September 1966 – Starlight Room, Boston Gliderdrome, Boston, Lincolnshire with Otis Redding & his American Band, The Gates of Eden, The Rising Sons and The Ferryboys (Lincolnshire Standard) Colin was ‘The Grand Vizier’ of parties in Fawley Road where he lived from 1961 to 1964. He died in 1999 and Steve Voce wrote a wonderful obituary in The Independent. March 1968 – Crown and Cushion, Perry Barr, West Midlands with The Vogues (Birmingham Evening Mail) The proximity of the club to Decca also helped a new group to test their proposed single on a live audience. On 29 September 1964, the interval band, the Moody Blues, performed Go Now.

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames played 22 times within the first two years of RnB at KK. Commercial success then took them into larger venues, but spin-off bands, e.g. The Night-Timers who played 21 gigs, kept the genre going at smaller clubs like KK. John Mayall brought many future stars through his various bands He Appeared 33 times and did much to foster interest in blues nationwide. July 1967 – Swan, Yardley, West Midlands with The Flowers (Birmingham Evening Mail/Coventry Evening Telegraph/Fabulous 208)In 1963 the promoters were very aware of a burgeoning scene in both blues and RnB which arrived at Klooks Kleek in the shape of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. The band's mix of Louis Jordan, soft soul, funk and even vocal versions of bebop numbers (“Parker’s Blues”) met the interests of a pretty diverse audience. Their first appearance at KK was on a scheduled Jazz night causing a queue of a rare length and mass approval of their music. They opened the Tuesday RnB nights on 10 September 1963 and performed a further twenty-one times, continuing to appear at this small venue even after two No 1 chart singles. Their legendary manager, Rik Gunnell, [3] allowed them to work for “peanuts” every so often because the band so liked the ambience of KK. In 1968, U.K. four-piece blues band Ten Years After were busy gigging in support of their self-titled debut album — one of the first electric blues albums from Britain, the beginning of a surge of such acts which continue to stand as some of the greatest blues acts of all time on either side of the Atlantic. That list includes Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Long John Baldry, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Savoy Brown and those Led Zeppelin guys. Singer Robert Palmer lived in a basement flat in Dennington Park Road in 1972. Robert moved out of after the flat was flooded, destroying most of his belongings. He married and moved to New York. Then about 1976 he moved to Nassau in the Bahamas.

October 1966 – Paris Olympia, Paris, France with The Alan Price Set (Disc & Music Echo) Clashes with Birdcage gig above so may not have happened

Companies, etc.

July 1965 – Klooks Kleek, West Hampstead, London (Geoff Williams research: Decca Studios and Klooks Kleek book) Some bands make it by getting a hit song on the charts; others by developing a strong following because of an incredible live act and stellar albums rather than hit singles. Looking over my record collection, the latter category seems to make up the bulk of what I have. August 1964 – Klooks Kleek, West Hampstead, London (Geoff Williams research: Decca Studios and Klooks Kleek book) Photo: Boyfriend Magazine, 15 August 1964 February 1969 – Dreamland Ballroom, Margate, Kent with Dream Police (Folkestone & Hythe District Herald) April 1965 – Birdcage, Kimbells Ballroom, Southsea, Hampshire with Brian Auger Trinity (Dave Allen research)

June 1968 – Redcar Jazz Club, Redcar, North Yorkshire with The Keith Herd Group (Dennis Weller, Chris Scott Wilson and Graham Lowe’s book) David Edward Sutch was born at New End Hospital in 1940. His parents William and Annie Emily, lived in two rooms at 241 Fordwych Road. His father, a war reserve police constable, crashed his motorbike and died in September 1941 when David was only ten months old. With no money, his mother, known in the family as ‘Nancy’, moved to a single room in Glengall Road. David went to school at Salusbury Road and then they moved to South Harrow. At the end of the 1950s he first performed at the 2 I’s club. The ‘Savages’ were formed in 1960 and he called himself Screaming Lord Sutch after Screaming Jay Hawkins. His outrageous appearance and performances gained the band publicity. From 1963 he stood in parliamentary elections for the National Teenage Party and founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983. He contested over 40 elections with little hope of winning. Depressed after the death of his mother the year before, Sutch committed suicide in 1999.

For Sale on Discogs

During May, Dave Greenslade briefly left to join Julian Covey & The Machine as they support John Lee Hooker on a UK tour but returned to The Thunderbirds soon after.

Bass player, Steve York lived in Mill Lane from 1972 to 1977. He has had a long career playing with many well known musicians and recording numerous records. Beginning with various blues bands in the 60s including Graham Bond and Manfred Mann, in 1971 he joined Dada which had three singers Robert Palmer, Elkie Brooks and Jimmy Chambers. Dada became Vinegar Joe in 1971. Steve said: “I left Vinegar Joe after we recorded our first album and lived in the US for about a year. I let Graham Bond stay in my flat in Mill Lane while I was away on tour in 1973. He was homeless after his marriage broke up.” November 1965 – Kirklevington Country Club, Kirklevington, North Yorkshire (Middlesbrough Evening Gazette) October 1966 – Gaumont, Doncaster with The New Animals, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, Eyes of Blue June 1967 – Supreme Eastern Esplanade, Ramsgate, Kent with Len Marshall Show (East Kent Times & Mail)Things got worse and tragically, Graham committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at FinsburyPark station on 8 May 1974. For an excellent biography see, ‘Graham Bond: the mighty shadow’, by Harry Shapiro, 1992 and 2005. The book includes a detailed discography. March 1967 – Nottingham Tech College, Nottingham with Robert Hirst & The Big Taste, Our Young and The In Crowd (Nottingham Evening Post) November 1966 – Flamingo, Wardour Street, Soho, London (Melody Maker) This may not have happened Photo: City Week September 1968 – Carlton Club, Warrington, Cheshire with The Curiosity Shoppe (Warrington Guardian) June 1967 – Caius College, Oxford, Cambridge with Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band (Fabulous 208) Disc & Music Echo has 14 June