Dervan Gordon (born 29 January 1946) is a Jamaican-born British singer, who was the lead vocalist for The Equals from 1964 to 2017. After leaving the band in 2017, he started a solo career, and now mainly tours solo around the United Kingdom and the United States.
Dervan "Derv" Gordon was born in Jamaica in 1946. He is the older brother to Equals guitarist/bassist Lincoln Gordon (who is commonly misbelieved to Derv's twin brother, when actually there's a two year gap between the two brothers). In 1953, he and his family moved to London.[citation needed]
Career
The Equals
Gordon formed The Equals in 1964 in North London with his brother Lincoln, Eddy Grant, Pat Lloyd, and John Hall. Grant, Lloyd, and Hall all lived on a Hornsey Rise council estate, and Hall suggested the three form a band.[4] Derv and Lincoln were later added into the band. They signed onto President Records after Grant's neighbour, who was a professional singer, got them in contact with President record boss Edward Kassner. Their first single "I Won't Be There" / "Fire" was performed by the group on Beat-Club, a German show they would appear on a number of times between 1967-1968. This helped the band grow a large following in Germany and the Netherlands. Their second single, "Give Love a Try" / "Another Sand and Lonely Night" became their first song to chart, peaking in at number 52 on the UK breakers list (the British counterpart to the United States' Bubbling Under Hot 100).[5]
Their debut album, "Unequalled Equals", was released in 1967, and contained many songs that were released as some of their earliest singles, including "I Won't Be There". The album performed well, being on the UK charts for nine weeks and peaking at number ten.
The Equals in 1967 (Gordon furthest right)
Their fourth single, "Baby, Come Back" (released as a single in 1968 from their "Unequalled" album) went to number one in the United Kingdom, the first and only number one song they had.[6] The group were known for their interracial personnel, as they consisted of three black people (Derv, Lincoln Gordon, Eddy Grant) and two white people (Pat Lloyd, John Hall),[7] as well as their songs that focused on political issues, such as “Stand Up and Be Counted”, “Police on My Back”, and “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys”, which differed from the traditional pop themes at the time, and the latter song peaked at number nine in the U.K in 1970.[8][9]
The Equals, without Grant, who had moved back to Guyana in 1971 but still wrote songs for the band, continued to put out new albums into the late 70s, before sticking mainly to performing. They initially disbanded in 1979. In 1982, due to German public demand, concert promoter Rainer Haas contacted Pat Lloyd to get The Equals back touring in Germany. Consequently, later that year, Pat Lloyd reformed The Equals and became the registered trademark and copyright owner with Eddy Grant.[10] The Equals now consisted of Gordon, Lloyd, and Lincoln Gordon from the originals, with the addition of new members Ronnie Telemacque and Rob Hendry.
In 1987, their song "Funky Like a Train", originally from their 1976 album "Born Ya!" that had been reissued as a single, went to number eighty two in the United Kingdom and was on the charts for three weeks.[6] Since then, the band has rarely released new material, and they haven't charted since. Their last album, "Roots", was made in 1996.
Gordon continued to tour with the Equals with original guitarist Pat Lloyd until 2017, when he announced his departure from the group after fifty-three years, to focus more on his solo career. His departure left just Pat Lloyd of the original lineup still active within the band. The first Equals release without Gordon, a cover of their 1978 song called "Nobody's Got Time", was released in 2022, and was recorded between 2020 and 2021, during the Global pandemic.[11]
Solo
In 1970, Gordon released two solo singles, both under President records. The first was "Every Step I Made" / "I Can Feel The Pain",[12][13] and the second, which featured singer B.B. James, was "Anything You Want" / "Kiss Me, Kiss Me".[14] Gordon left his short solo career behind for nearly five decades, before he revived it in 2017.
His American debut was at The Elbo Room in San Francisco, California, U.S. on 27 January 2017.[15][16] By May 2017, Gordon was singing at concerts in the East Coast of the United States.[17] One of his first performances in San Diego, California, U.S. (one is his most regular cities to perform in) was at the 21-and-up Space Bar in on 15 July 2017.[18]
Gordon mainly tours solo in the United States with backing band called "So What", who have backed Derv since accepting to back him at a one-off event in January 2017.[19][20] So What are a group based in Oakland, California.[17] Gordon toured Europe in October and November 2018.[19] Gordon appeared at the fourteenth Gonerfest event, a yearly musical festival hosted by Goner Records in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2017 with So What.[21][22][23]
Derv (being backed by So What) is set to tour the United States between February and March 2024.[24] The tour will be the first time Gordon has performed in front of a paying crowd since 2019.[24] The tour will take place in U.S. cities in California, Washington state, and Oregon.[24] Gordon is presented on the tour by the music label "Just Add Water".[24] The tour started on 22 February, and ended on 3 March 2024.
Other works
In 1967, Derv, Lincoln Gordon , Eddy Grant, and his brother Patrick Grant released a single ("Ethiopia" / "Rough Rider") under the name "The Four Gees", a nod to all four members surnames starting with the letter "G".[25][26] The single was released under Ed Kassner Music, ran by Equals manager Edward Kassner. Gordon co-wrote "Ethiopia" with Lincoln and Eddy, and co-wrote "Rough Rider" with all three other members.[27] The Four Gees only released one single and never performed at a gig.
Legacy
The Equals have been noted as being "the first major interracial rock group in the UK"[28] and "one of the few racially mixed bands of the era".[7] In 2016, Jason Heller of Pitchfork media described Gordon's vocals on "I Won't Be There" as "a bouncy pop anthem spiked with bursts of brass and lead singer Derv Gordon’s spirited growl."[28]
"Every Step I Made" / "I Can Feel The Pain" (1970)[12][13]
"Anything You Want" / "Kiss Me, Kiss Me" (1970)[14]
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↑ Nachmann, Ron (June 23, 2010). "THE EQUALS: BRITISH MULTIRACIAL SOUL". Dangerous Minds. Guyanese-born London resident Eddy Grant put together the Equals, one of England's most stomping multi-racial soul-rock bands.
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