Terence Nelhams Wright, known as Adam Faith, was an English singer, actor, and financial journalist. As a British rock and roll teen idol, he scored consecutive No. 1 hits on the UK Singles Chart with "What Do You Want?" (1959) and "Poor Me" (1960). He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the top 5, and was ultimately one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He was also one of the first UK acts to record original songs regularly.
Robert George "Joe" Meek was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognised for his individual identity as an artist. Meek pioneered space age and experimental pop music, and assisted in the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation.
John Lester Nash Jr. was an American singer and songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.
Jasper Cini, known professionally as Al Martino, was an American traditional pop and jazz singer. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid-1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and became known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather.
Robert Colin Stigwood was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer, and impresario, best known for managing musicians such as Cream, Andy Gibb, and the Bee Gees; theatrical productions such as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar; and film productions, including Grease and Saturday Night Fever.
The Tornados were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and US no. 1 "Telstar", the first US no. 1 single by a British group.
Ronald Wycherley, better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he spent 332 weeks on the UK singles chart. His hit singles include "Wondrous Place", "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy". Fury also maintained a film career, notably playing rock performers in Play It Cool in 1962 and That'll Be the Day in 1973.
"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental by the English band the Tornados, written and produced by Joe Meek. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 in December 1962. It was the second instrumental single to hit number one in 1962 on both the US and UK weekly charts.
Danny Williams was a South African-born British pop singer who earned the nickname "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad. He is best known for his 1961 UK number one version of "Moon River" and his 1964 U.S. top ten hit, "White on White".
John Valmore Pearson was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the Top of the Pops orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series.
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates were an English rock band led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. Their musical journey spanned from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, during which they achieved considerable success with hit songs like "Shakin' All Over" and "Please Don't Touch".
The Honeycombs were an English beat group, founded in 1963 in North London, best known for their chart-topping, million-selling 1964 hit, "Have I the Right?" The band featured Honey Lantree on drums, one of the few high-profile female drummers at that time. They were unable to replicate the success of their first single and disbanded by 1967.
Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolific drummers in UK recording history, appearing on hundreds of recordings by artists as diverse as Cliff Richard and Lou Reed, and has featured on 42 UK number one singles.
Heinz Burt was a German-born British rock and roll bassist and singer who performed under the stage name Heinz. He was also known as a member of the instrumental group the Tornados.
Geoffrey Goddard was an English songwriter, singer and instrumentalist. Working for Joe Meek in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for Heinz, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple, the Tornados, Kenny Hollywood, the Outlaws, Freddie Starr, Screaming Lord Sutch, the Ramblers and John Leyton. His song for Leyton, "Johnny Remember Me", reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead lover, the song is one of the most noted of the 'death ditties' that populated the pop charts, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the early to mid-1960s. It is distinguished in particular by its eerie, echoing sound and by the ghostly, foreboding female wails that form its backing vocal, by Lissa Gray. The recording was arranged by Charles Blackwell. Despite the line, "the girl I loved who died a year ago" being changed to the more vague "the girl I loved and lost a year ago", the song was banned by the BBC, along with many other 'death discs', which were popular at the time.
"Have I the Right?" was the debut single and biggest hit of the English band the Honeycombs. It was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who had made contact with the Honeycombs, a London-based group, then playing under the name of the Sheratons, in the Mildmay Tavern in the Balls Pond Road in Islington, where they played a date. Howard and Blaikley were impressed by the group's lead vocalist, Dennis D'Ell, and the fact that they had a female drummer, Anne (‘Honey’) Lantree. The group were looking for material to play for an audition with record producer Joe Meek, and they played the songs Howard and Blaikley had just given them. Meek decided to record one of them, "Have I the Right?", there and then. Meek himself provided the B-side, "Please Don’t Pretend Again".
Telstar: The Joe Meek Story is a 2008 film adaptation of James Hicks' and Nick Moran's play Telstar, about record producer Joe Meek, which opened at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End in June 2005. The film is directed by Moran and stars Con O'Neill, who also played Joe Meek in the original play, while Kevin Spacey plays Meek's business partner, Major Wilfred Banks.
British rock and roll, or typeset as British rock 'n' roll, is a style of popular music based on American rock and roll, which emerged in the late 1950s and was popular until the arrival of beat music in 1962. It was important in establishing British youth and popular music culture and was a key factor in subsequent developments that led to the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. Since the 1960s, some stars of the genre, most notably Cliff Richard, have managed to sustain successful careers and there have been periodic revivals of this form of music.
"Wild Wind" is a song by English singer John Leyton, released as a single in September 1961. It became his second UK top-ten hit and also earned him his second silver disc for sales of over 250,00 copies.
