The Brook Brothers were an English pop duo composed of Geoff Brook (born Geoffrey Owen Brooks, 12 April 1943, Winchester, Hampshire) and Ricky Brook (born Richard Alan Brooks, 24 October 1940, Winchester, Hampshire). [1]
The Brook Brothers started out as a skiffle group in 1956 but, after winning a television talent show, [2] changed their look and sound to approximate the style of The Everly Brothers. [3] They signed to Top Rank Records in 1960 and released a cover of the song "Greenfields" by The Brothers Four the same year. The tune was a hit in Italy [2] but attracted little notice in their home country. [3] After a few more singles were released, they switched to Pye Records, and their second release for them, "Warpaint" (written by Howard Greenfield and Barry Mann), became a UK Top 5 hit.
Following the single's success they released a full-length album and toured with Cliff Richard and Bobby Rydell. [3] They took part in the annual NME Readers' Poll-Winners Concert at London's Wembley Pool on 15 April 1962. [4] They were produced by a young Tony Hatch, and made an appearance in the film, It's Trad, Dad! . [2] They also entered A Song For Europe for the Eurovision Song Contest 1962, but did not advance in the contest.
After their last chart hit, "Trouble Is My Middle Name", in 1963, the group's popularity faded, and they left public view by 1965. Their entire Pye recordings were reissued on CD by Castle Music in the 1990s.
Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.
Neil Sedaka is an American pop singer, pianist, composer, songwriter and record producer. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records as a performer and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and others, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard "Howie" Greenfield and Phil Cody.
The Brothers Four is an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, and known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields".
John Dudley Leyton is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song "Johnny Remember Me", which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961 despite being banned by the BBC for its death references. His follow-up single, "Wild Wind", reached number two in the charts.
Kenneth Daniel Ball was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.
Craig Douglas is an English pop singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His sole UK chart-topper, "Only Sixteen" (1959), sold more copies in the UK than Sam Cooke's original version.
The Foundations were a British soul band. The group's background was West Indian, White British, and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single "Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number eleven in the US, while their 1968 single "Build Me Up Buttercup" reached number two in the UK and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The group was the first multi-racial group to have a number one hit in the UK in the 1960s.
Rosemary Timothy Yuro, known professionally as Timi Yuro, was an American singer-songwriter. Sometimes called "the little girl with the big voice," she is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era. According to one critic, "her deep, strident, almost masculine voice, staggered delivery and the occasional sob created a compelling musical presence." Yuro possessed a contralto vocal range.
Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including one with Neil Sedaka from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, and near-simultaneous songwriting partnerships with Jack Keller and Helen Miller throughout most of the 1960s.
Richard Graham Sarstedt, known by the stage name Eden Kane, is an English pop/rock singer, record producer and actor best known as a teen idol in the early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era. He has also recorded under his birth name and with backing group the Downbeats.
"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio.
Mark Wynter is an English actor and former singer, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and "Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a pop singer and teen idol, and developed later into an actor in film, musicals and plays.
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.
"Have I the Right?" was the debut single and biggest hit of British 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".
"Tired of Waiting for You" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released as a single on 15 January 1965 in the UK and on 17 February 1965 in the USA. The single reached number one in the UK and number six in the US. It then appeared on their second studio album, Kinda Kinks. It was the group's highest-charting single in the US - tied with "Come Dancing", which achieved the same chart position eighteen years later in 1983.
The King Brothers were a British pop vocal trio popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They are best remembered for their cover versions of "Standing on the Corner" and "A White Sport Coat ".
"Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart" is a popular song written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller.
Sandie Shaw, is an English singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1964), "Long Live Love" (1965) and "Puppet on a String" (1967). With the latter, she became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover of the Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.
The Dale Sisters were an English vocal trio, who had limited chart success in the early 1960s. They are best remembered for their recordings of "Heartbeat" and "My Sunday Baby ", both of which became minor hits in the UK Singles Chart. Other songs they sang included "Billy Boy, Billy Boy", "Road to Love" and "All My Life". Their work, when they were billed by their alternative name of The England Sisters, was arranged by John Barry.
"A Picture of You" is a song by English entertainer Joe Brown. Written by John Beveridge and Peter Oakman, it was a number 2 UK hit single for Brown in the summer of 1962. Brown recorded his version at Pye Records, and the single was released as Piccadilly 7N 35047.