The Searchers are an
English
rock band who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and
Gerry & The
Pacemakers.
The band's hits included a remake of the Drifters' 1961 hit,
"
Sweets for My Sweet"; remakes
of
Jackie DeShannon's "
Needles and Pins" and "
When You Walk In The Room"; an
original song written for them, "
Sugar and Spice";
TheOrlons's"
Don't Throw Your
Love Away"; and a remake of
The
Clovers' "
Love Potion
No. 9".
They were the second
group from Liverpool, after the Beatles, to have a hit in the
United
States
when "Needles and Pins" charted during the first
week of March 1964.
Band history
Originally
founded as a skiffle group in Liverpool
in 1959 by John
McNally and Mike Pender, the band
took their name from the classic 1956 John
Wayne western The Searchers. Pender
claims that the name was his idea, but McNally ascribes it to 'Big
Ron' Woodbridge (born Ronald Woodbridge, 1938, ın Liverpool,
Lancashire), their first lead singer. The genesis remains
unresolved.
The band grew out of an earlier skiffle group formed by McNally,
with his friends Brian Dolan (guitar) and Tony West (bass). When
the other two members lost interest McNally was joined by his
guitarist neighbour
Mike Prendergast.
They soon
recruited Tony Jackson
(born Anthony Paul Jackson, 16 July 1938, The Dingle, Liverpool, Lancashire — died 18 August 2003, Nottingham
, Nottinghamshire
) with his home-made bass guitar and amplifier and
styled themselves 'Tony and the Searchers' with Joe Kelly on drums. Kelly soon left
to be replaced by
Norman McGarry
(born
1 March 1942,
Liverpool, Lancashire), and it is this line-up — McNally, Pender
(as he soon became known), Jackson and McGarry — that is usually
cited as the original foursome.
McGarry did not stay long, however, and in 1960 his place was taken
by
Chris Crummey (who later changed his
name to Curtis). Later that year Big Ron had a successful audition
with Mecca and became a ballroom singer. He was replaced by Billy
Beck, who changed his name to
Johnny
Sandon (born Wıllıam Beck, ın 1941, Lıverpool dıed 23 December
1996).
The
band had regular bookings at Liverpool's Iron Door Club
as 'Johnny Sandon and the Searchers'.
Sandon left the band in late 1961 to join
The Remo Four in February 1962. The group
settled into a quartet sharing the vocal lead and billed simply as
'The Searchers'.
They continued to play at the Iron Door,
The
Cavern
, and other Liverpool clubs. Like many
similar acts they would do as many as three shows at different
venues in one night.
They negotiated a contract with the Star-Club
in the St.
Pauli
district Hamburg
for 128
days, with three one-hour performances a night, starting in July
1962.
The band returned to a residency at the Iron Door Club and it was
there that they tape-recorded the sessions that led to a recording
contract with
Pye Records with
Tony Hatch as
producer. Their first single was issued in
US on
Mercury, the second on
Liberty without success and then a
deal was arranged with U.S. based
Kapp
Records to distribute their records in America.
Hatch played piano on some recordings and wrote "Sugar and
Spice"—the band’s second number one record—under the pseudonym Fred
Nightingale; a secret he kept from the band at the time.
After
scoring with their hit "Needles and Pins", bassist Tony Jackson was
fired from the band and was replaced by Hamburg pal Frank Allen (born Francis Renaud
McNeice, 14 December 1943, Hayes
, Middlesex
) from Cliff Bennett and the Rebel
Rousers.
Chris Curtis left the band in 1966 and was replaced by the
Keith Moon-influenced John Blunt, who in turn was
replaced by Billy Adamson in 1970. In 1967, Curtis formed a new
band called Roundabout with keyboard player
Jon
Lord and guitarist
Ritchie
Blackmore. Although Curtis's involvement in the project was
short-lived, Roundabout would eventually evolve into
Deep Purple the following year.
As musical styles evolved, the Searchers could not keep up and as a
result, the hits ran out. While they continued to record for
Liberty Records and
RCA Records, they ended up on the British
"Chicken in a Basket" circuit, although they did score a minor US
hit in 1971 with "Desdemona".
The group continued to tour through the 1970s and were rewarded in
1979 when
Sire Records signed the band
to a multi-record deal. Two albums were released:
The
Searchers and
Play for Today (retitled
Love's
Melodies outside the UK). Both records garnered critical
acclaim but did not break into the charts. They did, however,
revive the group's career.
According to John McNally, the band were ready to head into the
studio to record a third album for Sire when they were informed
that due to label reorganization, their contract had been dropped.
It was, in fact, because so few people bought the second album,
although it was beloved by fans.
In 1981, the band signed to
PRT Records
(formerly Pye, their original label) and began recording an album.
But only one single, "I Don't Want To Be The One" backed with
"Hollywood", ended up being released. The rest of the tracks would
be included as part of 2004's
40th Anniversary
collection.
Soon after the PRT release, Mike Pender left the group amidst great
acrimony and now tours as
Mike
Pender's Searchers. McNally and Allan recruited former
First Class vocalist
Spencer James to fill Pender's shoes.
In 1988,
Coconut Records signed The
Searchers and the album
Hungry Hearts was the result. It
featured updated remakes of "Needles and Pins" and "Sweets For My
Sweet" plus live favorite "Somebody Told Me You Were Crying". While
the album was not a major hit, it did keep the group in the public
eye.
The band continues to tour with
Eddie
Rothe replacing Adamson on drums and is considered to be one of
the most popular 1960s bands on the UK concert circuit. The
Searchers incorporate full band electric performances with an
acoustic set as well. Creating ample amounts of confusion, former
Searchers lead singer
Mike Pender also
tours, but with his new full band electric outfit Mike Pender's
Searchers, as they perform hits of the Searchers and some new
material of their own.
Hit singles
| Release date |
Title |
Chart Positions |
| UK Singles
Chart |
US
Charts |
VG-lista,
Norway |
Kvällstoppen
("The Evening Top"), Swedish Sales Chart |
| 1963 |
"Sweets for My Sweet"
(original; The Drifters) |
1 |
- |
8 |
5 |
| "Sweet Nothins" (original; Brenda Lee) |
48 |
- |
- |
- |
| "Sugar and Spice"
(original song written by Tony Hatch under the name Fred
Nightingale) |
2 |
44 |
- |
- |
| 1964 |
"Needles and Pins"
(original; Jackie DeShannon) |
1 |
13 |
8 |
6 |
| "Ain't That Just Like Me" (original; The Coasters) |
- |
61 |
- |
- |
| "Don't Throw Your Love
Away" (original; The Orlons) |
1 |
16 |
- |
3 |
| "Some Day We're Gonna Love Again" (original; Barbara
Lewis) |
11 |
34 |
- |
- |
| "When You Walk in the
Room" (original; Jackie DeShannon) |
3 |
35 |
- |
20 |
| "Love Potion No.
9" (original; The
Clovers) |
- |
3 |
- |
- |
| "What Have They Done
to the Rain" (original; Pete Seeger) |
13 |
29 |
- |
13 |
| 1965 |
"Bumble Bee" (original; LaVern Baker) |
- |
21 |
- |
20 |
| "Goodbye My Love" (original; Jimmy Hughes) |
4 |
52 |
- |
- |
| "He's Got No Love" (original; written by Curtis &
Pender) |
12 |
79 |
- |
- |
| "When I Get Home" (original) |
35 |
- |
- |
- |
| "Take Me For What I'm Worth" (original; probably Jackie
DeShannon) |
20 |
76 |
- |
14 |
| 1966 |
"Everybody Come Clap Your Hands" (original; Moody and The
Deltas) |
- |
- |
- |
18 |
| "Take
It Or Leave It" (original; The Rolling Stones) |
31 |
- |
- |
16 |
| "Have You Ever Loved Somebody?" (original; The Hollies) |
48 |
94 |
- |
- |
| 1967 |
"Popcorn Double Feature" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| "Western Union" (original; The Five Americans) |
- |
115 |
- |
- |
| "Second Hand Dealer" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1968 |
"Umbrella Man" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1971 |
"Desdemona" |
- |
94 |
- |
- |
Cover versions of songs by The Searchers
The Searchers timeline
1957-1959
- Ron Woodbridge: Vocals
- John McNally: Rhythm Guitar
- Brian Dolan: Lead Guitar
- Tony West: Bass
- Joe Kennedy: Drums
1960-Feb 1962
- Johnny Sandon: Lead Vocals
- John McNally: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
- Mike Pender: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Tony Jackson: Bass, Vocals
- Chris Curtis: Drums
Feb 1962-July 1964
- Tony Jackson: Lead Vocals, Bass
- John McNally: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
- Mike Pender: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Chris Curtis: Drums
August 1964-April 1966
- Frank Allen: Lead Vocals, Bass
- John McNally: Guitar, Vocals
- Mike Pender: Guitar, Vocals
- Chris Curtis: Drums, Lead Vocals
May 1966-December 1969
- Frank Allen: Lead Vocals, Bass
- John McNally: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Mike Pender: Guitar, Vocals
- John Blunt: Drums
January 1970-December 1985
- Frank Allen: Bass, Lead Vocals
- John McNally: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Mike Pender: Guitar, Vocals
- Billy Adamson: Drums
January 1986-November 1998
- Spencer James: Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals
- John McNally: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Frank Allen: Bass, Vocals
- Billy Adamson: Drums
November 1998-present
- Spencer James: Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals
- John McNally: Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Frank Allen: Bass, Vocals
- Eddie Roth: Drums, Vocals
Trivia
Beside The Beatles, The Searchers were the only British group of
the era who had most of the records issued in stereo at the time.
Although a number of the UK Pye albums were issued in mono only,
the US Kapp label issued all of their albums in stereo, and were
almost completely in true stereo. Subsequent UK Castle and Santuary
CD reissues have been very sloppy in using stereo masters. [Some
people prefer the mono mixes, but The Searchers were one of the few
UK bands of the era where their producer - Tony Hatch - mixed their
tracks in stereo to sound almost exactly like the mono mixes, so
there's little reason to prefer the mono mixes.]
References
- Band founder Mike Pender, "The Band was founded by myself and
John McNally. In 1957 John and I went to see the movie "The
Searchers" starring John Wayne. I was an ardent Western Fan and so
I dragged John along with me to see it. I take the credit for
choosing the name 'The Searchers' and for co-founding the Band in
its original form." Quoted in
http://www.rickresource.com/searchers/searchershistory.html
- http://www.the-searchers.co.uk/ The Searchers Official
Site
- Fabgear, 'Tommy Quickly and The Remo Four', The
British Beat Boom
- http://www.stmedia.org/searchers.htm "I Don't Want To Be The
One" single
-
"http://lista.vg.no/artist_info.php?ArtistOp=show&artistId=712">Searchers
at VG-lista
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