Formation School friends Trevor Brice (born 12 February 1945,
Rochester, Kent, England) (vocals), Tony Goulden (born Anthony Goulden, 21 November 1942, Rochester) (guitar),
Dick Allix (born Richard Allix, 3 May 1945,
Gravesend, Kent) (drums), and Tony Jarrett (born Anthony Jarrett, 4 September 1943, in Rochester, Kent) (bass) formed the band in Kent in 1966, originally calling themselves The Avengers. Under that name, with Lee Fairbrother, Willum (born 15 July 1948, in Chatham, Kent (drums) [1964-68], they recorded a number of
demos, including "Marianne", with record producer
Joe Meek, but none were ever released. After that, they changed their name to The Sages and had one
45 single release on the RCA Victor label (47–8760), with "In The Beginning" on the
A side and "I'm Not Going To Cry" on the B side. They played local
clubs and were spotted by entrepreneur Roger Easterby, who became their manager and producer. Having changed the name of the band to Vanity Fare (Dick Allix, taking over the sticks from Lee Fairbrother in 1968), after the novel
Vanity Fair by
William Makepeace Thackeray, they signed to Larry Page's
Page One Records.
Success In mid 1968, Vanity Fare achieved a UK hit single with their first release, a
cover of "I Live for the Sun", originally
recorded in 1965 by the
California group
The Sunrays. in early 1970. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a
gold disc. For their next release, "
Hitchin' a Ride", they added keyboardist Barry Landeman (born 25 October 1947,
Woodbridge, Suffolk, England), formerly of
Kippington Lodge, to the group. "Hitchin' A Ride", written by
Peter Callander and
Mitch Murray, gave them a second million-selling hit, The hit was preceded by a tour of the United States, following which both Dick Allix and Tony Goulden left the band and were replaced by guitarist and singer Eddie Wheeler and drummer Mark Ellen (died 18 February 2021). Two more singles followed before the end of 1970: Mike Leander and Eddie Seago's "Come Tomorrow" and
Roger Cook and
Roger Greenaway's "Carolina's Coming Home", both of which failed to dent the
charts on either side of the Atlantic. In addition, a belated US release of "Summer Morning" reached only No. 98, for two weeks. Over the next couple of years more singles were released, including
Tony Macaulay's "Better By Far" on
DJM Records in 1972, but none of them entered the charts. Following that, they decided to concentrate on live performances, touring Europe, where they were generating hit singles.
Line-up changes From the mid-1970s, amid many band member changes – including the departure of Jarrett, who was replaced by Bernie Hagley – the group recorded only sporadically. Trevor Brice left in 1979. Following Brice's departure, none of the founding members were still in the band.
Later years In 1986, they competed to represent the UK in the
Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third in the UK heat of
A Song for Europe with the song "Dreamer", featuring Jimmy Cassidy on vocals and Phil Kitto on keyboards, alongside long-time members Eddie Wheeler and Bernie Hagley. On 18 February 2005, original members Trevor Brice, Tony Goulden, Tony Jarrett, and Barry Landeman performed a one-off reunion gig at the Rainham Mark Social Club in Kent. In 2007, they toured alongside
P. J. Proby. In August 2015, after having played with the band for 45 years, drummer Mark Ellen retired and was replaced by Howard Tibble. In 2018, Graham Walker, from the Gary Moore Band, took over on drums. Vanity Fare are still performing today, with the line-up of Hagley, Wheeler, Walker, and Steve Oakman. Wheeler and Hagley have taken up lead vocal duties. In his spare time, Brice sings second tenor with the
City of Bath Male Choir, which reached the final of
BBC One's
Last Choir Standing. His son, Sebastian Brice, is part of the alt/rock band
Avius. Since 2021, Wheeler has also been a member of
The Tremeloes. The group's former drummer and
PDC co-founder Dick Allix died on 14 March 2024 at the age of 78. == Members ==