page_title: The Shadows
section_title: 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: The Shadows / Career / 1960s
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: Cliff Richard aankomst met zijn Shadows Datum&#160;: 6 april 1962 Locatie&#160;: Noord-Holland, Schiphol Trefwoorden&#160;: artiesten, groepen, muziek, zangers Persoonsnaam&#160;: Richard, Cliff Instellingsnaam&#160;: Shadows, The Fotograaf&#160;: Pot, Harry / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Negatief (zwart/wit) Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 913-7397
context_page_description: The Shadows were an English instrumental rock group. They were Cliff Richard's backing band from 1958 to 1968 and on numerous reunion tours. The Shadows have had 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. Their range covers pop, rock, surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence.
  The core members from 1958 to 2015 were Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. Along with the
  Fender guitar, another cornerstone of the Shadows sound was the Vox amplifier. The Shadows, with Cliff Richard, dominated British popular music in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the years before the Beatles. The Shadows' number one hits included "Apache", "Kon-Tiki", "Wonderful Land", "Foot Tapper" and "Dance On!". Although these and most of their best-remembered hits were instrumentals, the group also recorded occasional vocal numbers, and hit the UK top ten with the group-sung "Don't Make My Baby Blue" in 1965.
context_section_description: In 1960, "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, topped the UK charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, including the number ones "Kon Tiki" and "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing. The Shadows played on further hits as Richard's band.
  In October 1961, Meehan left to be a producer at Decca records. He was replaced by Brian Bennett. In April 1962, Harris was replaced by Brian "Licorice" Locking. Bennett and Locking were friends from the 2I's who had been in Marty Wilde's backing group, the Wildcats, who recorded instrumentals as the Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up released seven hit singles, two of which, "Dance On!" and "Foot Tapper", topped the charts. In October 1963, Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness.
  Meanwhile, Harris and Meehan teamed up at Decca as an eponymous duo to record another Lordan instrumental, "Diamonds". It rose to UK no. 1 in January 1963. Two further hits, "Scarlett O'Hara" (also by Lordan) and "Applejack", followed in the same year. On the Lordan tunes, Harris played lead using a six-stringed Fender Bass VI. During 1963, the ex-Shadows were competing in the charts with their former bandmates.
  The Shadows had met John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to join. This final and longest-lasting line-up was the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had ten hits, the first and most successful of which was "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt".
  During the 1960s, the group appeared with Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, and Finders Keepers. They also appeared as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO, and starred in a short B-film called Rhythm 'n Greens which became the basis of a music book and an EP. They appeared in pantomime: Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium with Arthur Askey as Widow Twankey, Richard as Aladdin, and the Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee; Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and the Shadows as the Broker's Men. Their film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest film, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill. In 1967, the Shadows used Olivia Newton-John on the track "The Day I Met Marie" on their album From Hank Bruce Brian and John.
  In October 1968, Marvin and Welch decided to disband the group following a concert at the London Palladium. In the event, only Welch left, but the Shadows had disbanded by the end of the year.
caption: Cliff Richard and the Shadows in 1962
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