Marmalade (band)

Marmalade
Original band - 1968 l/r: Dean Ford, Alan Whitehead, Graham Knight, Junior Campbell and Pat Fairley
Background information
Origin	Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Beat music Pop music Psychedelic pop
Years active	1966–present
Labels	CBS, Decca, London, Target Records, Castle, Sanctuary, Union Square Music
Past members
1966-1971 Original Band Dean Ford Junior Campbell Pat Fairley Graham Knight Alan Whitehead (1967-1971) Ray Duffy (1966-67) Later members Hugh Nicholson Dougie Henderson Mike Japp Sandy Newman Charlie Smith Glen Taylor Alan Holmes

Marmalade were a successful Scottish pop rock group, from the east end of Glasgow, originally formed in 1961 as "The Gaylords", later "Dean Ford and The Gaylords". In 1966, they changed the group name to 'The Marmalade'. The most successful period for the band, in terms of UK chart success, was between 1968 and 1972. From 1972, after the break up of the original band, the band evolved with many further changes and still exists to this day, although with the departure of Graham Knight in September 2010, there are now no original Marmalade members remaining in the band.

Original band members

• Dean Ford: born Thomas McAleese, 5 September 1945, Coatbridge, Scotland — lead vocalist.
• Junior Campbell: born William Campbell, 31 May 1947, Glasgow, Scotland^[1] — lead guitarist / instrumentalist / vocalist and arranger.
• Graham Knight: born John Graham Knight, 8 December 1943, Glasgow — bassist and vocalist.
• Pat Fairley: born Patrick Fairley, 14 April 1943, Glasgow — 6 string bassist / rhythm guitarist.
• Alan Whitehead: born 24 July 1945, Oswestry, Shropshire, England — drummer.

Whitehead replaced Ray Duffy, who left in 1967 to return to his trade as a chef. Duffy later returned to the music industry, drumming on Matthews Southern Comfort's number one "Woodstock", and also most of Gallagher and Lyle's hits. Duffy also teamed up again with Campbell, playing drums on the latter's solo hit singles, "Hallelujah Freedom" and "Sweet Illusion", plus the album, Second Time Around.

Biography

"The Gaylords", (named after the notorious post war "Chicago Gaylords" street gang), were originally formed by Pat Fairley and Billy Johnston in Baillieston, a suburb east of Glasgow, around 1960/61. Their initial line-up included Tommy Frew on drums and lead guitarist Pat McGovern, fronted by vocalist Wattie Rodgers. Junior Campbell joined on his fourteenth birthday on 31 May 1961, replacing McGovern, and Rodgers was then replaced, initially by two new lead vocalists, Billy Reid and Tommy Scott, although Reid soon departed, leaving Scott as the new frontman. Bill Irving then took over from Johnston on bass. The group gathered notice and, in 1963, Dean Ford replaced Scott as lead singer. They then became known as "Dean Ford and The Gaylords". Ray Duffy then replaced Frew on drums. and for a few months, they had an organist, Davey Hunter. By 1964 Graham Knight, from the local group The Vampires, had replaced Irving on bass.

(Pictured; left to right: Bill Irving, Junior Campbell, Dean Ford, Ray Duffy and Pat Fairley (1964))

Becoming popular in Scotland, and under the management of Billy Grainger, in early 1964 they were signed to Columbia (EMI) by Norrie Paramor and recorded four singles, including a cover of the 1963 Chubby Checker US hit,"Twenty Miles" which was a big seller locally, but failed to chart nationally.^[2] The group were well regarded in Scotland, and despite being crowned 'Scotland's Top Group' decided to try for success in the UK as a whole.^[2]

In 1965, they played a long stint in Germany, at the Storyville in Cologne and in Duisburg, before moving to London, where they began to build up a club reputation, as a tight, close harmony band, and in 1966, finding themselves in the middle of the 1960s "swinging London scene", decided to update their image and instrumentation, and on the advice of their manager, changed the band name to "The Marmalade".^[2] Unusually, they now had two bass players, Graham Knight on 4 string, and Pat Fairley on 6 string ( Fairley having dropped the standard "rhythm guitar" associated with the "three guitar" instrumental groups of the early 1960s).

After changing labels to CBS, and producer Mike Smith, their next few singles also failed to chart in the UK, although one, the self penned cult hit, "I See The Rain", written by Junior Campbell and Dean Ford, was highly praised by Jimi Hendrix as the 'best cut of 1967'.^[2] It became a chart-topper in the Netherlands the same year (Graham Nash of The Hollies, contributed to the session).

Thursday, 19 January 1967, proved to be a major turning point in the bands progress when they made their debut at London's Marquee Club where they supported Pink Floyd.^[3] Two weeks later, 3 February, they supported The Action. They never supported anyone again at the Marquee, and on 16 March 1967 they began a long residency which carried through to the autumn of the following year, building a reputation and following,^[2] including touring with The Who, Joe Cocker, Traffic, Gene Pitney and The Tremeloes. This culminated in a summer appearance at the Windsor Jazz and Rock Festival in 1967, directly preceding Jerry Lee Lewis.^[4]

Marmalade's label CBS were concerned at their lack of commercial success and threatened to drop them if they did not have a hit, and after the failure of another self-penned single later that year, "Man in a Shop", insisted they record more chart-oriented material. They rejected "Everlasting Love", which became a #1 for Love Affair, but later gave in to pressure and recorded, "Lovin' Things", written by Artie Schroeck & Jet Loring in 1967, and arranged by Keith Mansfield for Marmalade. It reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart in the summer of 1968.^[5] This was later covered by The Grass Roots in the US in 1969, using virtually the same arrangement.

After a lesser hit with the follow-up "Wait For Me Mary-Anne" (written by Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard), which made #30, they enjoyed their most remembered UK success with their cover of The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", which topped the UK chart in January 1969.^[2] As the first Scottish group to ever top that chart,^[6] in the week it went to the chart summit they celebrated by appearing on BBC One's music programme Top of the Pops, dressed in kilts. Their version of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" sold around half a million in the |UK, and a million copies globally by April 1969.^[4] This was followed by further success with "Baby Make It Soon", (written by Tony Macaulay), which reached #9, in the summer of 1969.^[5] The group began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da live on the show broadcast on BBC1, January 1, 1970.

Following a change of record label to Decca Records, under a deal allowing them to write and produce their own songs, they recorded what would become their biggest worldwide hit.^[2] Topping the charts in Europe, (a Top 10 in United States, and #1 in most of South America), the melancholy "Reflections of My Life", written by Campbell and Ford,^[7] featured a backwards guitar solo by Campbell ( see Reflections of My Life).

"Reflections of My Life" has recorded over two million sales and the writers were awarded a Special Citation of Achievement in 1998 by BMI in attaining radio broadcast performances in excess of one million in the US alone.^{[citation needed]} Other UK hits included "Rainbow" (UK #3) and "My Little One" (UK #15).^[2]

They were managed by Peter Walsh, a 1960s and 1970s pop entrepreneur whose portfolio also included The Tremeloes, Bay City Rollers, Billy Ocean, The Troggs and Blue Mink.

After Campbell, who co-wrote most of the group's original material with Ford, left the band in March 1971 for a solo career,^[8] Marmalade suffered adverse publicity from the UK's newspaper, News of the World.^[2] They began a series of line-up changes including the loss of drummer Alan Whitehead.^[2]

Marmalade recruited a new drummer, Dougie Henderson, and guitarist, Hugh Nicholson, an ex-member of The Poets, another band from Scotland.^[2] Then Marmalade released the album, Songs, in 1972, and Nicholson took on most lead vocals and song composition with more direct and less orchestral arrangements, which met with limited success. However, Nicholson penned two of their last hits, "Cousin Norman" and "Radancer", as well as the lesser hit "Back on the Road", on which he sang lead vocal.^[2] After the departure of Campbell, Pat Fairley then left the band to run the group's music publishing company.Nicholson left in 1973 to form Blue (not to be confused with a much later boy band of the same name – Blue), and Ford plus Knight carried on with Marmalade Nicholson was replaced by Mike Japp, a rock guitarist from the Welsh band 'Thank You'.^[2]

Refusing to play most of the band's old hit records on stage, the group slowly came to a standstill. Knight was sacked, but then linked up with the original drummer, Alan Whitehead, to form Vintage Marmalade. They were reunited with their old manager Peter Walsh to play all the hits on stage, and had a full date sheet.^[2]

Ford was one of many lead vocalists contributing to The Alan Parsons Project. His last known work in music was in 1991, by which time he was living in the US.

In 1975 Knight and Whitehead took over the name Marmalade again with a new line-up, fronted by vocalist and guitarist Sandy Newman.^[2][9] They signed a deal with Target Records, and in 1976, had what turned out to be their final Top 10 hit with the ominously entitled Tony Macaulay penned song, "Falling Apart at The Seams".^[1] Subsequent singles failed to chart.^[2] but ironically one of them was "Talking In Your Sleep", produced by Roger Greenaway and released in January 1978, 6 months ahead of the Crystal Gayle's version of the same song, which became well known worldwide.

Whitehead left the band in 1978 to manage other pop groups and singers, which he does to this day. He also appeared in the 2010 TV series, Take Me Out. Knight remained with the band, touring on the nostalgia circuit with Marmalade alongside Newman, Glenn Taylor (drums), and Alan Holmes (guitar), but departed the line-up in July 2010. In 2011 John James Newman, and Damon Sawyer, were added to the current line-up.

Ford, having retired from the music industry, settled in Los Angeles (after a brief spell in New York), whilst Fairley has his own bar, called Scotland Yard, also situated in Los Angeles.

Campbell became a successful solo recording artist, songwriter, television and film composer, record producer and music arranger, and lives in Sussex.

Marmalade since 1975

Sandy Newman has continued to front the band since 1975, releasing a further 11 singles in the UK (excluding re-releases), 7 of which were via Target Records and today he continues to tour the nostalgia circuit, performing the band's full hit repertoire.

Band members in 2011

Sandy Newman - Lead guitar, keyboard & lead vocals. Mike Steed - Bass guitar & vocals. Alan Holmes - Acoustic/electric guitar, keyboard & vocals. John James Newman - Acoustic guitar & vocals Damon Sawyer - Drums & percussion.

Discography

Dean Ford and the Gaylords singles

Title	Cat No.	Release Date
"Twenty Miles" c/w "What's The Matter With Me"	Columbia DB7264	April 1964
"Mr Heartbreak's Here Instead" c/w "I Won't"	Columbia DB7402	November 1964
"The Name Game" c/w "That Lonely Feeling"	Columbia DB7610	June 1965
"He's A Good Face" (But He's Down And Out)" c/w "You Know It Too"	Columbia DB7805	December 1965

Marmalade singles

Year	Title (Songwriters)	UK Singles Chart[5]	US Billboard Hot 100 Chart[10]	US Adult Contemporary[10]
1966	"Its All Leading up to Saturday Night" (Geoff Stephens)	-	-	-
1966	"Can't Stop Now" (Kelleher/Fitzpatrick/Wood)	-	-	-
1967	"I See The Rain" (William Campbell/Thomas McAleese)	-	-	-
1967	"Man In A Shop" (William Campbell/Thomas McAleese)	-	-	-
1968	"Lovin' Things" (Jet Loring/Artie Schroeck)	#6	-	-
1968	"Wait For Me Mary-Anne" (Alan Blaikley/Ken Howard)	#30	-	-
1968	"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (Lennon/McCartney)	#1	-	-
1969	"Baby Make It Soon" (Tony Macaulay)	#9	-	-
1969	"Butterfly" (Barry Gibb/Maurice Gibb/Robin Gibb)	-	-	-
1969	"Reflections of My Life" (William Campbell/Thomas McAleese)	#3	#10	-
1970	"Rainbow" (William Campbell/Thomas McAleese)	#3	#51	#7
1971	"My Little One" (William Campbell/Thomas McAleese)	#15	-	-
1971	"Cousin Norman" (Hugh Nicholson)	#6	-	-
1971	"Back on the Road" (Hugh Nicholson)	#35	-	-
1972	"Radancer" (Hugh Nicholson)	#6	-	-
1973	"The Wishing Well" (Dean Ford)	-	-	-
1973	"Our House Is Rockin'" (Thomas McAleese/Michael Japp)	-	-	-
1974	"Come Back Jo" (Dean Ford/Mike Japp)	-	-	-
1976	"Falling Apart at The Seams" (Tony Macaulay)	#9	#49	-
1976	"Walking A Tightrope" (Tony Macaulay)	-	-	-
1976	"What You Need Is A Miracle" (Sandy Newman)	-	-	-
1976	"Hello Baby" (Composer un-verified)	-	-	-
1977	"The Only Light On My Horizon Now" (Macaulay/Stephens)	-	-	-
1977	"Mystery Has Gone" (Sandy Newman/Graham Knight)	-	-	-
1978	"Talking In Your Sleep" (Roger Cook/Bobby Wood)	-	-	-
1978	"Heavens Above" (W.A.Newman)	-	-	-
1979	"Made in Germany" (M O'Brien)	-	-	-
1984	"Heartbreaker" (W.A.Newman)	-	-	-
1985	"Golden Shreds" (Composer un-verified)	-	-	-

Marmalade studio albums

• Original Band

• There's a Lot of It About (1968) CBS
• Best Of (1969) CBS
• Reflections of The Marmalade (1970) Decca Records

• Additional/ Later Line-Ups

• Songs (1971) Decca Records

• Our House Is Rocking (1974)

• The Only Light on My Horizon Now (1977)
• ...Doing It All for You (1978)
• Marmalade (US only) (1981)
• Heartbreaker (1982)

^[11]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 123. ISBN 0-85112-250-7. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} "Biography by Bruce Eder". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p19168/biography. Retrieved 13 November 2009. 
3. ^ http://www.themarqueeclub.net/1967
4. ^ ^{a b} Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 243. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 351. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
6. ^ Roberts, David (2001). British Hit Singles (14th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 40. ISBN 0-85156-156-X. 
7. ^ "Allmusic ((( Marmalade > Reflections of My Life)))". http://www.allmusic.com/song/t5127169. 
8. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 224. CN 5585. 
9. ^ http://www.sandy-newman.com/ Sandy Newman official site
10. ^ ^{a b} "Allmusic ((( Marmalade > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p19168/charts-awards/billboard-singles. 
11. ^ "Allmusic ((( Marmalade > Discography > Main Albums )))". http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p19168/discography. 

References

• Info sourced from liner notes, including those by band members on:
• 1992 Decca Records (Deram) 820 562-2 Reflections of The Marmalade
• 1996 Castle CD CCSCD436; The Marmalade – The Definitive Collection
• 1998 Castle CD CCSCD825 Marmalade - The Definitive Collection
• 2000 Castle - Sequel NEECD 335 Rainbow: The Decca Years
• 2004 Sanctuary CMOCD 940 The Marmalade - BBC Sessions
• 2005 Sanctuary SMETD 182 Marmalade - The Ultimate Collection

External links

• Marmalade at "Rockingscots"
• Marmalade biography at Allmusic
• Current official website
• Marmalade feature in German
• Marquee Club Calendar - 1967