The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries hailed from Birmingham, England, and had
some success during the Merseybeat days. Formed in 1961, the band
began as a 50s-style Rock& Roll band called The Bobcats which
included two saxophones in the line-up. The saxes were dropped and
the group changed their name after returning from a stint playing
at The Star Club in Hamburg (Germany) in 1963.
Their recording career started with a couple of singles for
Decca in 1963 which sadly flopped. They then signed with the Pye
subsidiary, Piccadilly, and recorded a cover of The Shirelles' I
Didn't Mean to Hurt You. When Disc reviewed the single as
"slow-moving with an almost irritating high-voiced
treatment" they weren't exactly killing the boys with
kindness.
And while Pye had only recently nabbed the group from Decca,
they couldn't think of anything better to say about them than that
they were one of The Barron Knights' favourite groups . . .
Pye then rush-released He's In Town. The reason was that
they were scared of losing out to The Tokens' US original, which
was due to emerge at any minute in the UK. The artful dodge
worked, helped by the fact that the falsetto-dominated track was
one of the classiest British singles of the era.
Another cover of an American record - this time The
Reflections' Poor Man's Son - was their follow-up release.
At around the same time, The Rockin' Berries' debut album, They're
in Town, was also released.
Their second album, Life Is Just a Bowl of Berries,
contained a number of novelty and comedy tracks which served to
confuse their audience.
They did continue to record pop singles, including Goffin-King's
You're My Girl (another cover of a Tokens' hit) which
provided a lowly placed hit in 1965. Sadly there was no further
real chart success for the band, and by 1968 falsetto-voiced Geoff
Turton had left the group to try his hand at a solo career.
Using the name 'Jefferson', he secured a Top 30 place in the
American Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970 with Baby Take
Me in Your Arms.
Yorkshire born singer/impressionist Terry Webster joined The
Rockin' Berries in 1970 to replace Lea who also left to start a
solo career . . . as an impressionist. Lea later joined comedy
group The Black Abbotts, as the replacement for Russ Abbott.
Turton eventually rejoined The Rockin' Berries who - as with so
many of the great British 60s beat groups - were ultimately
destined to earn their living playing the regional Working Men's
Clubs of Britain. By this time their act was more akin to The
Barron Knights in both style and content.
The Berries continue to perform in cabaret as a musical comedy
act, although drummer Terry Bond later moved into management. He
was replaced by Keith Smart, previously from Roy Wood's
chart-topping 1970s group Wizzard.
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