Meppel Nu

· 06 Sep 2020

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The Shadows in 2020, reunite to play 'Apache'

#THESHADOWS 😍 Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Brian Bennett & Sir Cliff Richard perform 'Apache' & tell the story of The Shadows' first UK #1 . From the BBC4 documentary 'The Shadows at 60'.
In 1958, 16-year-old Hank B. Marvin and Bruce Welch moved from Newcastle to London to participate in a music competition. https://youtu.be/MWp3xb7NNVg

Cliff Richard's manager discovered them at the Two I's Coffee Bar, the mecca of the London music scene at the time, and offered them a contract to #Cliff , who in the meantime gained fame in England with the 1989 hit Move it. Later Jet Harris (bass guitarist) and Tony Meehan (drummer) joined them. They formed a band called The Drifters and quickly released a single, with two vocal songs: Feelin' Fine and Don't be a Fool with Love.
When the American group The Drifters opposed the use of their name in the United States, they changed it to The Shadows.
When Jerry Lordan offered them a melody, their careers really got off the ground. #Apache was in first place in England for five weeks and became a world hit, except in the United States, where the band found the band too boring but scored a cover version. Kon-Tiki, Wonderful Land, Dance On and Foot Tapper were the next four number 1 hits in England. Besides the four Shadows, Norrie Parmor should also be mentioned. Paramor was a conductor, songwriter and an arranger who influenced the song “Wonderful Land”. Much later the band attracted Cliff Hall, who performed the orchestral parts on synthesizer.
In September 1961 drummer Tony Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett. In April 1962, Jet Harris left the group for Brian Locking. When Locking gave priority to his religious work in April 1963, a very talented bass player joined the group: John Rostill. It was supposed to be part of The Shadows until 1969. Bruce Welch was temporarily replaced by keyboard player Alan Hawkshaw in 1969. Jet Harris and Tony Meehan would perform as a duo for another four years and even score two British number 1 hits in The Shadows-style. Meehan died in 2005 at the age of 62 as a result of a fall in the house; Harris died in 2011.
Rostill wrote some very successful compositions. He couldn't see its success anymore. When Welch visited him in his studio, Rostill died there due to an overdose of barbiturates. He was succeeded by Alan Jones, and later by Mark Griffiths.
The years that followed were marked by occasional performances such as the vocal experiment Marvin, Welch & Farrar (1971). The Shadows represented the United Kingdom with Let Me Be the One at the 20th Eurovision Song Contest, on 22 March 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden. Of the 19 participating countries, the Netherlands won with the song Ding-a-dong performed by Teach-In. This song got 152 points. The Shadows ended in 2nd place with 138 points. Through the experiment Marvin, Welch & Farrar they met Australian country star Olivia Newton-John, which led years later to some songs for Grease and the Xanadu project. In 1979, The Shadows became very popular again thanks to their cover of the John Williams instrumental Cavatina, better known as Theme from 'The Deer Hunter', their only number 1 hit in the Top 40 and the National Hit Parade.

After their English hit Ghost riders in the sky (1980) it became quieter at the hitsinglefront. However, every year an album was released, which was always very high in the charts. The group edited well-known hits at that time. Hank Marvin performed it in his characteristic way. Alan Jones can be heard on bass on many of those recordings and the aforementioned Cliff Hall on keyboards. At the end of 1990/early 1991 the canvas fell permanently. Hank Marvin went solo and released solo CDs. Known are his “tribute” albums, dedicated to Cliff Richard, Buddy Holly, Lloyd/Webber and film music. His cd The Guitar Player, on which he plays an acoustic Favino guitar, was still in the top ten in England in 2002. Together with his son Ben and Warren Bennett (Brian's son) he gave a concert in 2001 at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. Probably under pressure from the countless fans and the approaching 45th anniversary the gentlemen decided to make a “final tour” once more as The Shadows.

In 2004 they toured the UK with a series of 37 concerts (The Final Tour) to conclude a 45 year career. Due to its great success, the concert series continued in 2005 with a total of 27 performances in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Hank Marvin has lived in Perth, Australia since November 1986 and has his own studio, called “Nivram Studios”. ('Nivram' is an anagram: the letters' Marvin 'spelled inversely.)

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the stage, Cliff Richard and The Shadows joined forces to tour Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. This took place from the end of September 2009 until a part in 2010.

Source: YouTube and Wikipedia