" tape recorder: two individual tracks bouncing each overdub on top of the last. When Evans signed the Iveys to Apple on 23 July 1968, they became the first non-Beatle recording artists on the label. Each of the Iveys were also signed to
Apple Corps publishing contracts. The early Iveys sessions for Apple were produced by either
Tony Visconti or Evans. The group's first single, "
Maybe Tomorrow", produced by Visconti, was released worldwide on 15 November 1968. It reached the Top Ten in several European countries and Japan, but only #67 on the US
Billboard Hot 100, and failed to chart in the UK. The US manager of Apple Records,
Ken Mansfield, ordered 400,000 copies of the single—considered to be a bold move at the time in the music business—and pushed for automatic airplay and reviews from newspapers, which he secured. Nevertheless, Mansfield remembered the problems: "We had a great group. We had a great record. We were missing just one thing ... the ability to go out and pick up people, and convince them to put their money on the counter." A second Tom Evans composition, "Storm in a Teacup", was included on an Apple EP promoting
Wall's Ice Cream, along with songs by Apple artists such as
James Taylor,
Mary Hopkin, and
Jackie Lomax. The chart success of "Maybe Tomorrow" in Europe and Japan led to a follow-up single release in those markets in July 1969: Griffiths's "
Dear Angie", also produced by Visconti. An LP containing both singles and titled
Maybe Tomorrow was released only in Italy, Germany, and Japan. This limited release strategy was thought to be the work of Apple Corps president
Allen Klein: an Apple Corps press officer, Tony Bramwell, remembered: "[Klein was saying, 'We're not going to issue any more records until I sort out this [Apple Corps] mess. After the unexpectedly limited releases of "Dear Angie" and
Maybe Tomorrow, Griffiths complained about Apple's handling of the Iveys in an interview for the
Disc & Music Echo magazine, saying: "We do feel a bit neglected. We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but they keep sending them back, saying they're not good enough."
Paul McCartney read the interview and offered the song "Come and Get It" to the group, although he had written the song for the soundtrack of
The Magic Christian. Before the recording on Saturday, 2 August 1969, Griffiths remembered the whole group being so excited they couldn't sleep. Producing the track in under one hour, McCartney made sure that they copied his own demo note-for-note: "They were a young band ... they said, 'We want to do it a bit different, wanna get our own thing in'. I said '
No, this has gotta be
exactly like this [McCartney's demo], 'cos this is the hit. McCartney had been commissioned to contribute two other songs to the film's soundtrack. After "Come and Get It" was successfully recorded, he offered to produce two of the Iveys' original compositions to fulfill those commissions, for which he selected "Carry On Till Tomorrow" (commissioned as the main title theme for the film) and "Rock of All Ages" (commissioned as background music for a party scene). All three tracks appeared both in the movie and on its soundtrack album. McCartney then recruited
George Martin to provide the string arrangement for "
Carry On Till Tomorrow". As Griffiths fell ill midway through these sessions, Evans played bass on "
Rock of All Ages", "Midnight Sun", and "Crimson Ship".
Name change Pending the release of "Come and Get It", the band and Apple agreed that the band's name was too trite for the prevailing music scene, plus the Iveys were sometimes confused with
the Ivy League, so a name change was needed. Suggestions were put forward, including the Glass Onion, the Prix, the Cagneys, and Home. Apple Corps'
Neil Aspinall proposed "Badfinger", in reference to "Bad Finger Boogie", an early working title of
Lennon–McCartney's "
With a Little Help from My Friends", as
John Lennon had hurt his forefinger on a piano and was using only one finger. In December 1969, the band agreed on Badfinger. Harrison would later state that the band was named after Helga Fabdinger, a stripper the Beatles had known in Hamburg. ==1969–1972: Badfinger==