# The Equals

The Equals are an English rock band. They are best remembered for their million-selling chart-topper "Baby, Come Back", though they had several other chart hits in the UK and Europe. Drummer John Hall founded the group with Eddy Grant, Pat Lloyd and brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon, and they were noted as being "the first major interracial rock group in the UK" and "one of the few racially mixed bands of the era".

## History
### Early career

The group's members met on a Hornsey Rise council estate, where Grant, Lloyd and Hall were school friends at Acland Burghley. In late 1964, Hall suggested that they form a band. John Hall (drums), Eddy Grant (lead guitar), Pat Lloyd (rhythm guitar), Derv Gordon (vocals) and Lincoln Gordon (rhythm guitar) became the Equals. The three-guitar lineup continued until 1969, when Lincoln Gordon switched from rhythm guitar to bass.
At first the Equals performed in London, and gained a following "with their apparently limitless energy and a distinct style fusing pop, blues, and R&B plus elements of ska and bluebeat." They often opened the bill at shows by visiting American R&B and soul artists such as Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett. A neighbour of Grant's, singer Gene Latter, put them in touch with President Records, whose boss Edward Kassner heard them and agreed to sign them.

### Commercial success, 1966–70

The Equals released their first single “I Won’t Be There” in 1966, followed by “Hold Me Closer”, with “Baby, Come Back” as the B-side. It did not do well in the United Kingdom, but after DJs in Europe began playing “Baby, Come Back”, it went to the number one position in Germany and the Netherlands.
1968 saw the release of “I Get So Excited”, which reached the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. The subsequent re-issue of “Baby, Come Back” in early 1968 reached the top position in the UK, giving President Records its only number one hit. In June 1969, the group received a gold disc for a combined one million sales of the disc. A string of single releases followed, several of which charted in the UK, including two further top 10 hits, “Viva Bobby Joe” (1969) and “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys” (1970).
Their main songwriter was Eddy Grant, with contributions from the Gordon brothers, Pat Lloyd and John Hall. Though the majority were on traditional teenage pop themes, some, such as “Stand Up and Be Counted”, “Police on My Back”, and the funky “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys”, touched on social and political issues.
The band also released several studio albums on President in quick succession, six in four years, including Unequalled Equals (1967) and Explosion (1968), both of which reached the UK Albums Chart. Several of their albums were repackaged by RCA, President's distributors, for the American market. According to the band, Kassner did not allow the band to tour the U.S. because of problems that might have arisen because of their multiracial line-up, though the band did tour other parts of the world, including Africa.
They made regular TV appearances on programmes including Top of the Pops in Britain and Beat-Club in Germany. The band also gained attention for their colourful clothes, presaging the glam rock style, and for Grant's occasional dyeing of his hair blonde, and wearing a woman's blonde wig. Writer Jason Heller commented: “The Equals were effectively code-switching between two audiences—immigrant rude boys and white pop fans—in the same song, if not the same line."

### Break-up and subsequent activities

In September 1969, all five group members were injured in a motorway car accident in Germany. Grant was the most severely injured and as a result left the touring version of the Equals while initially continuing to write songs for them. In January 1971, Grant suffered a collapsed lung and heart infection, following which he returned to Guyana. He soon started to pursue a solo career. John Hall left the band in 1974. The Equals disbanded in 1979.
In 2017, Gordon left the Equals and later that year two new members joined, Decosta Boyce (lead vocals), previously of the funk band Heatwave, and Mark Haley (keyboards), previously with the Kinks. In March 2019, Keeling Lee, previously with Groove Armada, replaced Martin.
Between 2020 and 2021, the Equals went into the studios to make a new album and in May 2022, they released a single "Nobody's Got Time", written by Eddy Grant. "Nobody's Got Time" reached No.1 in the Legacy Charts for three consecutive weeks. The Equals continue to record and tour, increasingly influenced by funk and reggae.

## Original line-up

* Eddy Grant (born 5 March 1948, Plaisance, Guyana) – lead guitar
* John Hall (born 25 October 1946, Islington, London) – drums
* Dervan "Derv" Gordon (born 29 January 1946, Jamaica) – vocals
* Patrick "Pat" Lloyd (born 17 March 1949, Holloway, London) – rhythm guitar
* Lincoln Gordon (born 29 June 1948, Jamaica) – bass, guitar

## Discography
### Albums

| Year | Album | UK |
| 1967 | Unequalled Equals | 10 |
| 1968 | Explosion | 32 |
| 1968 | Sensational Equals | — |
| 1968 | Equals Supreme | — |
| 1969 | Equals Strike Again | — |
| 1970 | Equals at the Top | — |
| 1973 | Rock Around the Clock Vol. 1 | — |
| 1976 | Born Ya! | — |
| 1977 | Mystic Syster | — |
| 1996 | Roots | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. |||

#### Compilation albums

* Baby, Come Back (US compilation, 1968)
* Doin' the 45's (1975)
* First Among Equals – The Greatest Hits (1996)
* Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys – The Anthology (1999)

### Singles

| Year | Titles (A-side, B-side) | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | UK Album | US Album |
| Year | Titles (A-side, B-side) | UK | US | AUS | NOR | IRL | SA | UK Album | US Album |
| 1966 | "I Won't Be There" b/w "Fire" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Unequalled | Unequalled |
| 1967 | "Give Love a Try" b/w "Another Sad and Lonely Night" | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | Explosion | Non-album tracks |
| 1967 | "My Life Ain't Easy" b/w "You Got Too Many Boyfriends" | — | — | — | — | — | — | A: Unequalled B: Explosion | A: Unequalled B: Non-album track |
| 1968 | "I Get So Excited" UK B: "The Skies Above" US B: "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | A & UK B: Sensational US B: Explosion | A & US B: Unequalled UK B: Baby, Come Back |
| 1968 | "Baby, Come Back" b/w "Hold Me Closer" | 1 | 32 | 10 | 4 | 2 | — | Unequalled | Baby, Come Back |
| 1968 | "Laurel and Hardy" b/w "The Guy Who Made Her a Star" | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | Sensational | Baby, Come Back |
| 1968 | "Softly Softly" b/w "Lonely Rita" | 48 | — | — | — | — | 8 | Supreme | Supreme |
| 1969 | "Michael and the Slipper Tree" b/w "Honey Gum" | 24 | — | 68 | — | — | — | Equals Strike Again | Non-album tracks |
| 1969 | "Viva Bobby Joe" b/w "I Can't Let You Go" | 6 | — | 79 | — | 3 | 9 | A: Equals Strike Again B: Non-album track | Non-album tracks |
| 1969 | "Rub a Dub Dub" b/w "After the Lights Go Down Low" | 34 | — | — | — | — | — | A: Equals at the Top B: Equals Strike Again | Non-album tracks |
| 1970 | "Soul Brother Clifford" b/w "Happy Birthday Girl" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Equals at the Top | Non-album tracks |
| 1970 | "I Can See But You Don't Know" b/w "Gigolo Sam" | — | — | — | — | — | — | A: Doin' the 45's B: Equals at the Top | Non-album tracks |
| 1970 | "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" b/w "Ain't Got Nothing to Give You" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | A: Doin' the 45's B: Equals Strike Again | Non-album tracks |
| 1971 | "Help Me Simone" b/w "Love Potion" | — | — | — | — | — | — | A: Equals at the Top B: Supreme | A: Non-album track B: Supreme |
| 1972 | "Stand Up and Be Counted" b/w "What Would You Do to Survive" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | Non-album tracks |
| 1972 | "Have I the Right" b/w "Lover Let Me Go" | — | — | — | — | — | — | A: The Equals Greatest Hits B: Non-album track | Non-album tracks |
| 1973 | "Honey Bee" b/w "Put Some Rock and Roll in Your Soul" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Rock Around the Clock Volume 1 | Non-album tracks |
| 1973 | "Diversion" b/w "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" | — | — | — | — | — | — | A: Rock Around the Clock Volume 1 B: Non-album track | Non-album tracks |
| 1975 | "Georgetown Girl" b/w "We've Got It All Worked Out" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | Non-album tracks |
| 1976 | "Kaywana Sunshine Girl" b/w "Soul Mother" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Born Ya! | Non-album tracks |
| 1976 | "Funky Like a Train" b/w "If You Didn't Miss Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Born Ya! | Non-album tracks |
| 1977 | "Irma La Douce" b/w "Ire Harry" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Born Ya! | Non-album tracks |
| 1977 | "Beautiful Clown" b/w "Daily Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | Non-album tracks |
| 1978 | "Red Dog" b/w "Something Beautiful" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Mystic Syster | Non-album tracks |
| 1983 | "No Place to Go" b/w "Back Streets" | — | — | — | — | — | — | All the Hits Plus More | Non-album tracks |
| 1987 | "Funky Like a Train" b/w "Born Ya!" | 82 | — | — | — | — | — | Born Ya! | Non-album tracks |
| 2022 | "Nobody's Got Time" | — | — | — | — | — | — | – |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. ||||||||||