Bulls Head Bob April 2024. DUO's Brotherly Love. Happy Birthday Mr Beano.

 Hello and welcome to the rainy April Blog.

Me and Mrs Bob returned from our 50th anniversary second honeymoon where we gorged ourselves on the best food and cocktails for a couple of weeks of unadulterated 5 star luxury, basking in the sun getting tanned before coming back to reality, thunderstorms and the blog.    

IN THE BEGINNING

Some people think of the 60's as the Beatles, Hendrix or Clapton, psychedelia....etc but there was a beginning to all that.  It was years in the making, no such thing as bending guitar strings or 100 watt amplifiers in the early days.  It was a steady build up of styles of music, each step as important as the next and one of those steps was "Brother Acts".  I've tried to list chronologically the UK's contribution.

DUO'S

THE EVERLY BROTHERS

I think it is right to say that The Everly Brothers were the benchmark for two-part harmony duos in the world prior to and into the early 60's for UK acts to imitate.  Although none of those young teenage so called "Brother Acts" could compete at the same level of excellence as The Everlys with their strong familial harmonies of actual brothers.  They scored their first UK hit in 1956 with "Bye Bye Love" and achieved their first Number 1 in 1957 with 'Wake up Little Susie'. As a kid I recall watching the audience doing the Hand Jive to it on 6.5 special.   From that moment on they had hit after hit.  Their fame triggered other teenage kids in the UK to want to emulate that success and one of those Duo's were formed at the famous 2i's coffee bar in Soho London and they called themselves

THE MOST BROTHERS

They were not brothers nor, at that time, were either of them named 'Most'.   The twosome were Michael Hayes and Alex Wharton, two great looking young men working at the 2i's, the birthplace of British Rock.   They changed names to Mickie and Alex Most because, in the hip lingo of the day, to be "the most" was the hippest and coolest around.  The perfect formula for success and their 1957

Decca record release was "Whistle Bait" and they went on Rock and Roll tours of the day around the UK.  They recorded a second single "Takes a Whole lot of Lovin" before breaking up in 1958.   The two of them went on to have further success individually with Alex as a Decca producer and as manager and producer of the original Moody Blues and as an actor.   Mickie Most became world famous as a producer.  

THE ALISONS 

Another early UK fake brothers act of 1957 were The Allisons who were GBs entry for the Eurovision Song contest with a song called "Are you Sure" which launched them onto the pop scene.  Neither of the Alisons were brothers.

They did however have nice harmonies, their hit was a sound alike in the style of Buddy Holly.  Nice for the time.  They released several singles but nothing as good as their first hit.   The duo had quite a good career in the clubs.

Styles of music changed and it would be a few years till the next British duo and they were the luckiest pair ever.  In 1964 Paul McCartney was in love with Jane Asher and lived at her families house along with her brother Peter.   

PETER AND GORDON 

Paul, as an act of family togetherness gave Peter a song for he and his friend Gordon Waller to record.  The song was the brilliant "World without Love" which soared to the top of the charts in the UK and the USA.   They had three other hits with the last in 1967 "Lady Godiva".   Peter Asher worked at Apple as Head of A&R when James Taylor came along and recorded an Album which flopped and returned to the states.  Peter Asher knew a good thing when he saw it and became James' manager.

Peter and Gordon continued releasing records and doing concerts in the states up to 2007.  In 2009 Waller died of a heart attack.  These days Asher still plays Britush Invasion concerts with guest singers in Wallers place.

PAUL AND BARRY RYAN

These young men were more than Brothers, they were twins and sons of singer Marion Ryan.  They came on the scene and charted with their first single in 1965 "Dont bring me Your Heartaches" and had a further 8 chart hits up to 1967, all in the bottom half of the Top 20 .  They were the teenybopper favourites.    The duo split which was good for them because in 1968 Paul Ryan had his greatest success singing a song "Eloise" written by his Brother Barry which was a real tour de force and stormed up the charts getting to No 2.   In the 1980's the song was recorded by The Damned and charted at No 3 so even punks loved it!!

THE EVERLY BROTHERS

I started, so I'll finish with the Everly Brothers.   Of all the acts mentioned none have had the enduring affection enjoyed by Don and Phil Everlys contribution to music by other musicians.  Their songs have been recorded by a mountain of acts and artists.  Their heavier songs like "The Price of Love" are timeless and feature in many Rock acts today.  Brian Ferry had a big hit with this great tune and with its fab guitar riff, it's even on my own set list!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC.

Mister Beano has celebrated his 79th birthday a day or so ago so Happy Birthday Eric Clapton, what a guy, what a career.

So that's it from me.  Have a nice week and as usual love the one you're with.

Bob

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Contact:  Bobsbullocks@Gmail.com