, lead guitarist of the Shadows The Shadows formed as a
backing band for Cliff Richard under the name
The Drifters. The original members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (1941),
Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became
Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. They had no bass player. Samwell wrote their debut single, "
Move It", often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and the Shadows" and not the Drifters. At the insistence of the group's producer and manager
Norrie Paramor, in order to ensure a strong sound, two session players, guitarist Ernie Shear and bassist Frank Clark, played on the "Move It/Schoolboy Crush" single. Initially Paramor wanted to record using only studio musicians, but after persuasion he allowed Smart and Samwell to play as well. In his memoirs, Welch regrets that he and Marvin were not able to be at the start of making history with "Move It". The Drifters signed for
Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Paramor of
EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went to
Soho's
2i's coffee bar, known for musical talent performing there, particularly in
skiffle, in search of guitarist
Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by Hank Marvin, who played guitar well and wore
Buddy Holly-style glasses. , rhythm guitarist of the Shadows In early 1959, the owner of the United States vocal group
The Drifters threatened legal action over naming rights after the release and immediate withdrawal of "Feelin Fine" in the US. The second single, "Jet Black", was released in the States under the name of
The Four Jets to avoid further legal aggravation, but a new band name was urgently needed. The name "The Shadows" was thought up by bass guitarist
Jet Harris (unaware of
Bobby Vee's backing group) while he and Marvin were at the Six Bells pub in
Ruislip in July 1959. From
The Story of the Shadows: With a combination of the American situation, Cliff Richard's first number 1 hit, the runaway success "Living Doll" had by now sold over a million copies in Britain alone and after a bit of nudging from Norrie Paramor, they set about finding a permanent name, which arrived out of the blue one summer's day in July 1959 (maybe the 19th). When Hank Marvin and Jet Harris took off on their scooters up to the Six Bells pub at Ruislip, Jet hit upon a name straight away. 'What about the Shadows?' The lad was a genius! So we became the Shadows for the first time on Cliff's sixth single "
Travellin' Light".
1960s The Shadows were also becoming a popular band in their own right and in 1960, "
Apache", an instrumental by
Jerry Lordan, topped the UK charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, including the number ones "
Kon Tiki" and "
Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing and even for eight weeks at number 1. The Shadows played on further hits as Richard's band. In October 1961, drummer
Tony Meehan left to be a music producer at
Decca Records. He was replaced by
Brian Bennett. In April 1962, Jet Harris was replaced by
Brian "Licorice" Locking. Bennett and Locking were friends from the 2I's who had been in
Marty Wilde's backing group, the Wildcats, who recorded instrumentals as the Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up released seven hit singles, two of which, "
Dance On!" and "
Foot Tapper", topped the charts. In October 1963, Locking left to spend more time as a
Jehovah's Witness. Meanwhile, Harris and Meehan teamed up at Decca as an eponymous duo to record another Lordan instrumental, "
Diamonds". It rose to UK no. 1 in January 1963. Two further hits, "
Scarlett O'Hara" (also by Lordan) and "Applejack", followed in the same year. On the Lordan tunes, Harris played lead using a six-stringed
Fender Bass VI. During 1963, the two ex-Shadows were competing in the charts with their former bandmates. Jet Harris acquired a Burns guitar, a Barracuda bass. The Shadows, meanwhile, had issued a run of 13 consecutive top 10 UK hits from 1960 through 1963. The Shadows had met
John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, and so in autumn 1963 they invited him to join as Locking's replacement. This final and longest-lasting line-up was the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up still had ten hits, the first and most successful of which was "
The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt". Beginning in 1965, the group also started issuing vocal numbers as singles, usually alternating a vocal A-side with an instrumental A-side. The vocal songs "Mary Anne", "Don't Make My Baby Blue", and "I Met A Girl" all made the UK top 30, and "The Dreams I Dream" peaked at number 42. Instrumental numbers also continued to chart, including "Genie with the Light Brown Lamp", "Stingray", "The War Lord", "A Place in the Sun" and "Maroc 7", all top 30 hits.
Films with Cliff Richard During the 1960s, the group appeared with Cliff Richard in the films
The Young Ones,
Summer Holiday,
Wonderful Life, and
Finders Keepers. They also appeared as marionettes in the
Gerry Anderson film
Thunderbirds Are GO, and starred in a short B-film called ''Rhythm 'n Greens'' which became the basis of a music book and an EP.
Stage pantomimes They appeared in
pantomime:
Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp in 1964 at the
London Palladium with
Arthur Askey as
Widow Twankey, 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. Their film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest film, 1961's
The Young Ones, but, by
Finders Keepers in 1966, almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill. In 1967, the Shadows used
Olivia Newton-John on the track "
The Day I Met Marie" on their album
From Hank Bruce Brian and John. In October 1968, Marvin and Welch decided to disband the group following a concert at the
London Palladium. In the event, only Welch left, but the Shadows had disbanded by the end of the year.
1970s The group began 1970 by appearing on the
BBC's review of the '60s music scene,
Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Apache" and backing Richard on "
Bachelor Boy", broadcast across Europe and
BBC1, on 31 December 1969. This was followed by Marvin and a reconstituted Shadows becoming resident guests on Richard's debut TV series for the BBC, ''It's Cliff Richard!'' In July 1970, Australian musician
John Farrar moved to Britain and was invited to become a member of
Marvin, Welch & Farrar. By that time,
Olivia Newton-John and Welch had become engaged, and Farrar and Welch became two of her songwriters and producers. While The Shadows were famous for their instrumental work, Marvin, Welch & Farrar were a trio, vocal harmony group. They were favourably compared to USA folk close harmony group
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (a.k.a. CSNY) and
The Hollies. Their second album,
Second Opinion (1971), produced by Peter Vince, was voted one of the best ever sounding albums recorded at Abbey Road studios by EMI Records' sound engineers in a private poll during the 1970s. The band lasted until 1973. In 1975, a reconstituted Shadows were chosen by
BBC Head of Light Entertainment
Bill Cotton to perform the
Song for Europe in the 1975
Eurovision Song Contest. The Shadows recorded six songs, seen each week on a weekly television show ''
It's Lulu'', on
BBC1 and hosted by
Lulu, a former Eurovision winner. The group taped all six performances in the TV studio before the series itself began, with the video 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-written by members of the group. The public voted for "
Let Me Be the One", composed by
Paul Curtis, to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm, Sweden in 1975. There, the group came second to the Dutch entry,
Teach-In's "
Ding-A-Dong". Having long stepped out of Richard's shadow, this was a rare excursion into vocals for a band known for instrumentals (although they had cut vocal tracks on most albums, plus some singles 'B' sides, and had four charting vocal singles in the '60s). Welch sang lead and let the world know when, forgetting a couple of words, he turned to colleagues and said "I knew it" in range of his microphone. 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 viewers' postal vote was the lowest in 'Song For Europe' history. EMI however released a compilation album in 1976, spanning 1962 to 1970:
Rarities with sleeve notes by John Friesen. The first half of the album was from Marvin's solo career, and the second was by the Shadows. Following the rare vocal single "It'll Be Me, Babe", written and sung by Marvin & Farrar, John Farrar amicably left the band in 1976, moving to the US to become the music producer for
Olivia Newton-John. (Among her hits, Farrar wrote "
You're the One That I Want" from the film
Grease which was covered by the Shadows in 1979, and "
Suddenly", from the film
Xanadu, which was a popular duet between Newton-John and Cliff Richard). The packaging of hits in
Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977, which led to a number one album, prompted the group to re-form once more for a 'Twenty Golden Dates' tour around the UK, featuring
Francis Monkman (formerly of
Curved Air and soon to be in
Sky) on keyboards and Alan Jones on bass guitar. Monkman 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). It was this line-up that reunited with Cliff Richard for two concerts at the
London Palladium in March 1978. Highlights of the concert, including four solo Shadows tracks, were released the following year on the top ten charting album
Thank You Very Much. On the back of this, The Shadows recorded an instrumental version of "
Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from the West End production "
Evita", released as a single at the tail end of 1978. The record eventually reached number 5 in the singles chart thereby giving the group their first top ten single since the 1960s. In 1979, their version of "
Cavatina" also became a top ten hit, and they recorded ten more tracks with bassist Jones and keyboardists Dave Lawson and Alan Hawkshaw for the album
String of Hits on EMI which topped the British album charts. The success of this led to EMI issuing a follow-up album with 13 old tracks (including a Marvin solo track) and one unreleased track from the 'String of Hits' sessions. These tracks came from albums released earlier in the group's career of
cover versions of hit singles; this was eventually released as
Another String of Hot Hits in 1980.
1980s After 20 successful years together, the Shadows parted ways with their record company EMI and the group signed a 10-year contract to
Polydor Records. The first album released under the Polydor banner was the aptly titled
Change of Address in September 1980. With the influential arrival of keyboardist Cliff Hall, the musical style shifted from the traditional sound, becoming more electronic-based, with prominent keyboards and synthesizers burying Welch's contributions. For the group's 25th anniversary in 1983, the Shadows released a double album on the Tellydisc label, titled
Shadows Silver Album, which contained previously released recent material, along with new, recently recorded tracks. In July 1984, the Shadows reunited with Cliff Richard for a series of celebratory concerts at
Wembley Arena and
Birmingham NEC. In 1986, the Shadows had a top ten hit on the LP chart with
Moonlight Shadows, a cover album in the same vein as early Polydor releases with singles "
Moonlight Shadow" and
Bruce Springsteen's, "
Dancing in the Dark" both failing to make a dent in the singles chart. Due to Alan Jones's involvement with the
Dave Clark's musical
Time, the bassist was not available to contribute to the album, and Paul Westwood temporarily sat in.
Moonlight Shadows was released on LP and CD simultaneously as the group's third CD release. This top ten album consisted entirely of cover songs. The album spent 16 weeks on chart peaking at number 6. In June 1989, the Shadows once more reunited with Cliff to celebrate 30 years in show business, where the singer filled London's
Wembley Stadium for two nights, with a spectacular titled "
The Event", in front of a combined audience of 144,000 people. As a special surprise for the fans, Cliff invited onto the stage former and classic-era members of the group
Jet Harris and
Tony Meehan to perform "
Move It" with him and his band. On 30 June 1990, Cliff and the Shadows performed to an estimated 120,000 people at
Knebworth Park as part of an all-star concert line-up that also included
Paul McCartney,
Phil Collins,
Elton John and
Tears for Fears. The concert in aid of charity was televised around the world and helped to raise $10.5 million for disabled children and young musicians. Brian Bennett resigned from the group just before the group were to embark on what would be their final tour for 14 years, with Marvin, Welch and Bennett going their separate ways on 1 December following the final concert in Southampton. The last studio album the Shadows recorded before they disbanded,
Reflection, was released in September.
Later career In December 2004, each of the then-current members of the Shadows was offered an appointment as an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE), but Marvin declined. The group reformed in 2004 for a farewell tour, and recorded "Life Story" (written by Lordan) to accompany a 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
Cliff Hall and on bass by
Mark Griffiths, was successful enough that they extended the tour to continental Europe in 2005. The line-up was almost the same, except that
Warren Bennett, son of Brian played the keyboards instead of Hall. Marvin, Welch and Bennett appeared together as special guests at
Marty Wilde's 50th anniversary concert at the London Palladium on 27 May 2007, performing "Move It" with Wilde on vocals. The concert also featured former Shadows Jet Harris and Brian Locking. On 11 December 2008, Richard and the Shadows performed at the
Royal Variety Performance, at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour. The tour began in September 2009 with 36 shows throughout the UK and continental Europe, extending in 2010 to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. A 'final reunion' of Cliff and the Shadows was performed in the O2 Arena in London in November 2009. This performance is now available in the DVD
The Final Reunion. A new studio based album,
Reunited, featuring mostly rerecorded versions of their own hits, reached number four in the
UK Albums Chart in 2009. "Singing the Blues", the first "Cliff Richard and the Shadows" single for 40 years, reached number 40 in the
UK Singles Chart, and is Richard's most recent top 40 hit. The Final Tour was put on Blu-ray format by Eagle Records in 2010. Welch, Bennett, Mark Griffiths and Warren Bennett performed two Shadows hits ("Apache" and "Wonderful Land") at
Albert Lee's 70th birthday concerts at Cadogan Hall, London, on 1 and 2 March 2014, Lee playing with them on lead guitar. The Shadows recorded an interpretation of
John Barry's "
The Appointment" for the 2015
Brian Bennett album
Shadowing John Barry. Rumours circled in late 2016 about a reunion and a tour with Richard, but this did not occur. On 1 May 2020, BBC4 showed
The Shadows at Sixty, a documentary looking back at their success as they celebrated the 60th anniversary of their first No 1 hit, "
Apache". Marvin, Welch and Bennett all gave interviews and the programme included some previously unseen footage from their early days. Marvin, Welch, and Bennett performed a new version of "Apache", without bass and percussion, for use in the documentary. On 17 December 2022, BBC2 showed
Cliff at Christmas, with Welch and Bennett appearing as guests performing "Move It". ==Style and image==