Fact #188589
When:
Short story:
The R And B quartet plays at The Golden Eagle, Birmingham, England, UK, Europe. This is the first appearance of a band which will find greater fame after a name change to The Spencer Davis Group.Full article:
Spencer Davis : It was a pub, centrally located in Hill Street. Most of the music in Britain back in the '60s was played in a function room above a pub. For these Monday night sessions there was a band on there called The Renegades – who happened to be huge in Scandinavia. So, I strolled over there on Monday night with a 12-string guitar hand-made by a Greek Cypriot named Anthony Zemaitis. They were known affectionately as Tony Zemaitis boxes. I had a bent coat hanger which I used to stick my harmonica in, something I'd used running around Europe, busking. And I asked to play the interval spot.
I was greeted with hoots of derision, a one-man band. But I got in there and sang Leadbelly songs like Good Morning Blues and How Long Blues. Then I finished off the evening with what was to become the national anthem of this new wave of British rhythm and blues, I've Got My Mojo Working.
If you have ever been present in a room when one style of music has been visibly replaced by another style of music – in other words, the arrival of the next wave – this was it. When the rhythm And blues craze swept Britain, I can say to you it was about 8:30 in the evening one night in early 1963. Sure, The Beatles were going and they'd dipped into Motown. But nobody yet had dipped into the North American catalogue of raw blues, not Mick Jagger or Eric Burdon. Not Van Morrison or Paul Jones. That was something I'd had a handle on since I was 14 and got turned on to Big Bill Broonzy by an art teacher who played guitar in Swansea.
So, I played the interval at the Golden Eagle and the place went nuts. The club promoters said, "You can come back next week and play the whole evening." And I said to them, "No bloody way. I'll never be able to play the whole evening. But I will bring a band back." Now I had to look for a band. So somebody told me, "You've got to go see this Muff Woody Jazz Band." They were playing in the northern suburbs of Birmingham. It never even occurred to me to have Christine in the band. The thinking just wasn't there. That would have been a nascent Fleetwood Mac.
(Source : not known)
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I was greeted with hoots of derision, a one-man band. But I got in there and sang Leadbelly songs like Good Morning Blues and How Long Blues. Then I finished off the evening with what was to become the national anthem of this new wave of British rhythm and blues, I've Got My Mojo Working.
If you have ever been present in a room when one style of music has been visibly replaced by another style of music – in other words, the arrival of the next wave – this was it. When the rhythm And blues craze swept Britain, I can say to you it was about 8:30 in the evening one night in early 1963. Sure, The Beatles were going and they'd dipped into Motown. But nobody yet had dipped into the North American catalogue of raw blues, not Mick Jagger or Eric Burdon. Not Van Morrison or Paul Jones. That was something I'd had a handle on since I was 14 and got turned on to Big Bill Broonzy by an art teacher who played guitar in Swansea.
So, I played the interval at the Golden Eagle and the place went nuts. The club promoters said, "You can come back next week and play the whole evening." And I said to them, "No bloody way. I'll never be able to play the whole evening. But I will bring a band back." Now I had to look for a band. So somebody told me, "You've got to go see this Muff Woody Jazz Band." They were playing in the northern suburbs of Birmingham. It never even occurred to me to have Christine in the band. The thinking just wasn't there. That would have been a nascent Fleetwood Mac.
(Source : not known)